- Definition
- Cloaking is showing different content to a platform's review systems than to people, to hide something that breaks advertising rules.
Google's circumventing systems policy does not allow cloaking and can lead to account suspension. It distinguishes cloaking from legitimate differences such as language or location, as long as the promoted product or service is the same for everyone.
Suspected cloaking is hard to prove from outside: a page can vary by visitor for innocent reasons too.
How Ads Lighthouse observes it
Ads Lighthouse does not detect cloaking. It records what appeared on the results page for each check, and landing page captures, where available, keep page text rather than screenshots.
Official sources
- Google Advertising Policies Help: Circumventing systems
- Google Advertising Policies Help: Destination requirements
Sources checked on .