Loading ...The rest of the world might not know it, but the print industry has been in a flurry about subscribers for a few years now. The advent of citizen journalism has meant wonderful things for the world in general, but has had a devastating impact on mainstream media. With everyone offering news for free, how are online newspapers going to make their living?
This is a big problem for mainstream media, and one that is reaching a crisis point. The answer for many newspapers has been to open up online subscriptions and paid-for content. The resulting experiences have provided an interesting case study for the search engine optimisation industry.
The average site and subscriptions
Not every site is going to have a subscriber area, but a surprising number of sites do. For those sites, the experiences of online newspapers are surprisingly relevant.
The most interesting thing that the paid-for content issue reveals is that internet users don’t want to pay for content, no matter how reliable and friendly the source is. Many internet users have a long-established relationship with their favourite newspaper. What online newspapers are discovering is that even those who will gladly hand over money to a newspaper are less willing to do so online.
For sites with subscriber areas, this provokes some interesting thoughts. Could your site be more successful without a subscriber area? Are there other ways of generating revenue? Is your subscriber area worth the trouble, particularly when it comes to SEO?
What this means for you, your site and your SEO
Subscription areas have always been a problem for the search engines. The content in subscriber areas is necessarily different to public content, and it can have an effect on your SEO. In the most basic terms, having a subscriber area will complicate the work needed for your site’s search engine optimisation. The content in your subscriber area should not be a part of your SEO plan, which means that your site has less weight to wield when it comes to the search engines.
Subscriber areas can also get you into trouble with the search engines if you put a foot wrong. Subscriber areas have been a problem area for ethical SEO, with sites opening up content to search engines only. This is a grey area of SEO, as the content is visible to some users. Site owners naturally want the search engines to index as much of their site as possible, and open up the subscriber area for spider. The trouble is, the average internet user isn’t able to view the content, and the search engines can view this move as a deliberate attempt to manipulate.
When it comes to your subscription area, it’s important to remember the line between public and private. The search engines have strict rules about sites hiding content from internet users but revealing it to search engine spiders. Talk to us at SEO Consult Australia about the rules when it comes to subscriber areas and search engine optimisation.
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Tags: content, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, SEO Consult, spiders
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