How to use SEO with a membership site?

[tmgenterprises]

Is it possible to SEO a landing page well enough to actually rank? I have five sites set up on membership software platforms so you can only see the landing page, really. I'm at a loss on how to rank the site, if I even can.

I don't plan on depending on organic trafficbut it never hurts to at least try. I'm just not sure if it's even possible.

 

[POS]

That's all about how you do research and put it all together.

I set up a website just some few days ago, and it already rank #6 for one of the keywords I want to rank for. It's more than just 1 page though, but not more than 3 or so. With a membership software you usually can have a few.

Want to know more specifics?

 

[BigBigFan]

You might want to try Google for things like "googlebot paywall", I think SEOMOZ has a guide up on how to set up your site so that Googlebot can access your pages without letting others in.

One thing I believe works is to show a snippet but block all but the snippet until a member is registered. In forums it would be like allowing people to see the first post but not responses unless they are a member.

If Googlebot can find it you can rank so focus on getting your bot permissions in order. You'll need to whitelist only Google IPs too so that people don't spoof Googlebot user agents to get onto your site.

 

[tmgenterprises]

Thanks, BigBigFan! I've never heard of that, but I will scurry off to SEOMOZ and also Google to find out more.

POS, please do post more specifics because frankly, your post didn't enlighten me at all. I don't see how research helps when the pages are locked behind the software.

 

[invisibled]

Even i was wondering about the same thing. I also have some membership based websites that i wanted to optimize for search engines, and i was having trouble.

What i did was that i added a couple more pages with some good content, targeting the keywords i wanted. That helped my rankings.

I wasn't aware that there was a way to let googlebots in and keep other people out. I will definitely check that out. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BigBigFan]

You're welcome.

I mentioned forums in particular because these lend themselves well to having a membership requirement to see any post other than the first post. If the site is the type that provides answers to common problems then people who want the answer will be encouraged to sign up. I would limit advertising on this type of site however, most ad networks don't allow ads behind paywalls (adsense does if you whitelist adsense bot).