Our website has content that is hidden until someone clicks on the tab to open it up. I am afraid this might get us penalized in Google, as hiding content is illegal. Should we redo our website?

Hiding content because of styling issues is okay, as long as the content will eventually be seen (it can be brought up by a click for instance).

Tricks like having white text on white background will definitely get you booted out of the search listings, don't even try it. There are a few clever workarounds that will work perfectly, but they are not ethical, so I don't mention them here (and they are bound to become penalized in the years to come).

And here is Google's reply to the question

I did not know that someone could actually do something like using white text on white background. What is the purpose of hidden text? Why do sites use it..kindly explain.

Hi Atula,

sites rank well for certain keywords because their content contains certain keywords. So years ago, a blackhat SEO (someone who ranks sites well without those sites having particular useful content) came up with the smart idea to hide losts of keywords in white text on white background. Of course, when the search engines got wind of this abuse,they threw that site out of their listings.

So the reason why someone puts white text on white background is because they mistakenly believe that this practice can improve their rankings. In reality, it will get them penalized.

I've definitely heard of matching the text color to the background. I assume people tried just dumping hot keywords into these areas that had nothing to do with their site topic, and that's why it's ineffective and penalized?

You hit the nail on the head, Taggart.

Rule of thumb is: if you need spammy techniques to rank your site well, you are either not providing worthwhile content or not doing the right things.

Spam can do wonders for temporary listings, but always remember that you risk being chucked out of the search engines all together (and it can take up to 4 years to get accepted back in).