Cloaking is a black hat search engine optimization (SEO) technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different to that presented to the users’ 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. The purpose of cloaking is to deceive search engines so they display the page when it would not otherwise be displayed.

If your website or web pages are set up to display different information for a search engine spider versus a real person, then you are cloaking. Cloaking delivers one version of a page to an Internet user and a different version to a search engine. The cloaked page is packed with keyword and terms that the site wants to be highly rank for so, in essence, they are cheating. There are good reasons for cloaking as well, such as targeted advertising, but if you are trying to manipulate your rankings you should put an end to this immediately.

If Google finds multiple web pages have the same content they may penalize each website for this. It is possible someone may have copied your content and Google banned you even though it was your original content that was taken. Make sure no other site is using your content. You can do this by performing a Google search using some of your text with quotation marks (“) around it. If you do find someone is using your original copy, visit Google’s Infringement Notification for Web Search and all other products: http://www.google.com/dmca.html.

How can text been hidden? Well, there are a number of ways – some more sneaky than others. Essentially, it is considered hidden if the text or link is invisible to the website visitor but can be seen by search engine spiders. In the past, this was done quite often, such as making your text white on a white background or using cascading style sheets (CSS) to hide your text, but search engines can easily spot this today so it is best to avoid it altogether.

Have you ever seen a web page with a very awkwardly written first paragraph where a certain word or phrase is repeated? Here’s an example:

“We sell the iphones and ipods. If you like iphones and ipods we can help with the best iphones and ipods.”

Care to guess which keywords are being targeted? This is keyword spamming or stuffing but it is just the tip of the SEO iceberg. This is just the content on the page, there is probably keyword stuffing happening in the code: in the meta tags, invisible text, alt tags, title tags and comment tags. etc. If the word or phrase is repeated too often Google will place a filter to reduce the site’s rankings or simply ban the site.
Keyword density can be tricky but, as a general rule, Web SEO Specialists tries to have 1% to 5% of all text on a page to be our targeted keywords. You must ultimately for the reader, not the search engine. The keywords must flow naturally with the text of the page.

Increasingly, search engines (including Google), are including algorithms for natural (or Semantic) language detection. This algorithms improve search engine effectiveness by attempting to “understand” what the page is about.

Sneaky redirection pages are set up in groups from 5 to hundreds. They all target similar and related keywords or phrases. Usually, the only links on these pages are links to other pages in the same family creating a false sense of related linking.

These pages don’t necessarily contain content that any human would be interested in. These pages may show up high in Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS), but when you click on one of these pages from the SERPS, you will be redirected to another page. In other words, the page you click to see is not the page you actually get to read.

The redirect can be automatic, done with a meta refresh command or through other means such as a the mouse moving while on the redirect page.

While buying links may not get you banned, they can certainly hurt your page rank. Google has measures in place to put your site in limbo for 6-8 months (known as the “sandbox effect“). Many sites that sell links are being devalued by Google, making an investment in this strategy a waste of money and time. Ultimately, stay away from buying links to increase your ranking.

Link campaigns are good thing when done correctly; they are a necessity in today’s SEO world. But linking to bad websites is a sure way to lose your rank in Google. If you aren’t careful about who you are linking to, you can easily disappear overnight. While you may be ethical and do everything right, linking to someone who isn’t can be considered guilt by association.

Always verify your links to other sites. Make sure they have page rank in Google and are indexed by Google. Try searching for their URL to see if they are indexed. Avoid linking to any sites that use spamming techniques to increase their search engine rankings. Regularly checking outbound links from your site and removing any offenders is a good idea.

A few site types to avoid:

* Adult sites

* Free-for-all link farms

* Gambling sites

“Don’t deceive your users, or present different content to search engines than you display to users,” Google lists some bullet points on avoiding being banned.

Log into Google Webmaster Tools (if you have not done so, you will need to register your site). On the main account page, you will find a link at the bottom of the page to “Submit a reinclusuion request” which takes you here – https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/reinclusion?hl=en

From there you get to check boxes that let you admit guilt, acknowledge modification, agree not to do it again, and even a box to explain yourself.

You don’t have to contact Google but it can’t hurt. They will eventually spider your site again and see that you have cleaned up your website. You may have to wait a few months for Google to re-index your site so be patient, and don’t tinker with your website too much unless dictated by your site’s products or content needs.

The worst case scenario is to start a new site. Sometimes this can be necessary but only in the most extreme cases.

We pride ourselves on being an ethical SEO company. We do things the right way, by following the guidelines and rules. There is no easy shortcut to high rankings in Google or any other search engine.

We welcome any questions and are always willing to share information with clients and perspective clients. Give Web SEO Specialists a call today for a free consultation and search engine report to find out where you rank in the major search engines. Whether you feel you have been banned or just want to show up higher in Google’s search engine results, we can help you.