(Bait-and-Switch) The provision of one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other user agents at the same URL.

The hiding of page content. Normally carried out to stop page thieves stealing optimized pages. See also Bait-and-Switch.

In terms of Search Engine Marketing, cloaking describes a website which provides one version of a web page to a Search Engine when it is indexing the website and a different version of that page to an individual browsing the website. A number of Search Engines have clear rules against cloaking which distorts the rankings in their Results pages and anyone trying this may find themselves penalised or banned from a Search Engine's index.

Cloaking is the act of hiding page content and is often utilized to stop page thieves from stealing optimized pages.

Cloaking describes the technique of serving a different page to a Search Engine bot/spider than what a human visitor sees. This 'Black Hat' technique is abused by spammers with the use of keyword stuffing. Cloaking is a violation of many Search Engine Guidelines and could get your website banned.

Hides the real URL of your site

In a nutshell cloaking is a situation where the content of a web page can differ depending on 'who is asking'. In less controversial situations content optimized for different browsers could be served based on the detected browser. More often though, the term is used to refer to relatively technical attempts to trick the search engines agents by showing them different, highly targetted content.

A technique of serving a different page to a search engine spider than what a human visitor sees. The term "cloaking" is used to describe a website that returns altered WebPages to search engines crawling the site.

In terms of search engine marketing, this is the act of getting a search engine to record content for a URL that is different than what a searcher will ultimately see. It can be done in many technical ways. Several search engines have explicit rules against unapproved cloaking. Those violating these guidelines might find their pages penalized or banned from a search engine's index. As for approved cloaking, this generally only happens with search engines offering paid inclusion program. Anyone offering cloaking services should be able to demonstrate explicit approval from a search engine about what they intend to do. If not, then they should then have explained the risks inherent of unapproved cloaking.

A spam trick generally used to get search engine positions. Different pages are displayed depending on the circumstances.

Hides a Web site's URL in the address bar of a user's browser. For example, if a URL shows http://discountdomainregistry.com/, the Web site might actually be located at http://discountdomainregistry.com/home. The masking simply displays the preferred URL over the actual page URL. This service is especially helpful when a URL is long or hard to remember.

serving one version of a page to a human visitor and a different version to the search engines. The cloaked version usually contains a list of targeted keyword unintelligible to humans. Presently considered unacceptable by most major search engines.

A programming technique that allows search engines to spider content differently than what the visitor sees. 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 This is generally used to trick spiders into seeing optimized content.

In terms of search engine optimization, it means sending one version of a web page to a search engine that is different from the version the actual user sees when visiting the site. It is usually done by identifying the unique IP address of a search engine's crawler and then serving keyword-stuffed content when this IP is requesting a page from your server. Cloaking is generally intended to mislead the search engine and hence considered unethical SEO. Most search engines will penalize a site if cloaking is detected (usually by website operators competing for the same keywords). As for approved cloaking, this generally only happens with search engines offering paid inclusion.

Technique using server side software to direct search engine spiders into specially designed pages for that spider and directing to a different page for other user agents at the same URL. Regularly associated with spamming search engines and can also results in your site getting banned from engines, also can produce very strong results.

promotion technique that shows different content to users and to search engine spiders.

When a website uses one version of content for the site which is seen by the user, and sends a different version of content to the search engine. In some cases, cloaking will result in a website being banned from the search engines because of its unethical practices.

A technique used to spam crawler-based search engines.

Sending one version of a Web page to a search engine that is different than what a Web user actually sees on the site. Cloaking, although considered unethical, is used to increase the potential ranking of a Web page. Most search engines will penalize a site if they discover it is cloaking.

A method of serving pages to a third party specifically, which could be considered spam by search engines. See also IP cloaking, IP delivery, and user-agent delivery.

