Got Banned because of URL Cloaking?

[keikor]

Hi all,

Very depressed today as i received an email from ypn stating that i got banned because of url cloaking. And what the heck is url cloaking?

I don't even know how to use a cloaking program and how can i got banned because of url cloaking?

Or does url cloaking mean i use all spam words in my pages? Because i don't use spammy tactics. Not say to cloak all the urls.

ANyone has any inside of why is this?

Dang, my revenue just got up a bit and now i am banned. :mad:

[Riboflavin]

When something like happens, I usually turn to Google (http://www.google.com/search?hs=OyU&hl=en&lr=&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=%22what+is+url+cloaking%22&btnG=Search) :)

[keikor]

i have adsense also, but ypn is earning me way more dude.

THis is very sad.

[Riboflavin]

i have adsense also, but ypn is earning me way more dude.

THis is very sad.

You obviously didn't click the link ;)

[keikor]

Ah thanks for that.

But here is the definition of url cloaking:-

What is URL Cloaking?
A: With URL Cloaking, your domain name remains in the address bar of the browser. The destination URL (web address) will be hidden from all visitors’ eyes; the web surfers won't see the “forwarded to” web address in their browsers. Click here for a screenshot of URL Cloaking.


Man, i don't even know what this means barely. And how do i implement this into my sites. And what good does this do with my sites?

:(

[DomainMaster]

why don't you contact ypn?

[keikor]

i called for help and they said department is different. THey said i only can reply to that email and wait for their reply. Sigh.

I hope this is a mistake. I am really depressed right now.

[flydragon5]

Hi,I was banned by the same reason url of cloaking
But I donot know what is the url of Cloaking?
So badly!:mad:
But Can I got paid for my revenue via YPN?
There are still some money on my balnace

[www.AmCy.org]

...I hope this is a mistake. I am really depressed right now.

I use 301 redirects a lot. I'm wondering if this can get me into trouble. Now I'm a bit nervous. I think I'll email YPN about it...

[keikor]

I use 301 redirects a lot

I don't think 301 redirects is prohibited to use. Instead, i have 2 pages using this tactic because i want to move the old urls to the new ones.

But 301 redirects is permanent and should not have any problems.

I purposely wake up so early today to check my emails and see if i received any reply from them yet. Dang, if they can't reply me today, i might just drive up to their search marketing office, which is just near my place. :(

[nt99]

That's extremely messed up, especially since you don't even know what it is....I don't either. For all I know, I'm doing it too. :-\

The good news is that my account was re-activated when I replied and explaind my situation in detail (mine wasn't related to URL cloaking).

So you should do the same. It may take a bit of time to hear back, but maybe push them a bit for an answer. Heck, drive there if it isn't too far, like you said.

[keikor]

hey nt99, thanks for the reply!

I already sent two short emails explaining to them i don't know what the heck is url cloaking, i even showed them this definition i found on the web:-
What is URL Cloaking?
A: With URL Cloaking, your domain name remains in the address bar of the browser. The destination URL (web address) will be hidden from all visitors’ eyes; the web surfers won't see the “forwarded to” web address in their browsers. Click here for a screenshot of URL Cloaking.

I guess this basically is hidden text? like inserting many hidden texts on the web page to spam for search engine ranking?

But the only thing i remembered changed was that one of my site got listed in a high traffic website these few days which uses frames, like about.com framing method. Do you guys think it's that cause?

Yea, their search marketing office is not too far from my place, only like 20 minutues drive. But yea, i'll wait for a few days first before actually thinking about driving to their office. Sounds crazy.

[SamOwen]

Would frames be considered URL Cloaking?

[keikor]

Would frames be considered URL Cloaking?

Seriously no idea. But this is the only change i can think of that causes banning of me. And i am not even using frames, i am "being framed" by others.

[Alva Ed]

So sorry to hear about that.

I am thinking about to get ypn account, dont' know how to get it, it''s for everyone like Google?

[Panchovilla]

Alva, only for U.S. users currently =( so If you're from the U.S. apply :)

[bluegill_catcher]

yes I was told '301 redirects is prohibited' and they state any url redirects are. Pay close attention to your content also, I have a friend who placed ypn on his new blog and got banned, for content. He had one small section on it about religion. And I see in the TOS you cannot plave ypn on any site about religion..........

[www.AmCy.org]

yes I was told '301 redirects is prohibited'....

Oh boy: now I'm nervous again. I'm calling them now...

[houstonian]

I think when you are just begin to work with YPN, don't use the "fancy" tactics learned from "oldies".
I will do things in a very normal way, completely follow the TOS, gain some credits and then try some new tactics.

Walk the basic steps first so you don't have to worry much.

[Panchovilla]

are 404 pages prohibited?

If so thats lame!

[PedstersPlanet]

Example of a cloaked url : http://www.antimatter.tk

:)

[cgo85]

okay... but someone said no url redirects... how about if you use these for tracking of traffic from certain sites. like if you have links on other sites to your site like: http://www.xyz.com/track.php?go=1234 and it redirects to page http://www.xyz.com/1234.html

is that considered bad? this URL cloaking thing is confusing and new to me.

[keikor]

Example of a cloaked url : http://www.antimatter.tk

I have no idea what that site is all about but i certainly am not sure how to make those kind of page and the purpose behind it.

Anyway, i still haven't received any reply from the search marketing team. :(

[Dzebo35]

i didnt know url cloaking was against their TOS, but then again i dont use it.

