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If I Can't Access My Profile On Forum, Can Google Access It?

by Boris_yo
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I have made profile on one forum and when tried to access it, i got the following:


If i cannot access it, can Google access it? Because if it can't then this profile was pointless to build and i lost my time.
#access #forum #google #profile
  • Profile picture of the author kkchoon
    This site has become useless, skip it!

    If the forum being abuse too many times, the webmaster will closed the public view. This cause that site to be useless in terms of SEO.
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  • Profile picture of the author secondeye
    Google bot cannot access it because its password protected.
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  • Profile picture of the author ecovergeeks
    I read that google spiders can access the page too. read it in some backlinking post on this forum

    thanks
    andy
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun Lee
    I just made an experiment regarding this issue.

    Initial experiment results show that profile links that can only be accessed when logged in is not indexed by Google, i.e. the links does not show up in Google's SERPs.

    I'll have to do some more testing, but it's late in my place so maybe tomorrow.

    -Shaun
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    • Profile picture of the author halfpoint
      The problem is that the profile in question won't be indexed in Google.

      However, I think there is more to it, personally. I've seen Googlebot and other bots lurking around various private forums where there are no pages indexed so they certainly do get access to some forums like the above.

      It definitely wouldn't surprise me at all if they could still see it and use it as a part of their algorithm.

      The same can be said about Facebook. Even though you have to be logged in to view anything, the fact that it's the most popular website on the internet would suggest that Google would be foolish to not analyse all of the information there and use it.

      I think links from social media sites are only going to hold more and more weight, even if they are from sites like Facebook where they're not indexed.

      This is all just my opinion and I do not have any evidence to back it up what so ever. I automate my profiles so I have no problem with a few ones that can't get indexed being included. Primarily I'll only create accounts where my profiles are publicly viewable, though.
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      • Profile picture of the author shaktimaan
        In some cases google bot can access pages of a site that require first log in to see the content.

        I read somewhere it is because google bot is faster than internet browsers.

        if you are unsure whether google bot can access it or not, go to google and verify. If profile pages are listed and you can see the content in the snippet, then it is accessing log in required pages of that particular site.
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        Shaktimaan

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        • Profile picture of the author Steller
          I've had a private forum for a long time now and I just checked it to see what pages are indexed. All my public pages are indexed however the private pages are not. I think that answers the question in my mind. I don't think the link is going to count. Besides you can't get the link indexed so it will never have full power.

          Regards,

          Steller
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  • Profile picture of the author Shaun Lee
    After another round of testing, here are the results:

    Conclusion: Google does not index locked profile links. Google only indexes the page where the visitor is asked to log in to view the profile. However, it is inconclusive whether any backlinks in these locked profile links count as a valid backlink.

    Suggestion: Try not to build backlinks on forums that require its visitors to log in to view profiles.

    -Shaun
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    • Profile picture of the author edmltw
      What if I "Force" Googlebot to pay attention to that exact URL?

      Using something like Backlink Booster to smash in so much juice into the private forum page to literally "harass" Googlebot into indexing that page and creating a backlink?

      Ed
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  • Profile picture of the author paulgl
    Not going to happen.
    Google would only show the login page. IF...
    But they would not. Google knows not to display such nonsense.

    A website owner would have to set it up for google crawl and display:
    Can Google Site Search index my password-protected pages? - Custom Search Help

    Paul
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    If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author ruch1v
    wow, this is interesting, so basically, any forum site that needs a password to view the profile page cannot be crawled by google even if it shows that a google bot is online? wow I've wasted ALOT of time!
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