A means of ″tricking″ search engines into giving your site a higher ranking. It is generally frowned upon and may well result in banning. Cloaking involves displaying different pages depending on the circumstances; ie. you will display certain optimized pages to the search engine, and alternative pages to site visitors. It can also be used to prevent thieves from stealing optimized content, but should be avoided as it is regarded in the same light as spam by most major search engines.

This is a way to trick Search Engine spiders (it can get you banned so don't do it!). It's a way to show or hide optimized content specifically for the purpose to make a page look good to a search engine.

Trying to trick a search engine giving a higher PageRank to content which would normally return a lower rank.

The action of showing different content to search engine spiders than you showto human visitors.

black hat technique of tricking the search engines into seeing something other than what is displayed to the human viewer

The practice of making a page available to search engines, but displaying a different page to visitors who click on the search engine link. The use of cloaking is forbidden by most search engines and those who employ such practices may be penalized.

An unethical SEO marketing practice of tricking the search engine into indexing different content than the user will see. Often the content is entirely unrelated to the actual purpose of the site.

The unethical process of serving different content to a search engine than what a normal visitor would recieve on the same url. The search engine then ranks the page based on the unrelated content that the user will never acutally see. It is a dangerous tactic can result in a site being banned from a search engine.

Any method of getting a search engine to record content date for a URL that is different from what a viewer would ultimately see. Most search engines have clear rules and guidelines that warn webmasters indexed websites may be banned or penalized. Spamming is taken very seriously and not recommended for long-term search engine positioning success.

method used by some web sites in order to boost their search engine ranking. It involves delivering one page to a Search Engine for indexing while serving an entirely different page to everyone else. Most search engines will penalize sites that use cloaking.

Using software to deliver custom pages to search engine spiders or other users based upon the IP address or the User Agent requesting the document.

Serving one version of a page to a human visitor and a different version of the same page to the Search Engines. This is usually done to fool the Search Engines into giving the page a higher rank than it would normally receive while making sure the human visitor sees a useful and attractive page. Most major Search Engines have explicit rules against unapproved cloaking. Those violating these guidelines might find their pages penalised or banned from a Search Engine's index. As for approved cloaking, this generally only happens with Search Engines offering paid inclusion program. Anyone offering cloaking services should be able to demonstrate explicit approval from a Search Engine about what they intend to do. If not, then they should then have explained the risks inherent of unapproved cloaking.

The term "cloaking" is used to describe a website that returns altered webpages to search engines crawling the site. In other words, the webserver is programmed to return different content to Google than it returns to regular users, usually in an attempt to distort search engine rankings. This can mislead users about what they'll find when they click on a search result. To preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results, Google may permanently ban from our index any sites or site authors that engage in cloaking to distort their search rankings.

it is a technique which consists of showing two different versions of one page. One with normal content for the user and the other optimised for the search engines.

Cloaking is a system of delivering custom content to a spider but hiding the code and / or content from a user. Cloaking can be a dangerous method of getting listed in the search engines and may not be recommended.

A technique used to potentially mislead a search engine (spider) by presenting it with one set of information and presenting Internet users with another. Some search engines may frown upon this practice as it is a technique sometimes used spammers.

Definition: A programming technique that allows search engines to spider content differently than what the visitor sees. Directory Definition: A list of website links categorized by location, industry or specialization. For example: DMOZ.

Content presented to the search engines that differs from content presented to a user's browser. This technique is used to fool search engines in order to achieve higher page rankings while making sure the user continues to view a visually attractive and useful page.

the process of returning altered web pages to search engines crawling the site. In other words, the web server is programmed to return one content to the search engine. To users it returns another content. The purpose is to distort search engine rankings. Search engines consider cloaking a form of spamindexing.

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.

Providing the search engine index with one web page and the human visitor a different page.

A technique for displaying different results which Search Engine spiders (defined below) see that visitors to the site do not see. A dangerous technique that can cause a Website to be de-listed (defined below).

Redirects spiders to pages that are not seen by the user or gets a search engine to record content for a URL that is different than what a person sees. cloaking is considered to be a deceptive or spamming technique and for that reason it is not advisable to use it.

