How to Hide Text in a Logo Using CSS

You might want to hide the text in a logo and show an image for several reasons:

• SEO Benefits: Text content can be indexed by search engines, potentially improving the site’s search ranking. Search engines can’t “see” images but can read text, making the logo text useful for SEO purposes.
• Accessibility: Screen readers, used by visually impaired users, can read text even if it’s not visually displayed on the screen. By keeping the text available but hidden, you ensure that all users, regardless of their abilities, can understand what the logo represents.
• Design Consistency: Using images for logos ensures consistency in branding and design, especially across different platforms and devices. Images can maintain their appearance regardless of the browser or operating system.

CSS Technique for Hiding Text in a Logo

To hide the text of a logo and show a background image, you can use this CSS technique. This method uses text-indent to move the text out of the visible area and other properties to keep it hidden without affecting the layout.

<a href="#" class="logo">Company name</a>

a.logo {
    text-indent: -9999px;  /* Shifts the text far off-screen */
    overflow: hidden;      /* Ensures no overflow text is visible */
    white-space: nowrap;   /* Prevents text from wrapping to the next line */
    display: block;        /* Allows setting width and height */
    width: 150px;          /* Sets the width of the logo element */
    height: 50px;          /* Sets the height of the logo element */
    background-image: url('logo.png');  /* URL of the logo image */
    background-size: cover; /* Ensures the background image covers the entire area */
}

Explanation of the CSS Properties:

1. text-indent: -9999px; – This property moves the text far off to the left, outside the visible area of the viewport. It effectively hides the text from sight.
2. overflow: hidden; – This property ensures that any content that exceeds the boundaries of the element is hidden. It prevents any text that might accidentally appear due to layout changes.
3. white-space: nowrap; – This property prevents the text from wrapping to the next line, which helps keep the text consistently hidden.

visibility: hidden;