What is Cloaking ?

**Martinluo** · Dec 19th, 2011, 5:24 am

Hello,

What is Cloaking ?

Thanks

**AllenSantiago** · Dec 19th, 2011, 10:44 pm

Cloaking refers to the process of presenting the different website content to the search engine crawler or spider in one way and presenting it in different way in the user's browser. In simple it delivers different web page to search engine and different web page to the users. In this way, when user visits the cloaked web page they don't get what they are looking for. This can be done on the basis of user agent-http and may be on the basis of IP address. It is treated as one of the black hat SEO technique.

**rasel786** · Dec 20th, 2011, 4:29 am

Cloaking is a search engine optimization (SEO) technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different from that presented to the user's browser. This is done by delivering content based on the IP addresses or the User-Agent HTTP header of the user requesting the page. When a user is identified as a search engine spider, a server-side script delivers a different version of the web page, one that contains content not present on the visible page, or that is present but not searchable.

SEO Tips

**RezwanKabir** · Dec 20th, 2011, 9:07 pm

Also known as stealth, a technique used by some Web sites to deliver one page to a search engine for indexing while serving an entirely different page to everyone else. There are opposing views as to whether or not cloaking is ethical. Opponents see it as a bait-and-switch, where a Web server is scripted to look out for search engines that are spidering in order to create an index of search results. The search engine thinks it is selecting a prime match to its request based on the meta tags that the site administrator has input. However, the search result is misleading because the meta tags do not correspond to what actually exists on the page. Some search engines, such as Lycos, Hotbot and Excite, even ban cloaked Web sites. Proponents of cloaking assert that cloaking is necessary in order to protect the meta data, as only the spider is supplied with the meta tags.

**EliseBlanchett** · Dec 23rd, 2011, 11:37 pm

cloaking is having two separate pages, one optimized for the search engines and a different one optimized for the viewer. cloaking is a big no-no with Google.

**lizatailor23** · Dec 26th, 2011, 2:12 am

Cloaking means of presenting a different web page to a user from the one spidered by search engines. Your server script will have intelligence to differentiate this request. However, it is not an ethical SEO process

**royking** · Dec 26th, 2011, 9:12 pm

I think Cloaking is an unethical SEO technique where content is presented to the search engine spider in a different form which is not shows same in the users browsers.

**aciam** · Dec 29th, 2011, 6:16 am

Cloaking is a black hat trick of displaying different version of a web page to actual web users and spiders - this it to manipulate SERPs making the spiders believe that the page it is relevant for a certain keywords query

**trailblazer** · Dec 29th, 2011, 9:22 am

Cloaking is a black hat method for SEO. You must not use this if you really want to establish a name online. Start fresh and build your way to the top if you want to be free from Google penalties.

Blazer

**mtrick** · Jan 4th, 2012, 4:17 am

Cloaking is a black hat SEO technique, it deliver one page to a search engine for indexing while serving an entirely different page to everyone else. , The Benefits to achieve improved SERPs but Cloaking is in violation of most search engine policies and is very likely to get your site banned.

**Jhonden** · Jan 5th, 2012, 12:36 am

Cloakin is a black hat practice which is used when a website show different content to search engines at the time of crawling and different content pops up when a visitor opens the website. It is unethical.

**liza78** · Jan 5th, 2012, 2:32 am

Cloaking is the technique in which the content is present to search engine and user browser is different. Its a black hat SEO technique.

**bryanbell** · Jan 11th, 2012, 1:40 am

Cloaking is a black hat SEO technique. It is an unethical process in which the content in user's browser is different and the content presented to the search engine spider is also different.

Different types of cloaking methods

IP address Cloaking
User-Agent Cloaking
HTTP_REFERER Header Cloaking
HTTP Accept-Language Header Cloaking
JavaScript Cloaking

**smashits** · Jan 11th, 2012, 1:43 am

Hi,

Thanks for explaining about Cloaking. Can anyone post real life example of cloaking? I would like to see it.

**kevin619** · Jan 17th, 2012, 2:58 am

Cloaking generally means to present different version of web page contents from of search engines to search robots and human visitors based on their browser's user agent or IP address.

Different Cloaking Methods

IP address Cloaking - a method of presenting different contents based on determining IP addresses. e.g. Search engines with certain IP addresses will be shown a one version of a web page and all other IP addresses will be shown another version.

User-Agent Cloaking - a method of delivering different versions of a website based on User-Agent. e.g. Search engines and/or users using different versions of web browsers are served with different contents of a web page.

HTTP_REFERER Header Cloaking - if a user is coming from a certain website (e.g. clicking a link from search results or a website) they will be presented a different version of a website based on the HTTP_REFERER header value.

HTTP Accept-Language Header Cloaking - may be used to show different versions of a website based on a users web browser language without letting them for an option of language selection.

JavaScript Cloaking - users with JavaScript enabled browsers are shown one version while users with JavaScript turned off (like search engines) are shown another version of a website.