For subscription publishers, striking a balance between discoverability and monetization is a constant challenge. This dynamic is particularly pronounced when it comes to search engine optimization.
Search engines provide a vital traffic source and discovery mechanism for many publishers. It’s a particularly valuable one given the specific intent that search referrals typically carry. Search traffic often proves most powerful for publishers catering to a highly specific audience or need, such as niche interest publishers, local news publishers, and those creating primarily business-related content.
At the same time, publishers operating paywalls must remain cognizant of their revenue models and business needs when evaluating SEO approaches, including:
- How much content should they give away for free to satisfy the needs of Google and other search engines, while ensuring audiences still have reason to subscribe?
- Can they effectively turn drive-by search visitors into paying subscribers?
- Does optimizing for search traffic make it easier for visitors to bypass their paywalls without subscribing?
Any publisher implementing a paywall across their site must ensure they’re aware of the potential ramifications and risks it may pose for their SEO performance.
How paywalls impact SEO
The goal of Google and other search engines is to crawl and evaluate content, and to present it in search results pages in a way that best serves the interests of their users. SEO specialists go to great lengths to ensure content is optimized and highly accessible both to search engines and site visitors in an attempt to maximize the search traffic it generates.