What is Gated Content?
Gated content is any online material that requires users to provide information (like filling out a form) or make a payment to access it. Examples include lead magnets like downloadable guides and paywalled articles on news sites.
Why is Gated Content Important?
Gated content helps generate qualified leads by collecting user information. It can also be a primary monetization method for some sites. However, it poses SEO challenges because search engines may not index or rank gated content as effectively as ungated content.
How to Rank Gated Content on Google
- Post a Summary: Provide a summary of the gated content to give search engines and visitors an idea of what’s behind the gate.
- Flexible Sampling: Allow users to access a few articles for free before gating content.
- Structured Data: Use structured data to indicate gated content to search engines.
- Noarchive Meta Tag: Prevent access to cached versions by using the “noarchive” robots meta tag.
FAQs
- Lead Magnet vs. Gated Content: Lead magnets are a type of gated content, typically premium materials like PDFs or webinars. Gated content can also include paywalled articles.
- Ungated Content: Any content that is freely accessible without forms or payments.
- Thin Content: Gated content is not automatically considered thin by Google. Word count alone is not a ranking signal.
