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Google indexing a members only forum
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Stefan Zabel
Member
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Sep 20, 2013 - 11:12 am

Hi

I've currently set up non members to view forum and topic lists but not to read the actual posts. Paid members get to see the lot.

Ideally I'd like Google to be able to index all the content on the forum, but still to require non members to sign up to view once they've clicked through from the search results.

From what I've read, this doesn't seem viable as it kind of goes against Google's principles of serving up in the search results content that is free to view. If it's member only paid content, it shouldn't be in the search results at all.

As a kind of half way house, Google set up the First Click Free system where you'd need to allow the visitor to view the first page of the forum they land on (click through to from the search results), but block views of any other pages they then try to view.

I would be interested to hear if anyone has got that up and working. Personally, I cannot see anything in the simple:press permissions that would allow it to function.

...or any other solution that allow the forum to be indexed but not accessed to non members.

Thanks very much

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Mr Papa
Simi Valley, CA
SP Master
Free Members
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Sep 20, 2013 - 4:35 pm

Afraid we dont have a first click free system - could get quite hairy and easy to spoof...  and easy to exploit and get the info you need from a private site...

but we do offer sneak peek functionality... with it you can allow users to see the existence of forums and optionally topics but not see the content and instead offer them a chance to sign up...

but to see the content, a user or bots, will need to have permission...

it might be possible to set up something using the sp api system, but would be intriguing code...

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Stefan Zabel
Member
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Sep 20, 2013 - 6:32 pm

Fair enough. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing a trick. I've got sneak peak set up for now, and may offer view but not post permissions in the future to allow me to get everything indexed. Thanks...

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Mr Papa
Simi Valley, CA
SP Master
Free Members
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
Sep 21, 2013 - 10:30 am

glad to help...

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