Cloaking

Have you ever heard of the term "cloaking?" Cloaking, often referred to as "bait and switch," is a cavalier process, whereby page contents are hidden from search engines or humans. While cloaking is sometimes utilized to protect web pages from thievery, search engines will penalize or even ban websites once a cloaking discovery has been made.



Often abused by spammers who utilize keyword stuffing, cloaking is considered unethical and is deemed a violation of many search engine guidelines. Not recommended, cloaking may be considered a search engine optimization technique by some, but is definitely not legitimate.



Cloaking specifically presents content to search engine spiders that is separate from what is presented to web surfers. This method is achieved by basing its cloaking attributes on IP addresses or other HTTP header, which are requesting particular web page(s).



A spamdexing process, cloaking often serves as a way to fool search engines into giving lesser-known websites a higher page ranking. While larger, well-known sites actively enlist cloaking maneuvers, they are done respectively and not out of sheer disrespect to gain higher page rank. Cloaking can be carried out responsively as in the case where one website may be transitioning to a new location. In this event, cloaking may be beneficial in redirecting traffic from an old site to a new site in a smooth and orderly fashion.



To learn more about cloaking and how it can effect your website, feel free to contact SEOAdept.com. We can help.