Google Responds to Cloaking Accusations

“Google has taken the unusual step of removing some of its own Web pages from its Web index after reports that the pages used a search-optimization method frowned upon by the search engine.

Search-engine watchers this week widely noted the appearance of so-called “cloaking” on a set of user support pages on Google’s AdWords advertising program. The pages were displaying different title information to Google’s Web crawler than to regular visitors to the pages.

In one specific example cited in discussions at the Threadwatch Weblog, a support page about an AdWords traffic-estimating tool had displayed a title to the Google crawler that included keywords such as “traffic estimator” and “traffic estimate” and ranked high in Google search results.

Some Webmasters use cloaking as a way to rank higher in search-engine results, often by feeding keywords to crawlers. But Google, in particular, is critical of the practice. In its guidelines for Webmasters, the Mountain View, Calif., company warns that it may permanently remove sites from its index that engage in cloaking.”