What is Cloaking in SEO?
When you have taken some time to learn about search engine optimization (SEO) you must have heard a term referred to as cloaking. Though this might sound like a magical or even innocent practice, cloaking is in fact a black hat search engine optimization method that can cause severe consequences on the part of search engines such as Google.
We shall, in this article, deconstruct the concept of cloaking, its functionality, why it is termed as a deception, and what one can do in its place to ensure that the ranking of the site is ethical and effective.
Definition of Cloaking in SEO
One method is called cloaking and involves a web page displaying one thing to search engine robots (such as Googlebot) and an entirely different thing to a human.
The aim of doing this is to intentionally influence the ranking of the search engines so that a page can seem more relevant or key-word dense than the actual user-friendly page.
Simple Example:
- Googlebot perceives a page with contentthat is optimized with a keyword.
- An actual visitor is presented with a visually pleasing page with fewer contents or even something irrelevant.
This activity is against the webmaster principles of Google as it is regarded as deceptive.
How Cloaking Works
Cloaking is typically carried out on the basis of user-agent (whether the visitor is a human or a robot) or detecting the IP address of the visitor.
The site then presents the content for the same way:
- Search engines are provided with a ranking optimized version.
- The users are given something other than that; even spammy and irrelevant stuff.
This is meant to be a deceit of the search engine of getting better ranking without necessarily creating value to the user.
Common Types of Cloaking
Cloaking is implemented in a number of ways. Here are the most common ones:
IP-based Cloaking
Contingent content is delivered depending on the IP address of the visitor. Respected IPs of search engine bots are displayed with SEO-friendly pages.
User-Agent Cloaking
The user-agent of the browser of the visitor is checked by the server. In the event that it picks up a bot such as Googlebot, it presents optimized content.
JavaScript Cloaking
Bots without JavaScript are delivered a content of one type, and real users (that have browsers with JavaScript) are delivered another content.
HTTP Referer Cloaking
Depending upon the origin of the user (i.e. a search engine or a different site), different content is displayed.
Visual Cloaking
In other instances, websites conceal text by means of white fonts over white background or through text that is off-screen- or bots can see but users cannot.
Why Websites Use Cloaking
Cloaking is prohibited by the rules of Google, but it is still used by the owners of certain websites in their attempts to influence the ranks of search engines.
The following are some of the reasons why they do it:
Keyword Stuffing for Bots
They desire to pack keywords on a page to help in ranking high but they do not want a user to see such spam content.
Showcase Different Offers
Other websites might desire to display one form of content to the site visitor and a different one to the search engines to deceive the search engine into ranking the irrelevant keywords.
Redirect Traffic
Users are also occasionally bait-and-swerved by cloaking them with a page that is relevant to attract them, and then redirecting them to something completely different (such as advertisements or affiliate products).
Bypass Ad Rules
In other cases, black hat marketers mask content that may go through Google Ads or Facebook Ads approval systems by displaying a clean site to moderators and a different site to users.
How Google Detects Cloaking
Google has developed to be so sophisticated in recognizing cloaking in many ways:
Manual Reviews
A suspicious site can be reviewed by Google quality assurance team manually, provided that the site is reported.
Automated Bots
Googlebot crawls websites on a regular basis. In the event it identifies inconsistencies between its perception and those of its users, it can put the site on notice.
Machine Learning
Google implements higher AI to identify a pattern and behaviors related to cloaking.
User Reports
The Spam Report Tool that Google provides gives visitors an opportunity to report on the deceptive content.
Risks and Penalties
Cloaking may give rise to grave repercussions, which will damage the search engine optimization and reputation of your site.
- Manual Actions: Your site will be either punished or discontinued to be listed in the Google search engine.
- Loss of Rankings: You may also lose significantly in rankings even though your site is not fully deindexed.
- Loss of Trust: It is hard and long to regain trust with Google once you have been flagged.
It may take months or sometimes years before one is able to recover, in severe cases, at all.
Alternatives to Cloaking
One can engage in genuine methods of enhancing SEO without breaching the Google rules. Some white hat SEO alternatives are as follows:
Proactive Content
Dynamic content may be used depending on location or preferences, however, ensure that users as well as bots are shown the same thing.
Responsive Design
Create a mobile friendly and attractive site without concealing information.
Structured Data
Be deceptive with regards to using schema markup to make your content better understood by the search engines.
High-Quality Content
Produce valuable, interesting and original content that satisfies the needs of your target audience.
Proper Redirects
Where appropriate, use 301 redirects, when relevant and not to be dishonest.