How do you tell if cloaking is being used?

is it in the code?

[Lawd Have Mercy]

Hi,

I am trying to understand cloaking. It seems the highly technical side of SEO. Can someone explain it in non-technical terms (IP spoofing, shadow domains, etc.) or put some links to more novice oriented explainations?

The reason I have become interested in cloaking is that a site that competes for my main keyword phrase (two words) is ranked 1 or 2 (depending on the server) in Google, but doesn't have one the keywords on its page! There is plenty of hidden text (text with links the same color as the background) but, even in that, there is no second keyword.

How can I tell what they are using to get to the #1 spot? If a small niche like mine is using it and getting great results, I can't imagine what the bigger markets are up against. How does one compete with this technique without resorting to using it. This is extremely frustrating!

Thanks in advance for any information.

Happuy Holidays,

Mercy

[heini]

First of all a very important thing in Google's algo is linking. If you have not yet done so you should look at the inbound links for the competing site.

As to cloaking: there is some excellent basic information in the library of this forum:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[Lawd Have Mercy]

What am I looking for in the link:hissite.com? The number of links is about the same as mine. Many are from related theme sites (which are the same as mine). He has an active forum. That is what is driving the linking, but when you click the forum link from another site you are directed to his homepage.

Thanks for the link info! I will get started reading immediately!

Mercy