title: Why Doesn't The Text-Indent Accessibility Trick Get Penalized By Search Engines?
body: <p>I was trying to figure out the best accessibility techniques for screen-reader only text (<code>color: transparent</code>, <code>opacity: 0</code>, etc.) and came across <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30514471/setting-text-color-to-transparent-for-hiding-accessibility-content">a thread</a> that got me thinking.</p>
  
  <p><strong>2 quotes from <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30514471/setting-text-color-to-transparent-for-hiding-accessibility-content">that post</a>:</strong></p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>"[hidden text] risks search engine penalties - they can detect hidden,
    transparent, or same-as-background text. In fact, it's a
    well-established technique for spamming and keyword stuffing, so the
    engines tend to penalize it severely."</p>
    
    <p>"What's wrong with the old text-indent trick?" (<code>text-indent: -99999px</code>)</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p><strong>Questions:</strong></p>
  
  <ul>
  <li><p>Why doesn't the text-indent technique get penalized?</p></li>
  <li><p>If this technique allows for penalty free hidden text, why haven't spammy sites ruined it for us yet? (via hidden keyword-stuffing)</p></li>
  <li><p>My only thought, does this technique somehow not hold/get ignored for SEO value?</p></li>
  </ul>