After Google's John Mueller warned against hiding internal links to manipulate anchor text, Certified SEO founder Damon Burton says fundamentals always outlast tactics.
Layton, UT (PRUnderground) August 26th, 2026
Certified SEO, the professional search engine optimization training program founded by educator and agency veteran Damon Burton, cites recent guidance from Google Search Advocate John Mueller as further evidence that manipulation-based, or black-hat, SEO tactics carry more risk than reward. Mueller addressed a practitioner's plan to hide a homepage navigation button from Google so that a more intentional internal link, placed further down the page, would be the one Google read as the anchor text. His response was direct: leave the button alone. Google is already built to handle multiple links pointing to the same destination without practitioners needing to engineer which one wins.
The concept Mueller addressed, known as "first-link priority," has circulated in SEO communities since 2008 as a theory that Google reads only the first link's anchor text when a page links to the same URL more than once.¹ For practitioners learning SEO through structured, principle-based training, this guidance carries the consistent message that the behaviors appearing to be shortcuts tend to introduce more technical risk than they eliminate. Mueller noted the proposed fix would not give the button hidden anchor text but would remove it from Google's crawlable link structure entirely, creating a gap rather than a ranking advantage.
Burton's Certified SEO program covers internal linking strategy as part of its technical SEO and site architecture modules, teaching the behaviors Google rewards rather than tactics designed to manipulate rankings. The program draws on more than 15 years of active agency experience, with a curriculum shaped by thousands of campaigns across industries and site sizes. That foundation teaches certified SEO professionals who complete the program how to evaluate new guidance without chasing every emerging tactic.
"Every shortcut has an expiration date," said Burton. "Fundamentals don't."
Burton said moments like Mueller's response are exactly why the Certified SEO curriculum emphasizes understanding search principles rather than memorizing tactics. As Google's guidance evolves, practitioners who understand the underlying concepts are better equipped to adapt.
Mueller's dismissal of the link obfuscation plan reflects what Google has maintained for years: technical manipulation may produce temporary ranking improvements, but it creates structural debt that costs practitioners later. Certified SEO trains learners at every experience level, from practitioners starting their first client engagements to agency owners formalizing what they have built through trial and error. More information about the program, certification requirements, and curriculum is available at CertifiedSEO.com.
¹ https://www.searchenginejournal.com/googles-mueller-on-first-link-priority-link-obfuscation/582316/
