korkus2000 - 2:09 pm on Jan 31, 2003 (gmt 0)

Google Cloaking Policy [google.com]

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.

So by this definition serving up a googlebot readable page for a Flash site is "cloaking". I don't understand a problem with overcoming googlebot's accessibility problem with Flash. When Google actually implements Macromedia Flash Search Engine SDK [macromedia.com] this won't be an issue. AllTheWeb has already implemented it for 4 months [webmasterworld.com].

Just as Woz says above, "cloaking" is a tool like Flash. It can be used by the dark or light side. Like Flash [webmasterworld.com] there are people who have seen to many bad implementations that all usage should stop.

I am not an SEO. I am a web designer. I have no clients to get high rankings for. I just make web sites. "Cloaking", the way it applies to my industry, is a way to use current technology, instead of waiting decades for the search engines to catch up. How old is Flash? When will Flash be indexable? Why should something that has a 90% penetration rate [webmasterworld.com] on the Internet be blacklisted by the search engines? I wish someone could explain this to me.