XF 1.2 Google Indexing for Premium Content

[Divinum Fiat]

Hi all,
As I have started to place more and more forums in the 'premium content' area, my site has dropped in page rank. When I check Google analytics I clearly see massive indexing issues with most of our posts.

Right now about 90% of our posts are in premium forums. Which means, 90% of our content is not indexable by Google or findable by people.

I'm trying to figure out a way where Google can index and notice ALL posts but prevent people from seeing more than the first 2-3 sentences. I installed the add-on that shows x-number of words but prevents people from reading the rest unless they register. This works great but the challenge is that even once they register, they are not a premium member yet. So the moment they become a free member, they now have access to premium content, which defeats the purpose.

Is there a way to make people choose a premium level at the same they sign up and until they upgrade they still won't see the content of the forums? Is there a way to get them to pay for the upgrade while, or right after, they register?

Are there any others who run a forum almost exclusively on premium content? How do you deal with this?

 

[Jeremy]

Forcing users to purchase premium upgrades on registration will require an add-on.

 

[Paul B]

I'm trying to figure out a way where Google can index and notice ALL posts but prevent people from seeing more than the first 2-3 sentences.

That is cloaking and could see your site blacklisted by Google.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Does such an add on exist? If so, do you know what it's called?

 

[Divinum Fiat]

That is cloaking and could see your site blacklisted by Google.

Yep, I definitely don't want to do that. I still want to give enough value to non-members but at the same time not forego 90% of the content on the site. Any doable, legitimate ideas?

 

[Paul B]

Whatever is visible to Google must be visible to guests.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Yes, I understand that. What I'm trying to figure out is how to make a portion of the premium content available to all (Google AND guests) but still keep it as premium content within XF. This is the part I can't seem to figure out. It's either "show all" or "show nothing."

 

[Jeremy]

Edit template message. Find:

{xen:raw $message.messageHtml}

Replace it with:

<xen:if is="{$visitor.user_id}">
  {xen:raw $message.messageHtml}
<xen:else />
  {xen:helper snippet, $message.messageHtml, 155, {xen:array 'stripQuote=1'}}
</xen:if>

Change 155 to suit your needs. Use @Brogan's conditional guide to help you build out the conditional you want.

 

[digitalpoint]

If you want to stay safe as far as Google's policies on cloaking and stuff, you will probably want to read their "First Click Free" guidelines.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/74536?hl=en

The short version is you need to allow first time visitors to view the page in full (as Google sees it), but you can block them from subsequent pages.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Edit template message. Find:

{xen:raw $message.messageHtml}

Replace it with:

<xen:if is="{$visitor.user_id}">
  {xen:raw $message.messageHtml}
<xen:else />
  {xen:helper snippet, $message.messageHtml, 155, {xen:array 'stripQuote=1'}}
</xen:if>

Change 155 to suit your needs. Use @Brogan's conditional guide to help you build out the conditional you want.

Jeremy, thank you for this code. What exactly does it do? Is this to block parts of the premium content to ALL visitors, including Google?

The short version is you need to allow first time visitors to view the page in full (as Google sees it), but you can block them from subsequent pages.

Digitalpoint, thank you for this. Their article seems contradictory. They say: "...you need to allow all users who find a document on your site via Google search to see the full text of that document, even if they have not registered or subscribed to see that content. The user's first click to your content area is free. However, once that user clicks a link on the original page, you can require them to sign in or register to read further."

This seems like a contradiction to what someone with premium content wants to achieve. Why protect it when it then needs to made available in full view? Bizarre.

I use Wishlist Member to protect my digital courses. I can show snippets of it, half of it, etc., and protect the rest or all of it. But with XF I can't seem to give people a preview to the premium content, which would be the enticement to getting them to the premium content in the first place. There's gotta be a middle way.

 

[Jeremy]

Yes. It will remove quotes and only display so many characters.

 

[digitalpoint]

Digitalpoint, thank you for this. Their article seems contradictory. They say: "...you need to allow all users who find a document on your site via Google search to see the full text of that document, even if they have not registered or subscribed to see that content. The user's first click to your content area is free. However, once that user clicks a link on the original page, you can require them to sign in or register to read further."

This seems like a contradiction to what someone with premium content wants to achieve. Why protect it when it then needs to made available in full view? Bizarre.

I use Wishlist Member to protect my digital courses. I can show snippets of it, half of it, etc., and protect the rest or all of it. But with XF I can't seem to give people a preview to the premium content, which would be the enticement to getting them to the premium content in the first place. There's gotta be a middle way.

You can do it either way... if you want to just show a clip of the text to users, that's what you would also want to show Google. Basically Google doesn't want you showing stuff to them and make parts of it searchable if the user can't see what Google's bot saw.

 

[Divinum Fiat]

Yes, visitors should see what Google sees. What I need to figure out is how, after their signing up for the free membership, they will continue seeing only the parts they saw first unless they become premium members. In my most ideal situation I would eliminate the free registration and only have a paid registration. Still hoping this will become an option at some point.

Thank you, Jeremy, I will check it with Andrej tomorrow and see how it goes. Will keep you posted!

 

[Jeremy]

Paul has an excellent guide that can help you selectively do it. Specifically, ismemberof would be what you are looking for:
http://xenforo.com/community/resources/conditional-statements.1604/