Cloaking is a security app you must install from the Apps market before its settings become available. Once installed, it lets you define rules that serve different content to automated crawlers (such as Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google ad-review bots) versus real human visitors. This allows your ad campaigns to pass policy review while your actual landing page reaches buyers. Go to Apps, find Cloaking in the Security & Privacy collection, install it, then click the settings icon to manage rules.
How cloaking works
Each cloaking rule defines a real product (or redirect URL) that human visitors see, and a fake product that automated bots see. When a visitor requests the product page, Storeep checks whether the request comes from a known bot. Bots are served the fake product; real visitors see the real product or are redirected to the real URL.
Cloaking limits by plan
The number of cloaking rules you can create depends on your subscription plan:
- Free: up to 10 rules
- Basic: up to 20 rules
- Pro: up to 30 rules
- Master: up to 40 rules
- Business: up to 50 rules
When the limit is reached, the Add new cloaking product link is replaced by an error tag prompting you to upgrade your plan.
Adding a cloaking rule
- Click Add new cloaking product in the Cloaking app panel.
- Configure the fields described below.
- Click Add.
Activate
The Activate toggle controls whether this rule is currently applied. You can add a rule in an inactive state and enable it later.
Cloaking type
Select one of two options from the Cloaking type field:
- Product: visitors and customers see the real product using the same URL. Bots are served a different product at the same URL.
- Redirect URL: real visitors and customers are redirected to an external URL. Bots see the fake product instead of being redirected.
Real product / Redirect URL
When Product is selected, choose the Real product from your store's product catalog. A product cannot be used as the real product in more than one cloaking rule, and it cannot be used as the fake product in another rule at the same time.
When Redirect URL is selected, enter the destination URL in the Redirect URL field (maximum 255 characters). The URL must be a valid web address.
Fake product
Choose the Fake product from your catalog. This is the product that bots such as Facebook bot or Google bot will see. It must differ from the real product, cannot already be used as a fake product in another rule, and cannot be the same as the real product in this rule.
Advanced detector
The Advanced detector toggle is enabled by default. When active, Storeep uses its own algorithms to identify bots before they reach the product page and prevents them from accessing either the real product or the redirect URL. Turning it off means only the manual filters below remain active.
A note explains: "We detect the bots in advance with our algorithms and you can enhance the cloaking's action by controlling additional settings below."
Devices
The Devices multi-select controls which device types see the real product. Options are Desktop, Mobile, Tablet, and Television. All four are selected by default. Devices not selected will always see the fake product.
Number of clicks before filtering
The Number of clicks before filtering field accepts a number from 1 to 999. If set to 30, the first 30 visitors to the product URL will see the fake product. From the 31st visitor onward, real visitors see the real product (bots continue to see the fake product). A visitor who was among the first 30 and returns later will still see the fake product. Leave this field empty or set it to zero to disable click-count filtering.
VPNs or proxies blocked
When the VPNs or proxies blocked toggle is enabled, visitors connecting through a VPN or proxy are prevented from seeing the real product even if all other conditions would allow it.
Restriction method and markets
The Restriction Method field works identically to the store-wide access control:
- None: no country-based filtering for this rule.
- Blacklist: allow all countries except the selected ones.
- Whitelist: allow only the selected countries.
The Markets multi-select lets you pick the countries this restriction applies to. Leaving Markets empty with Blacklist or Whitelist selected has no effect.
Editing a cloaking rule
In the Cloaking products table, click any row to open the edit form. All fields from the add form are available. Click Save to apply changes.
Deleting a cloaking rule
In the table, click the trash icon at the end of a row to delete that rule, or tick multiple checkboxes and use the Delete cloaking products dropdown action.
What to check if cloaking is not working as expected
- Confirm the rule's Activate toggle is on.
- Verify the Advanced detector is enabled if you rely on automatic bot identification.
- Check that the Devices field includes the device type of the real visitor who should see the real product.
- If using Number of clicks before filtering, remember that the first N visitors always see the fake product regardless of being human or bot.
- Check that the Restriction Method and Markets settings are not inadvertently blocking real visitors from your target countries.