One of the more common questions I get from people is how do I show my paid context to search engines, but not to non-paying/membership customers, and staying within search engine guidelines. The answer always comes dangerously close or steps over the cloaking line.
Despite what search engines will say, even on panels at SMX shows, I still come across examples of getting partial content locked behind registration subscrptions walls (yes it’s a lot less often but it does still happen). Also as anyone who has ever tried to fix a computer problem will and gotten a certain “experts” site which dominates tech solution searches with wikipedia like visibility will tell you, cloaking IP delivery not only works but it works well.
So Google I know you like loosely defined things in your help and guidelines, as they give you flexibility and wiggle room, but I think the time has come to get a little more specific. Is showing everything to the search engines, but only the first subsection within your guidelines? Is it ok to show limited content if you require users to register but not pay for membership?
If you really wanted to be helpful you could offer some pseudo coding examples. No I’m not asking you to do people’s programming for free, but a simple framework or architecture, so companies could give specs to programmers and developers would be helpful.
Black hats and gray hats are going to break the rules no matter what but offering CLEAR, SIMPLE, AND EASY TO UNDERSTAND SOLUTIONS* for people who want to play by the rules is helpful.
* that doesn’t mean something written in engineer/programmer speak or patent attorney language 
Related posts:
- Google Click Tracking in Gmail I can’t believe that I am the first one to...
- Google Maps and Click to Call So I’ve been playing with some local/maps features and tried...
- Hey Google, WOW Sometimes You Really Rock! So when I was at the Google Dance a few...
- Hey Google Going to Drop the Paid Links Hammer on Coke Hey Google Going to Drop the Paid Links Hammer on...
- Google Gives Free PR8 Links to Paid Partners, and Doesn’t Follow Their Own Guidelines One of the more entertaining aspects of the entire paid...
Advertisers:
- Text Link Ads - New customers can get $100 in free text links.
- BOTW.org - Get a premier listing in the internet's oldest directory.
- Ezilon.com Regional Directory - Check to see if your website is listed!
- Need an SEO Audit for your website, look at my SEO Consulting Services
- Directory Journal - Get permanent deep links in a search engine friendly directory
- LinkWheel SEO - Get Web 2.0 Backlinks
- TigerTech - Great Web Hosting service at a great price.
- Article-Writing-services.org - Article Writing Services creates quality content for websites and blogs at no cost to site owners.
- Link Building Services - Hire WeBuildLink.com for well-planned advanced link building campaigns. Very affordable. Contact us now for a FREE evaluation.
- Join 500+ top agencies & publishers who rely on The HOTH every day. US based, enterprise-grade support. High quality, contextually relevant links. 100% money back guarantee. Try it now.
- Professional website designs - Get a unique brand image with website designs that sets you apart and convert your visitors into customers. Make a brand, not just a website
See my disclaimer about advertising and affiliate links
