a different paradigm then i've been hearing.. now i'm thinking more about this.

two things come to mind 1) why would so many companies like Hubspot, others require email for content exchange if putting on site would do as well?

Does the type of industry: B-B, vs B-C make a difference in how you would approach or is your answer blanket for all types B-B,B-C?

If we go the route of publishing to site (not pdf)  does it make a difference whether a 12 page ebook is one long scrolling page or should the content be 'click to read more' which advances to another possibly optimized page?  If multiple pages then each page would likely be optimizing for pretty much the same content?

Has there been any correlation between top step (main menu) and 2, 3, 4 steps below the main navigation on relevance (with same content) in rankings?

So, if we publish the ebook to the site, without a gate (email/name) then:

a) we potentially loose the opportunity to periodically drip other helpful info over time as we are not requiring name/email for this content. correct?

If we do publish without "gate" then does it make a difference if this page with pdf is part of main/sub navigation or if we exclude it from that and make if available from pages within site? does how far a page is from main navigation make a difference in relevance/importance from SEO Point of view?

thanks, Patrick. This isn't the formula to Coca Cola or some other highly held secret. If a skilled searcher get's the info without giving name, that's fine. I'm  looking to give good content, get ranked for relevant information and with permission drip e-market to gain position of trusted expert in my area by disseminating, hopefully, helpful content.

My main concern is whether not having a direct (stair step) link structure from main menu to protected content will diminsh  the relevancy of what i'm trying to rank for...any thoughts on this?

If we utilize option (c) how valuable do we think the SEO for that content is- IF that content can not be reached thorough the onsite navigation? In other words does brining the content 'further away' from the root domain (and without direct menu access) decrease it's importance/relevancy in search results?

Also: would the 'thank you page' - after form fill- be the page with the pdf document, or would the 'thank you page' have a link button to forward to (access) the content page?

We have written ebook(s) on subjects of interest to our prospects (B-C market). We have taken many recurring questions asked over the years plus helpful graphics and put into short 12+ page ebooks.

After filling out form to receive ebook- (first name & email on form) for any option below-

Should we:

a) send them to Landing page to download ebook to their desktop?

b) send them e-mail with link to download ebook?

c) send them directly to page on our site with the ebook content?

d) something else?

My thoughts are to do c) which will put content on site, though 'protected' via gate. This way the search engines can crawl the content. However, if that content is not directly reachable through menu will that degrade the importance of that content?

Obviously we want to provide good, helpful information to prospects. We would also love to benefit from that content from a Search point of view if possible.

Anyone have experience with this through A/B test or otherwise?

Thanks,

Steve