What does "cloaking" mean?

[webustaad]

Dear webmasters!

I hope you all are in good health.

I am a new kid among you all. Can anyone tell me what does cloaking mean?

[Chuma]

The Webmaster World glossary is very useful when you are still learning.

Cloaking entry:
[webmasterworld.com...]

Thanks.

[jeremy goodrich]

Serving content based on the environment variables of the http connection in question. :)

Though, that is a gross oversimplification - but I believe that any form of 'cloaking' comes down to that statement, really.

[jatar_k]

take a look at the Cloaking Forum Charter [webmasterworld.com]

also
The Truth About Cloaking [webmasterworld.com]

another interesting thread but older
Cloaking : Webmaster World Knowledge base excerpt. [webmasterworld.com]

[SEO practioner]

Webuss: as per Google guidelines:

"If you must feed different content to the search engines than to the users, or if you require the IP address, then it is cloaking"

[jeremy goodrich]

Ya, but 'cloaking' does not require a search engine to function :) the definition exists without the need to classify the type of request.

Much simpler just to consider the customization of the user experience based on the http connection variables at hand, than to limit it to one form of web browser.

[creative craig]

Feeding content to a user based on what part of the world they come from is a form of cloaking.

Craig