Google’s Mueller advises HTML reordering for SEO, not link obfuscation

Image credit: Search Engine Journal

Google Search Advocate John Mueller advised a user against manipulating search engine link priority by obfuscating a prominent homepage button, recommending instead to reorder HTML elements combined with CSS and JavaScript.

Mueller’s guidance came in response to a user’s query on Reddit’s r/bigseo forum, where the user proposed hiding a primary “Services” button from Google‘s crawlers to elevate the perceived importance of a more descriptive FAQ link located further down the page.

Mueller stated that Google’s systems are sophisticated enough to understand complex website structures, making visible changes to obfuscate links largely ineffective. He suggested that such attempts were likely an instance of “overthinking” SEO strategies.

Instead of trying to hide elements, Mueller recommended that if experimentation was desired, users should adjust the order of links directly within the HTML code. Visual presentation for users could then be managed using CSS and JavaScript.

This approach would allow webmasters to place their preferred link earlier in the HTML while maintaining the desired visual layout on the page, avoiding the conversion of functional links into non-links.

The concept of “first link priority,” which suggests Google only considers the initial instance of multiple links pointing to the same destination, has been a topic of discussion among SEO professionals since at least 2008.

However, Google has never officially confirmed this principle. Its best practices generally state that crawlers primarily process links found within elements possessing an href attribute.

Google has also indicated that it cannot reliably extract URLs from elements driven solely by scripts, reinforcing the importance of standard HTML anchor tags for discoverability.

Prior to Mueller’s recent comments, Google’s Martin Splitt had also advised web developers to utilize proper anchor markup for navigation and to avoid relying on buttons or click handlers for linking purposes.

The advice from Google officials consistently points towards clear, standard HTML practices rather than complex methods aimed at manipulating crawler behavior.

Source: Search Engine Journal