What it is
Showing Google one thing and users another, by any mechanism, is cloaking, one of the clearest spam violations. The crawler and the user must see the same substance. Different content to crawlers vs users. Core spam violation; manual-action risk. Serve unified content.
Why does cloaking matter for AI search?
Core spam violation; manual-action risk.
How do you fix it?
Serve unified content.
How do you find it on your site?
- Fetch the page as Googlebot and compare against the user view.
- Look for content, links or redirects that differ by crawler.
- Remove any cloaking, including accidental user-agent branching.
- Keep crawler and user experiences the same.
Which ranking and citation factors does it touch?
Cloaking is a serious spam violation that can earn a manual action. Parity between crawler and user is non-negotiable.
What is the impact?
Severe; penalty risk. Direct.
What is the evidence?
Cloaking violates spam policies. Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search
Frequently asked questions about cloaking
What does "Cloaking" mean?
Different content to crawlers vs users.
How do you fix cloaking?
Serve unified content.