How to hide links for guests (and let spiders thru)

Hi all,

This is mainly an SEO/vBulletin question. I'd like to hide links from guests and found

Hide Links From Guests - vBulletin.org Forum

Thing is, though, wouldn't that affect SEO spiders too? I want them to see the links.

Anyone know how to achieve this?

Thanks!

BarbT

Search engine crawlers and guests see a site almost identically. So, yes, if you hide links from guests, you hide them from search engines as well.

Hi,

I found a Limited Viewing hack at Limited Guest Viewing -- Improve community registration rates - vBulletin.org Forum . I installed it and it looks rather good.

I'd still like to disable links though for everyone except spiders....

BarbT

The first option allows you to show a reminder message or advertisement after a guest has viewed a certain number of threads. The second option puts up a roadblock stopping guests from viewing threads altogether after reaching a certain number of views. Both options work together to encourage and ultimately force anonymous visitors to either register or login but can also be used separately based on your individual needs.

Because this plugin uses cookies, few if any bots will be impacted when it comes to spidering your site.

This sounds fine. It's cookie based, so it will only impact human visitors.

I actually like this method, and I encourage you to report back how it impacts your member conversion and user posting activity, etc.

Originally Posted by Joe Ward

This sounds fine. It's cookie based, so it will only impact human visitors.

I actually like this method, and I encourage you to report back how it impacts your member conversion and user posting activity, etc.

Will do! I also found this neat hack as well:

Welcome headers - Improve community registration rates - vBulletin.org Forum

It works in conjunction with Limited Viewing.

Best wishes,

Barbt

Originally Posted by lingstar

Hi,

I found a Limited Viewing hack at Limited Guest Viewing -- Improve community registration rates - vBulletin.org Forum . I installed it and it looks rather good.

I'd still like to disable links though for everyone except spiders....

BarbT

I would like to hear your reviews of this as far as SEO goes as well.

Originally Posted by lingstar

Will do! I also found this neat hack as well:

Welcome headers - Improve community registration rates - vBulletin.org Forum

It works in conjunction with Limited Viewing.

Best wishes,

Barbt

That is a great hack, here is an SEO addition to it
[HOW-TO] Make your Welcome Headers an image!