The text you don’t see: searching vendor websites

[McQueen216]

I like search bars and search engines. Knowing how to use them makes life easier.

I get that vendors want and need to use their content, to take advantage of how search engines - and their own sites - work, in order to shape the customer “experience.”

But putting in text that’s the same color as the background, so it’s “not visible,” but is visible in searches, should contain accurate information.

“New Lifan SS3 for sale 2022. Brand new KP-mini 150cc SS3 motorcycle new headlight for kp-mini lifan bike. New SS3 Kp-mini EFI Fuel injected motorcycle. EFI KP-mini bike for sale. Lifan KP-mini motorcycle. buy honda grom for ale z125 honda grom price z125 pro” seems kind of dishonest when there is not EFI version of a product, but searching for EFI products on their sites suddenly returns the SS3 in the results.

Crappy move, Venom.

Also - please go ahead and make an EFI version as penance.

[TominMO]

What search terms did you use to get the part in your quotes? There is nothing on the KP Mini page that mentions EFI.

[JerryHawk250]

I'm not getting that.
EFI Bikes https://www.venommotorsportsusa.com/...otorcycles-efi

[TominMO]

I did a search on "EFI motorcycles". Got 12 results, and the only one not EFI was the SS3. I did not see anywhere on the SS3 page the term EFI, so not sure why that came up in the search. There may be a word on the SS3 page that has those three letters in sequence, such as dEFIne.

[McQueen216]

Originally Posted by TominMO

What search terms did you use to get the part in your quotes? There is nothing on the KP Mini page that mentions EFI.

EFI. I had just typed in EFI by itself as a search term…

[McQueen216]

Looks like this.

[McQueen216]

(And that’s then what it looks like when you search for it within the page - it’s weird)

[TominMO]

I guess it's just some kinda weird glitch. I would not fault Venom for it. Stuff happens. The important thing IMO is that the SS3 page itself does not claim the bike is EFI.

When I typed in EFI I got 13 bikes, 12 were actually EFI and the SS3. It was a normal-looking search results page. Maybe it has to do with your browser, esp. if on a phone.

[McQueen216]

Originally Posted by TominMO

I guess it's just some kinda weird glitch. I would not fault Venom for it. Stuff happens.

For stuff on their page? That’s sort of my point. I searched EFI to take a look to see what other options they might have for EFI bikes… this dumb idea of cruising off into the woods this winter, to include up to altitude. They do control what’s on their page. It does happen, yeah, but… it’s sort of my point.

[TominMO]

Nah, I still think it's your browser. The expression EFI does not appear on the SS3 page at all, under the word delivery, like you are showing it. Plus, in any internet search you are gonna get plenty of erroneous stuff. I already explained how the SS3 page might accidentally get included in an EFI search.

[McQueen216]

So - as I explained in the title and in the first post, with Venom in this case, the SS3 page include EFI include the text on the page, where there’s string of text, in text that is encoded in white font - to obfuscate it with the white background.

In the original post, I included one such string of text from the SS3 page that is there - in a white font, on a white background. In another post, in which I illustrated the search within the page for EFI, that white font is negated and just the EFI jumps out - post #6.

This isn’t a mobile device thing. This is a CSS thing - using the text coloring the hide text which, in those case, hides text (see post #1h the specifically cites the term EFI.

Would Venom employees miss it too? Sure - if they aren’t doing search on their own website - or, I guess, looking at what’s in those big empty spaces.

[TominMO]

Oh OK. Probably the white-on-white is so they don't have to create another page for non-EFI bikes. Just change the font color on specific pages.

[McQueen216]

Yeah. But weird - and, not ok, IMHO - to do things like things.

[JerryHawk250]

I think you are overthinking this. If you go to the product menu there is a section for EFI motorcycles. No need for using the search option. They have already categorized the product menu for you. For example they have a section for California approved bikes. There's no need to bash a dealer for a glitch in the search. Especially a dealer that sponsors and supports this forum. Geez!

[McQueen216]

Jerry, I think you are under thinking this. If someone is going to a site - like Venom - and asks them to display information, this issue is a non issue - push a button that says EFI bikes, and be shown EFI bikes, and obfuscated text isn’t an actual part of the equation at all. What happens if a site does this with every bike by adding “six speed” using this method, so searching for six speed bikes returns five- and four-speed bikes, and mopeds with CVT transmissions? I mean - somewhere in the text of their individual page, in white text, it says “six-speed”… even if it doesn’t actually apply to that bike.

There are bigger problems in this world - I get that. Vendors shouldn’t do this, that’s all.