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    4. Do search engines still index/crawl private content?

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    Do search engines still index/crawl private content?

    Technical SEO
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    • christinarule
      christinarule last edited by

      If you have a membership site, which requires a payment to access specific content/images/videos, do search engines still use that content as a ranking/domain authority factor? Is it worth optimizing these "private" pages for SEO?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • StalkerB
        StalkerB last edited by

        Technically no, Google will only crawl pages that are publically available.

        However, you could use their first click free feature - http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=74536 - depends how much you think you would gain from doing that or what sort of non-payment abuse it opens you up to.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • wissamdandan
          wissamdandan last edited by

          If you are using a good pluging or add on to your private area, then No your private content will not be crawled by the Search engines, thus there is no SEO value to Optimize these page.

          you can check your pages that is crawled by Google using the "site:"

          for ex: Go to google.com and type is the search: site:www.website.com and check if your private area is indexed.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • gfiorelli1
            gfiorelli1 last edited by

            Every content that is behind a login is not crawlable, therefore it won't be indexed by search engines. So, no, it is not necessary to SEO those content, even though a basic SEO should have to be done just because it is a way to have a clean site.

            For instance, this Q&A will be totally crawlable in two weeks, when it will be visible to all the not PRO members, therefore not behind a login access.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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