Cloaking is a technique in digital marketing and SEO in which the content shown to users and search engines is completely different. The goal of this technique is to improve a site’s positioning in search results, attract more traffic, or bypass the limitations of a particular platform. However, cloaking is a controversial technique as its misuse can result in penalties from search engines or the banning of your advertising account. In this article, we’ll go into detail about what cloaking is and how to use it most effectively.

What is cloaking?

Cloaking is a technique in which a website shows different content to users and search engine robots or traffic source moderators. For example, a user may see one version of a page with certain content, while a search engine algorithm or moderator sees a different version, specifically optimised to improve search engine ranking or bypass restrictions. This technique is often used to improve a website’s SEO performance, attract more website visitors, increase clicks on adverts and increase conversions . Programming cloaking aside, cloaking is categorised into main types:

• User-Agent cloaking. In this case, the web server detects which User-Agent (browser or search robot) made the request to the page and returns content based on that;
• IP address cloaking. In this method, the web server analyses the visitor’s IP address and based on it determines whether it is a search robot or a regular user. Accordingly, it shows the desired content.

However, this classification is most often disregarded, as most marketers and webmasters use cloaking services, on which no technical knowledge is required to run a system to bypass search algorithms or moderation.

How to use cloaking

The use of cloaking should be carefully considered, with proper implementation that takes into account the rules and guidelines of a search engine such as Google or another platform. Improper use of cloaking can result in penalties and worse positions in search results, account banning or suspension. Most often, cloaking is used when webmasters need to promote offers in grey or even black verticals. Since such verticals are banned on many sites, to drive traffic to an offerer, you need to cheat moderation and algorithms of traffic sources, showing them acceptable content, and potential buyers the necessary content.

The best services for cloaking

• Adspect offers a multifunctional cloaking tool focused on optimising advertising campaigns. The service provides detailed control over traffic, providing various filters and settings, integration with popular advertising platforms, as well as reports and analytics;
• Keitaro is a powerful tracker and cloaking tool designed for digital marketing professionals. The service helps to effectively manage traffic and ad campaigns with advanced tracking features, a variety of filters, integration with ad networks and support for mobile devices;
• RedTrack provides various marketing tools, including tracking and cloaking, allowing you to monitor and analyse traffic, as well as effectively manage advertising campaigns. The service offers powerful analytical tools, integration with popular advertising platforms and flexible filter settings.

How to set up cloaking

Setting up cloaking requires some technical knowledge and attention to detail. Let’s take a look at the basic steps you need to take to set up cloaking:

Defining goals and strategy

Before you start setting up cloaking, you need to define the goals you want to achieve with it. This can be improving search engine positions, increasing conversions, testing new ad bundles or tools, testing conversion of traffic to new offers, and so on.

Choosing a cloaking method

Based on your goals, choose the most appropriate cloaking method. Each method has its own peculiarities and can be more effective in certain situations, for example, when pouring traffic from different sources.

Technical implementation

If you don’t use services to perform cloaking, customisation will require changes to server settings and site code. For example, to implement User-Agent cloaking, you will need to configure the server to validate User-Agent headers and provide relevant content. 

Testing

Before running cloaking in a real-world environment, you need to conduct thorough testing. Make sure that the content displays correctly for users and search engine crawlers, and that there are no technical errors. This can be done using specialised tools.

Monitoring and analysing

After implementing cloaking, it is important to constantly monitor its performance and analyse the results. Keep track of traffic indicators, positions in search engines and conversions. This will allow you to identify and correct possible problems in a timely manner. —

Conclusion

Cloaking is an instrument that is almost impossible to do without in digital marketing. Without it, you can’t promote the most lucrative, grey verticals, such as gambling, betting and nutra. When used correctly, it can significantly improve your site’s search engine position, increase traffic flow, boost conversions and increase your revenue from traffic monetisation. However, it’s important to remember that cloaking is a controversial technique and using it incorrectly can get your advertising account banned.