Cloaking is an SEO tactic where a website shows different content to search engines than it shows to human visitors. This is usually done to try to rank for keywords or topics that the visible page does not actually satisfy, which can mislead both users and search engines. For example, a crawler might be served a keyword rich text page while real visitors see a sales page, an unrelated offer, or even a completely different topic.
Because cloaking relies on presenting inconsistent information, it conflicts with clear, trustworthy SEO practices and is generally considered a Black Hat technique. If your goal is accuracy and transparency, the content a user sees should match what search engines can access and evaluate. There are legitimate cases where content changes based on location, device, or logged in status, but those scenarios should still be handled in a way that is consistent and not deceptive. When in doubt, prioritize serving the same core content to crawlers and users so expectations are aligned.