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    4. SEO + Structured Data for Metered Paywall

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    SEO + Structured Data for Metered Paywall

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    • triveraseo
      triveraseo Subscriber last edited by

      I have a site that will have 90% of the content behind a metered paywall. So all content is accessible in a metered way. All users who aren't logged in will have access to 3 articles (of any kind) in a 30 day period. If they try to access more in a 30 day period they will hit a paywall. I was reading this article here on how to handle structured data with Google for content behind a paywall: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/paywalls-seo-strategy/311359/However, the content is not ALWAYS behind a paywall, since it is metered. So if a new user comes to the site, they can see the article (regardless of what it is). Is there a different way to handle content that will be SOMETIMES behind a paywall bc of a metered strategy? Theoretically I want 100% of the content indexed and accessible in SERPs, it will just be accessible depending on the user's history (cookies) with the site. I hope that makes sense.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • triveraseo
        triveraseo Subscriber @effectdigital last edited by

        So you would suggest holding off using any kind of structured data to inform Google that a (metered) paywall is in place?  If the option to exempt Googlebot is not available, should we proceed with structured data?

        I think my main thing is - I know structured data is imperative for hard paywalls, but I am not sure if it will be detrimental or harmful to add the paywall structured data when there is a METERED paywall in place. I want all the content o be indexed and ranked, and am not sure if metering is considered cloaking.

        Thank you!

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

          You could just exempt Googlebot's user-agent from your paywalling mechanism. Theoretically users could use Chrome extensions to alter their own user-agent to 'Googlebot' and thereby evade your paywall, but Joe average user isn't going to do this (Ad-blocker usage is far more common than user-agent evasion)

          triveraseo 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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