[www.AmCy.org]

After I searched the support files, I called YPN about the 301 thing. They weren't able to answer right away, and they said they would call back. I had to go out, and when I got back I found message on my machine from the YPN Team: 301 redirects are no problem.

Now, you all must understand that I am referring to simple 301 redirects, like:

redirect 301 /index.html http://www.amcy.org/

So, obviously there's a clear diference between doing a 301--as above--and URL cloaking--PedstersPlanet has posted a perfect example of URL cloaking for all to see.

AmCy

[www.AmCy.org]

are 404 pages prohibited?

If so thats lame!

Are u referring to placing ads on a 404 page? If so, I think it's a bad idea, since only content pages should have ads: error pages don't qualify as content pages.

Of course, as always, IMO.

AmCy

[Alva Ed]

Panchovilla, thank you very much.

[keikor]

Example of a cloaked url : http://www.antimatter.tk

after closer examination, i think they are framing the page free.fr which is like a big site in france. And i have no idea why they wanna do that.

But yea, my site is being framed by another site because that site is like a directory and its purpose is to frame others contents. Well, it's bringing in high traffic for me these few days, to be exactly, it's like 2 days ago, so i guess it won't hurt.

The thing is I can't stop people from framing me right? It's just like how do you stop about.com to frame your content. See this about framing page for example:-
http://freebies.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=freebies&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spychecker.com%2F

This is not my site, just an example of how google ads are put on the site being framed. Replace that with ypn and that explains my current situation?

:(

[www.AmCy.org]

The thing is I can't stop people from framing me right?

Right, so if someone running a "bad" site is framing your site using IFRAME, then this could cause problems.

But if the site framing your site is legit, then you should have nothing to worry about.---->I put out a new press release today with PRWeb, and PRweb now uses IFRAME with their releases, which is cool because folks who view my release can see my site's live homepage inside the release, and navigate within my site inside of my press release document, if they want to. Would YPN ban me if a visitor clicked on an ad that was being displayed inside of the PRWeb IFRAME? No: because PRWeb is a very well established press release entity, so a ban wouldn't make sense.

If I were you, I would call up YPN and ask them which site caused the problem. You can then take action against the site i.e. have them stop the framing, and then you can contact YPN again and let them know about the actions you took to stop the "URL cloaking."

Of course, you may have already communicated something like this in the email you sent. But why not call? Quicker answer, yes?

As always, IMO.

AmCy

[keikor]

But why not call? Quicker answer, yes?

I did call for support but they said it's a totally different department and theres no way to contact search marketing department. I can only email and reply back them.

However, theres an address line listed under the email and it's just like 25 mins drive from my place. Maybe i should start a nother thread about trip to search marketing department.

[www.AmCy.org]

I did call for support but they said it's a totally different department and theres no way to contact search marketing department...

Oh, right. You did post that earlier. My bad.

Just my opinion: visiting them without an appointment may be misconstrued, if you see what I mean. It may be crossing that professional boundary. Of course, I could be wrong. Just MO.

AmCy

[SamOwen]

Pay close attention to your content also, I have a friend who placed ypn on his new blog and got banned, for content. He had one small section on it about religion. And I see in the TOS you cannot plave ypn on any site about religion..........What? That's crazy. My site is not about religion but I do have a Christian forum (one of many) on my biggest forum site. It has lots of forums for different topics and one of them is a Christian forum. Can I be banned for that? My site is not a Christian based site. How can I stop my members from talking about politics and religion on a general forum site? I mean it's part of life.

[PedstersPlanet]

PedstersPlanet has posted a perfect example of URL cloaking for all to see.
FWIW, I'm not affiliated with that site I gave lol...... I know that dot.tk cloaks the domains (only the free .tk's I may add), so I wanted to show everyone an exact example of a cloacked url :)

[keikor]

:( It's been the third business day and i have yet to received any reply from the yahoo search marketing department.

I think they already received my replies but chose to ignore them because there are too many ypn publishers right now and i am just a small fish in the pond.

Anyway, just to rant a bit. Very dissapointed. :(

[www.AmCy.org]

:( It's been the third business day and i have yet to received any reply from the yahoo search marketing department...(

I would give them some more time. These kinds of things often have to go up the chain of command, then come down again before a decision is relayed.

AmCy

[thame]

:( It's been the third business day and i have yet to received any reply from the yahoo search marketing department.

I don't think I've ever received a reply when I tried contacting them through email. I just call...it's alot quicker.

[DomainMaster]

Back in November I emailed them twice and got a response within 24 hours.

[cyberknight]

URL cloaking usually involves using a frame. The web page frame is the URL that stays in the address bar, while the main part of the website loads another URL.

Donna

[keikor]

URL cloaking usually involves using a frame. The web page frame is the URL that stays in the address bar, while the main part of the website loads another URL.

In that case, i did not violate the policy because i am not framing others WHILE putting ypn ads on. I was being framed by others WITH my ypn ads on.

[parad0x]

URL cloaking is the thing that when a user clicks on domain.com/a.php , address bar remains as domain.com. Nasty seo tactic :p

[pkchukiss]

That means domain redirects that frame the actual site up would be penalised as URL cloaking?

This is very strange, since Yahoo's domain registration service actually provides this option to domain users. It is kind of a contradiction if you ban the same tool that you offer to users!

[keikor]

That means domain redirects that frame the actual site up would be penalised as URL cloaking?

I have no idea pikachu, this is basically their definition of url cloaking:-

URL cloaking is when content is presented to the yahoo crawler that is substantially different from that presented to users' browsers.

And i don't think i know how to do this also. :(