How Google defines IP delivery, geolocation, and cloaking
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Monday, June 02, 2008
Many of you have asked for more information regarding webserving techniques (especially related to
Googlebot), so we made a short
glossary of some of the more unusual methods.
Geolocation: Serving targeted/different content to users based on their location. As a
webmaster, you may be able to determine a user's location from preferences you've stored in
their cookie, information pertaining to their login, or their IP address. For example, if your
site is about baseball, you may use geolocation techniques to highlight the Yankees to your
users in New York.
The key is to treat Googlebot as you would a typical user from a similar location, IP range,
etc. (that is, don't treat Googlebot as if it came from its own separate country—that's
cloaking).
IP delivery: Serving targeted/different content to users based on their IP address,
often because the IP address provides geographic information. Because IP delivery can be
viewed as a specific type of geolocation, similar rules apply. Googlebot should see the same
content a typical user from the same IP address would see.
(Author's warning: This 7.5-minute video may cause drowsiness. Even if you're really
interested in IP delivery or multi-language sites, it's a bit uneventful.)
Cloaking: Serving different content to users than to Googlebot. This is a violation of
our webmaster guidelines.
If the file that Googlebot sees is not identical to the file that a typical user sees, then
you're in a high-risk category. A program such as md5sum or diff can compute a hash to verify
that two different files are identical.
First Click Free: Implementing
Google News' First Click Free policy
for your content allows you to include your premium or subscription-based content in Google's
websearch index without violating our quality guidelines. You allow all users who find your
page using Google search to see the full text of the document, even if they have not
registered or subscribed. The user's first click to your content area is free. However, you
can block the user with a login or payment request when he clicks away from that page to
another section of your site.
If you're using First Click Free, the page displayed to users who visit from Google must be
identical to the content that is shown to the Googlebot.
Still have questions? We'll see you at the related thread in our
Webmaster Help Group.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eWebmasters are encouraged to use geolocation and IP delivery to serve targeted content, but Googlebot should receive the same content as a typical user from that location or IP range.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eCloaking, which involves serving different content to Googlebot than to users, is a violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and should be avoided.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe "First Click Free" policy allows premium content to be indexed by Google while permitting publishers to require registration or payment after the first click.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eContent served to Googlebot must be identical to the content seen by a typical user to comply with Google's guidelines.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Webserving techniques include geolocation and IP delivery, which tailor content based on user location or IP. Crucially, Googlebot should receive the same content as a typical user in the same location or with the same IP. Cloaking, showing different content to Googlebot, violates guidelines. First Click Free allows premium content to be indexed, ensuring the initial Google search click displays identical content to both users and Googlebot. These techniques aim to improve user experience while maintaining transparency.\n"],null,["# How Google defines IP delivery, geolocation, and cloaking\n\nMonday, June 02, 2008\n\n\nMany of you have asked for more information regarding webserving techniques (especially related to\n[Googlebot](/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot)), so we made a short\nglossary of some of the more unusual methods.\n\n-\n **Geolocation**: Serving targeted/different content to users based on their location. As a\n webmaster, you may be able to determine a user's location from preferences you've stored in\n their cookie, information pertaining to their login, or their IP address. For example, if your\n site is about baseball, you may use geolocation techniques to highlight the Yankees to your\n users in New York.\n\n\n The key is to treat Googlebot as you would a typical user from a similar location, IP range,\n etc. (that is, don't treat Googlebot as if it came from its own separate country---that's\n cloaking).\n-\n **IP delivery**: Serving targeted/different content to users based on their IP address,\n often because the IP address provides geographic information. Because IP delivery can be\n viewed as a specific type of geolocation, similar rules apply. Googlebot should see the same\n content a typical user from the same IP address would see.\n\n\n *(Author's warning: This 7.5-minute video may cause drowsiness. Even if you're really\n interested in IP delivery or multi-language sites, it's a bit uneventful.)*\n- **Cloaking** : Serving different content to users than to Googlebot. This is a violation of our [webmaster guidelines](/search/docs/essentials). If the file that Googlebot sees is not identical to the file that a typical user sees, then you're in a high-risk category. A program such as md5sum or diff can compute a hash to verify that two different files are identical.\n-\n **First Click Free** : Implementing\n [Google News' First Click Free policy](https://googlenewsblog.blogspot.com/2007/09/first-click-free.html)\n for your content allows you to include your premium or subscription-based content in Google's\n websearch index without violating our quality guidelines. You allow all users who find your\n page using Google search to see the full text of the document, even if they have not\n registered or subscribed. The user's first click to your content area is free. However, you\n can block the user with a login or payment request when he clicks away from that page to\n another section of your site.\n\n\n If you're using First Click Free, the page displayed to users who visit from Google must be\n identical to the content that is shown to the Googlebot.\n\n\nStill have questions? We'll see you at the related thread in our\n[Webmaster Help Group](https://support.google.com/webmasters/community).\n\nWritten by [Maile Ohye](/search/blog/authors/maile-ohye)"]]