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 the users' browser. Cloaking is a form of the doorway page technique.

A method used to show specific pages based upon the client requesting the page. Cloaking is generally used to display optimized pages to specific search engine crawlers

A script written in the server of the site to display two versions of the webpage, one is targeted at SE's spider and another to website's visitors. The version shown to the visitor is a simplified version so that he understands what it is all about, while the other version is for ranking purpose. It has KW's stuffed in the content as well as title, meta tags etc.

A technique that shows keyword stuffed apges to a search engine, but a real page to a human user.

A method to deliver different content to different agents. Used to send optimized pages to specific search engines. A very dangerous tool, that can cause a spam flag by the engines (They hate it).

The process of delivering different content to human visitors and SEARCH ENGINE SPIDERS. Some SEARCH ENGINES consider any form of delivering different content to visitors and SPIDERS cloaking, and may BAN sites from its database or . Many SEARCH ENGINES consider cloaking to be SPAM.

Where a webmaster designs two versions of the same page. One is designed and optimized for the search engine spiders ( search-engine friendly ) and one is designed for the normal visitor ( human friendly ). The webmaster creates a script that holds all the IP addresses of the search engine spiders. When one of these spiders visits, the script will 'feed' the search engine friendly page tailored to that particular search engine. When a normal person visits they will see a completely different 'customer-orientated' page.

The hiding of a page content, normally done to stop potential stealing of well optimized pages, but also used for providing of one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other actual visitor. As this technique could artificially increase the relevancy of the web sites and was abused in the past it's treated as spam on most search engines and especially Google (which supplies data for Yahoo, AOL, Iwon, Netscape, Kanoodle, etc. )

An unethical SEO practice. It involves a different version of a web page being presented to each search engine spider. Each different version of the web page is optimized for the search engine spider it is presented to (i.e. exploiting its weaknesses). For example the Yahoo spider will be presented with a web page optimized for the Yahoo spider. You can be penalized heavily by the search engines for doing it, so don't do it.

A spamming method of hiding page content from users or robots. This technique is used both to disguise actual page content from page thieves and to falsely present a more search engine friendly website to visiting spiders. Cloaking is considered an unacceptable practice by all major search engines and can be cause for penalization or ban.

The act of getting a search engine to record content for a URL that is different than what a searcher will ultimately see. It can be done in many technical ways. If you offer cloaking services, you should be able to demonstrate explicit approval from a search engine about what you intend to do. If not, then you may suffer from the risks inherent to unapproved cloaking.

when used in relation to web pages, means hiding page code content.

The act of presenting different information to a search engine spider that a human visitor will see. You can find more information on this in the Black-Hat Search Engine Positioning Tactics.

is a spam technique that delivers highly optimized content to specific crawlers/spiders, however the visitor is diverted to another page altogether. The idea being that the spider sees the highly optimized content which boosts their ranking under a given keyword, compared to the one the visitor or competitor sees. This technique is a violation of the Terms Of Service of most search engines and sites that are discovered or reported, face the prospect of being banned and having their website dropped from the specific search engine(s).

Server-side technology that delivers different Web pages depending on whether the IP address is from a known search engine spider or someone else. If from a search spider, the server feeds an optimized page. Otherwise a regular page is served. Search engines object to this technique and routinely purge cloaked pages, and in some cases ban the site entirely. This technique is also called IP spoofing, IP cloaking and IP delivery.

This a technique used by spammers to trick the search engines by serving a different page the the search engine spider than what a human visitor would normally see.

Cloaking is a technique in which the content presented to the spider is different from that of those that is presented to that of user's browser. This method is often used as a trick for search engines to rank sites for a higher ranking.

At the same URL (web address) showing one page to a search engine spider and a different page to a human visitor. Frowned upon by search engines as deceptive, sites may be severely penalized by the engines if they use cloaking.

