Do you think that Content Locking (force to share to unlock content) is manipulative and will eventually be penalised by Google?
-
There is a tactic called content locking which requires a user to share a post or homepage URL in order to unlock content (either a video, a full post or downloadable ebook).
Do you think this is manipulating signals to increase search rankings?
Argument Against Using Content Locking
Social signals and links from Google Plus shares clearly correlate to increased search engine visibility.
Requiring a user to pay for content with social sharing is only used to improve search rankings.
According to the webmaster guidelines:
"Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you, or to a Google employee. Another useful test is to ask, 'Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?'"
Argument For Using Content Locker
Users tend to value their social profiles and won't share something unless they believe it is valuable. Requiring a share is just a push to motivate them to share something they value.
Additionally, it is similar to an email opt-in in that the publisher now has a social media lead they can follow up on.
It's not just about SEO, it's about tapping into social network traffic and engagement on social networks.
-
Right!
And there can be secondary effects. If you are running surveys and people bounce back into the SERPs instead of answering the question, could that result in a ranking reduction because of poor engagement? I have been running surveys and am cautiously watching my engagement and rankings.
-
Because Google has never broken its own guidelines and then penalized its own pages before.... http://searchengineland.com/google-penalizes-google-japan-16541
http://searchengineland.com/google-chrome-page-will-have-pagerank-reduced-due-to-sponsored-posts-106551 -
You may find it does the opposite of what you intend if your visitors don't use social media - they'll feel left out of the party and nobody likes that! There are many many reasons why someone would choose not to be on social media, and forcing them to have an account just to read an article is never going to work - they'll just leave and find the content elsewhere on the web.
Check analytics to see how socially engaged your visitors are. If they are, then I'd test it as a tactic - it may not work for long though, because it's the sort of thing Google doesn't like ('Don't do as I do, do as I say!!!!')
I bet Mr Cutts is thinking of a way to thwart your plan as I type this
Good luck whatever you do, and please let us know what the outcome is!
Amelia
-
This isn't an answer. Just sayin' something that one google project is doing.
If you are familiar with Google Consumer Surveys, people who arrive at a page of content are asked to do a small task in exchange for unlocking the content. They are normally given a choice of two tasks: A) answer one or two multiple choice questions, or, B) share the content.
So, if Google is going to be slappin' people for the share, they will be slappin' their own project along with its publishers.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Analytics Social Settings
Hi, I'm a bit confused about the actual purpose of the social settings in Admin > Property > Social Settings. I've read some blogs saying it just helps analyse traffic that has arrived from your social media pages. Then I've found other sources saying you should add your own domain in there so you can track likes and shares sent from your website to social media platforms. What do I actually need to put in there and how does it help my data? Thanks!
Social Media | | Sally940 -
Facebook Share from personal wall to fan page
Is it possible to share a post from someone's personal FB wall to a company fan page if they have the permissions set to allow this? I often get a message that a share was denied and I'm not sure if shares from personal to business fan pages are always denied or if this is controlled by the person's privacy settings.
Social Media | | ChristopherGlaeser0 -
Client Doesn't Know Google+ Brand Page Manager Login - How to Recover
Hello - I'm working with a client who has a complete Google+ Brand profile setup for their business, but cannot locate the google+ login associated with the management duties of that page. Is there a way to track down or at least to see who the page owner is and their associated email address?
Social Media | | WebTalent0 -
Google showing less index pages for facebook.com ?
site:facebook.com 7,350,000,000 results in Google ( When I login with gmail account) site:facebook.com 7,360,000,000 results in Google ( Without Login) Don't you you people think its quite big difference ? I want to know about extra 10,000,000 index pages ?
Social Media | | SanketPatel0 -
Google News Application
I am wondering what I can do to get my site into Google News. I have followed their guidelines but had my site declined. I have a news sitemap, a staff page, a contact page with all info provider, etc etc. But my application was denied. One my largest competitors just got accepted so I would love to get in.
Social Media | | NoahGlaser780 -
URL's for videos to increase page value and social sharing value
Hello Everyone, We recently developed videos for all of our products. Upon clicking on each video, we have the video popping up in a lightbox. The videos are hosted on Amazon s3. We would like to implement social sharing for each video and to do so, we are going to have the video load on each page upon being clicked using jquery. My question is how we should structure the urls so that the actual product page gets the share value. So for example, if the page is www.website.com/product1.aspx should we have the video be www.website.com/product1.aspx#video and ensure there is a canonical url on each product page so that the benefit is given to www.website.com/product1.aspx Or is there another way that anyone would recommend doing this? The videos are AMAZING and I'd like to ensure that as these videos are shared on social networks, that the value of the share is directed to the actual product page. Any ideas mozzers? Thanks!
Social Media | | eric_since1910.com0 -
Does the Facebook Share button still exist?
Hi everyone, I'm reading everywhere about the Facebook 'Share' being more powerful than the Facebook 'Like'. Just yesterday, there's a post on the SEOmoz blog about Facebook Shares http://www.seomoz.org/blog/plus-one-adoption-rates-and-social-sharing-statistics But I thought the Share button was replaced by the Like button? http://mashable.com/2011/02/27/facebook-like-button-takes-over-share-button-functionality/ All references to the Share button now point you to Facebook's Like button developer page. So if we want more SEO value, where can we get the Share button from? Or do we have to make do with the Like button from now on?
Social Media | | heatherrobinson0