Is Hidden Internal Linking Considered Cloaking by Google?

Is it considered cloaking if a website hides internal links that only become visible through page inspection? Specifically, the text is invisible to the user but has an <a href> link in the page code pointing to another page on the same site. In other words, it’s an internal link, but it's hidden within the site's code.

Why would a website do this? What are the potential benefits of implementing hidden internal links? Could this be a strategy to pass link equity, improve internal navigation, or manipulate user behavior without the links being obvious?

Is this allowed by Google's guidelines?

Thank you in advance for your input and assistance! I really appreciate your help.

google bots can see the page source make sure to hide it using javascript

By the way, why do you think a website would do this? I’m not an expert yet, but I suspect it might be a way to distribute link juice without cluttering the page for the user or creating visual distractions.

no i dont think so

rox94 said:

By the way, why do you think a website would do this? I’m not an expert yet, but I suspect it might be a way to distribute link juice without cluttering the page for the user or creating visual distractions.

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Yeah hidden links are probably the oldest and lamest and most useless blackhat technique

Anyway, yeah google used to not like them, but nowadays they probably don't care since it doesn't work at all for SEO