Also known as a Cloaked Page or a Stealth Page. This

A technique used by some site promoters which presents a SE-optimized website to the SE spider and a human-optimized website to the visitors.

The practice of delivering content based on the IP address of the client . The practice is sometimes defended by saying it's a way of protecting code from theft. It should be noted that the practice of cloaking can get your site banned from the search engines . For a detailed discussion on cloaking and links to cloaking resources, please refer to the Search Engine Yearbook .

The act of serving different HTML code to different visitors to a web page based on certain criteria.( I hate Google.org)

Sending to a search engine a version of a Web page different from what Web surfers see. Used to increase the page's chances in search rankings. Considered spam.

refers to hiding code or content from a human user, and delivering custom content to a search engine spider. There are three main types of cloaking: - IP based cloaking custom delivers a page based on the users IP address (this can be used to deliver custom language based sites or target groups of users from particular ISP's such as AOL or @home users). - User Agent cloaking sends a custom page based upon the users Agent (most often use to take advantage of a particular agents strengths or features). - Combination of Agent and IP cloaking is used to target specific users with specific agents (such as search engines). Cloaking is generally frowned upon by the search engines and considered SPAM.

Using some system to hide code or content from a user, and deliver custom content to a search engine spider. The word Cloak comes from Star Trek where the Klingons were capable of "cloaking" their ships invisible. There are three main types of cloaking: IP based, User Agent based, and the combination of those two. IP based cloaking custom delivers a page based on the users IP address (this can be used to deliver custom language based sites or target groups of users from particular ISP's such as AOL or @home users). User Agent cloaking sends a custom page based upon the users Agent (most often use to take advantage of a particular agents strengths or features). Finally, the combination of Agent and IP cloaking is use to target specific users with specific agents (such as search engines).

It is possible to display one version of a page to search engine spiders but a different page to human visitors.

Delivering different content to specific crawlers/spiders. This is generally used to trick spiders into seeing optimised content.

A method for displaying different content to a search engine crawler. Usually an attempt to trick the engine in order to obtain some kind of a ranking benefit.

Serving one version of a page to a human visitor and a different version of the same page to the search engines. This is usually done to "fool" the search engines into giving the page a higher rank than it would normally receive while making sure the human visitor sees a useful and attractive page. Note: Cloaking is discouraged by most major search engines, including Google. CPA (cost per action) CPA is a metric for online advertising where a rate is set for every action that is taken by a user. CPM (cost per thousand impressions)? CPM is a metric for online advertising where a rate is set for every thousand impressions.

search engine optimization technique in which a site is equipped to identify the user agent requesting a page and, if a search engine, providing a page designed exclusively for that search engineand, otherwise, providing the normal page. While this may be a legitimate technique for preventing certain methods of automatically collecting optimized pages, this technique is frowned upon by some search engines and banned by others. Depending on the search engine, its use may result in penalties or the banning of the page or the site using this technique.

A technique that changes a displayed page, done by webmasters to optimize a page for search engines and at the other hand end users sees the page differently. This method is considered Spam by search engines.

The art of serving up highly optimised source code to search engine spiders whilst presenting humans with the viewable, glossy, marketing page. (this is BAD practise)

The use of many different tactics in order to hide the content of a page. Sometimes cloaking is used to serve up different content to users than to search engines. Cloaking techniques are often considered spam and could result in losing your listing in a search engine.

Delivering different content to specific crawlers or spiders. This is used to trick spiders into seeing optimized content.

The act of serving content to search engine spiders that is different to what normal visitors would see. Search engines will ban you if they find you doing this.

Cloaking is a method of redirection which hides the actual URL of your site from the viewer's address bar via frames. Cloaking for non-credited users results in a popup ad being displayed the first time the page is accessed. Users who have purchased upgrade credit(s) will automatically have the advertising popup removed. ()

Serving one version of a page to a human visitor and a different version of the same page to the search engines. This is usually done to "fool" the search engines into giving the page a higher rank than it would normally receive, while making sure the human visitor sees a useful and attractive page. Cloaking is considered unethical by many search engines and could result in your site to be banned.

