Premium Content

[Mr.bfz]

Hey Guys

I woking on a site that publishes hundreds of new content a day and part of the content is only available for users for 30 days. After 30 days the content is only accessible to premium users. 
After 30 days, the page removes the content and replaces it with a log in/ sign up option. The same URL is kept for each page and the title of the article.
I have 2 concerns about this method.

1. Is it healthy for the site to be removing tons of content of live pages and replace with a log in options
2. Should I worry about Panda for creating tons of pages with unique URL but very similar source /content - the log in module and the text explaining that it is only available to premium users. The site is pretty big so google has some tolerance of things we can get away with it.

Should I add a noindex attribute for those pages after 30 days? Even though it can takes months until google actually removes from the index.

Is there a proper way for performing this type of feature in sites with a log in option after a period of time (first click free is not an option)

Thanks Guys and I appreciate any help!

[Alex-Harford]

Can you show the beginning of the article after 30 days is up? Similar to what New Scientist do: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22229720.600-memory-implants-chips-to-fix-broken-brains.html

[David-Kley]

I don't think this is the best option of "forcing" users to create an account, or to have them sign up.

First, I think you may run into an issue in the future of having Google come to reindex a page that is completely different or empty. As a solution, I would use Javascript or another method to load the form you want the user to fill out, without a way to close it and view the page of content beneath. Once they view the popup, have a link at the bottom of the box that states something light like:

"Oops! Looks like your 30 trial subscription has run out. This content is only available to premium users. To sign up for a premium account, please fill out the form fields above. If you do not wish to upgrade your account at this time, click here to return to the home page."

Another option would be to allow restricted access to certain features, so that people actually want to sign up because it provides more value.

"The site is pretty big so google has some tolerance of things we can get away with it."

I doubt that. Google is not going to play favorites with a site due to the number of pages or unique URL's. Did someone at Google tell you this? If not, then no, no, no. Chances are, you are going to have more non-registered or non-premium users try and access your content than registered, thus increasing the amount of pages that have the deleted or non-viewable content. Also, if you have that many pages, why risk losing them in the index?

[LesleyPaone]

One thing you can do is add an unavailable after meta tag to the pages. This tells google to drop the pages from the index after a certain day. I don't think it is unhealthy, it is the way a lot of sites work to be honest.

Also for the thin content, you should try to send a 410 status code for people trying to open the page after it is behind the paywall, but at the same time display the login page that tells them what is happening. Google should take note of that.

Here is a video I saw posted yesterday on another question, around the 35 minute mark Matt Cutts address this question.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7Yv6DzHBvE#t=2217