Allow Guest Attachment viewing for SEO?

[OakleyForum]

So I recently began allowing members to host images on our site, and converted all our previous images using @AndyB ConvertImageAll tool(which is amazing). I have it set so guests cannot view attachments, and realized today this means search engines like google cannot index them, and members can't link to them.

Currently I have seen an improvement in registrations(i.e guests register to see the pictures), but I am wondering whether the trade off of SEO vs registrations is worth it? We currently have around 60K hosted images. Would these drive good/active traffic? Or just suck up more bandwidth? Any and all opinions are welcome!

 

[AndyB]

It's very important to allow guests to view attachments so that they can hot link your images throughout the internet. Google will index these images as well and often you will have visitors from all over the world finding your website via your attachments. These attachment drive traffic to your website in the form of views where properly placed advertising will allow you to monetize these views. The key is properly placed ads, those are the ones which are targeted to your viewers.

Here's an example of how I target the advertising by using eBay and placing advertising of the same product as the image which likely drove the viewer there.

http://www.southbayriders.com/forums/threads/128115/

 

[OakleyForum]

Thanks, I'm going to try it out and see the effect of traffic vs. registrations. As always, your the best!

 

[OakleyForum]

By the way, what are you using on the sidebar to display those eBay ads? Just curious.

 

[AndyB]

By the way, what are you using on the sidebar to display those eBay ads? Just curious.

It's an add-on that is still in development. I plan on releasing it soon.

 

[OakleyForum]

Cool!

 

[jauburn]

It's an add-on that is still in development. I plan on releasing it soon.

Does ebay have a program like adsense?

 

[AndyB]

Does ebay have a program like adsense?

Yes they do, it's called the eBay Partner Network.

https://publisher.ebaypartnernetwork.com/

 

[jauburn]

Yes they do, it's called the eBay Partner Network.

https://publisher.ebaypartnernetwork.com/

Is there any money in it or is it just another ad program that benefits mostly the advertiser?

 

[AndyB]

Is there any money in it or is it just another ad program that benefits mostly the advertiser?

I started using the eBay partner program two months ago and so far I made $100 dollars each month. I think now that I'm targeting ads using my new add-on Ebay v1.3 this number will go much higher.

http://xenforo.com/community/resources/ebay.3219/