Showing a different page to a user than what was shown to the search engine (Blacklistable offense).

Hiding of page content or affiliate linking code.

The process by which your site can display different pages under different circumstances. It is primarily used to show an optimized page to the search engines and a different page to humans. Most search engines will penalize a site if they discover that it is using cloaking.

In simple words hiding page contents is cloaking. Creating pages in such a way that search engine and human will see different pages.

also known as "stealth," involves serving a specific page to each search engine spider and a different one to human visitors. In most cases, frowned upon by search engines.

The process of delivering custom content to a search engine spider that is hidden from site visitors. With cloaking, search engine spiders see one page and visitors see another page with different content.

Cloaking describes the technique of serving a different page to a search engine spider than what a human visitor sees. This technique is abused by spammers for keyword stuffing. Cloaking is a violation of the Terms Of Service of most search engines and could be grounds for banning. Return to Top of SEO Glossary

Any of several varying techniques used to provide a different web page for the search engine spiders to scan than what a human user would see. Cloaking is one of the most controversial methods used in search engine optimization. It can be an unethical attempt to mislead search engines regarding the content on a particular web page. On the other hand, it can be used to provide human users with content that a search engine would not be able to process or parse. An ethical use of cloaking would be to provide website accessibility to blind people and people with other disabilities. A good benchmark on whether a given act of cloaking is ethical or not is whether it enhances accessibility.

Cloaking describes the technique of serving different views of the same web page to a search engine spider and visitors. This may the ground for banning the site by many search engines.

Cloaking is the process of selecting what content to display depending on who is looking.

( a “no-no,” redirecting the search engine to separately prepared pages that are different than the actual content you show visitors. A practice that is prohibited by search engines and can result in penalizing or banning a Website.

Cloaking is a method of redirection which hides the actual URL of your site from the viewer's address bar via frames. It is primarily used to show an optimized page to the search engines and a different page to humans. Most search engines will penalize a site if they discover that it is using cloaking.

Feeding search engine spiders content that is different from the Web page, using IP Cloaking software or redirects. Can be done for good or bad reasons; sites could use cloaking to give the search engines content that can't be seen due to programming or design issues, or could use it to feed search engines content that is not on the site.

To cloak, or hide, the content of a web page by having two versions of the same page, one submitted to search engines and one available to others. Cloaking is considered completely taboo by legitimate SEO companies, and search engines frown upon the practice completely.

A program (installed on your web server) that detects search engine spiders via spider name or IP address. By comparing the IP address of the site visitor to a database of IP addresses of search engine spiders, the cloaking program determines whether or not a visitor is a search engine spider.

The misleading use of an URL that is different from what the user will ultimately see.

This practice is not tolerated by Google or any other major search engine. It is where the true content of a web page that will be seen by users is cloaked or hidden from the search engine spiders which will have other content presented to them.

A deceptive process that sends search engine spiders to alternative pages that are not seen by the end user. Also the process of getting a search engine to record content for a URL that is different from what the visitor sees. It is often done as a way to obtain more favorable search positions.

Serving different content to search engine spiders than to human visitors. Cloaking is basically a "bait and switch" tactic, where the web server feeds visiting spiders content that is keyword-rich, thus fooling the search engine into placing that page higher in the search results. Yet when the visitor clicks on the link they are given different content, which may be totally unrelated. Search engines frown upon this practice and some will penalize or ban sites that they catch doing it. See also: Banned, Blacklist, Spamglish, Spamming

Method by which specific content is served up to the search engine spider that is different then what the normal surfer sees.

The hiding of page content. Involves providing one page for a search engine or directory and a different page for other user agents at the same URL. Legitimate method for stopping page thieves from stealing optimized pages, but frowned upon by some search engines resulting in penalties.