SEO Settings

Configure how search engines index and display your protected content. Proper SEO settings ensure your articles appear in search results while preventing paywall bypass.

Accessing SEO Settings

Go to PaywallWP → Settings → SEO to configure these options.

Quick Setup Guide

The plugin detects your SEO setup and shows personalized recommendations:

If You Have an SEO Plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO)

Setting	Recommended	Why
Prevent Cache Bypass	ON	Stops cached page bypass
SEO Plugin Integration	ON	Adds paywall properties to existing schema
Schema Type	Disabled	Avoid duplicate schema
Bot Bypass	OFF	Security risk

If You Don't Have an SEO Plugin

Setting	Recommended	Why
Prevent Cache Bypass	ON	Stops cached page bypass
SEO Plugin Integration	ON	Ready for future plugin
Schema Type	Select type	Outputs required JSON-LD
Bot Bypass	OFF	Security risk

Settings Explained

Prevent Cache Bypass (Robots Directive)

Recommended: ON

This setting adds a robots meta tag to all protected posts:

<meta name="robots" content="noarchive, max-image-preview:large" />

Directive	What It Does
`noarchive`	Prevents search engines from showing a "Cached" link that would bypass your paywall
`max-image-preview:large`	Allows rich, large image previews in search results for better click-through rates

Why This Matters

Without noarchive, readers can click "Cached" in search results to view the full article without paying. This is a common paywall bypass method.

Industry Standard

Major publishers like The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post use this directive to protect their content.

SEO Plugin Integration

Recommended: ON (if you have an SEO plugin)

When enabled, PaywallWP automatically adds paywall properties to your SEO plugin's schema output:

{
	"@type": "Article",
	"headline": "Your Article Title",
	"isAccessibleForFree": false,
	"hasPart": {
		"@type": "WebPageElement",
		"isAccessibleForFree": false,
		"cssSelector": ".paywp-paywall"
	}
}

Supported SEO Plugins

Plugin	Support
Yoast SEO	Full integration
Rank Math	Full integration
All in One SEO	Full integration

How It Works

The plugin hooks into your SEO plugin's schema output and adds the isAccessibleForFree and hasPart properties. Your existing schema remains intact—we just extend it with paywall information.

Built-in Structured Data (Schema Type)

Recommended: Disabled if using SEO plugin, otherwise select appropriate type

For sites without an SEO plugin, PaywallWP can output complete JSON-LD structured data.

Schema Types Explained

Type	Best For	Example Sites
NewsArticle	News and journalism sites	CNN, BBC, Reuters
Article	General content and magazines	Medium, Wired, Forbes
BlogPosting	Personal blogs and opinion pieces	Personal blogs, Substack
Report	Research and industry reports	Gartner, McKinsey

What Gets Included

When enabled, the plugin outputs:

{
	"@context": "https://schema.org",
	"@type": "NewsArticle",
	"headline": "Article Title",
	"datePublished": "2024-01-15T10:00:00+00:00",
	"dateModified": "2024-01-15T12:00:00+00:00",
	"author": {
		"@type": "Person",
		"name": "Author Name"
	},
	"publisher": {
		"@type": "Organization",
		"name": "Site Name",
		"logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "..." }
	},
	"image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "..." },
	"description": "Article excerpt...",
	"isAccessibleForFree": false,
	"hasPart": {
		"@type": "WebPageElement",
		"isAccessibleForFree": false,
		"cssSelector": ".paywp-paywall"
	}
}

Avoid Duplicate Schema

If you use Yoast, Rank Math, or AIOSEO with "SEO Plugin Integration" enabled, keep "Schema Type" disabled. Duplicate schema can confuse search engines and hurt your rankings.

Search Bot Bypass (Advanced)

Recommended: OFF

This setting allows recognized search engine crawlers to view full protected content.

Security Risk

We do not recommend enabling this option. Here's why:

User agents are easily spoofed — Anyone can change their browser's user agent to pretend to be Googlebot
Violates search engine guidelines — Showing different content to bots vs users is called "cloaking" and can result in penalties
Major publishers don't use it — NYT, WSJ, and other leading paywalled sites rely on schema markup instead
Better alternatives exist — The schema markup approach (isAccessibleForFree) is the recommended method

If You Must Enable It

Only consider this for very specific SEO experiments. The plugin recognizes these crawlers:

Googlebot
Bingbot
Yahoo Slurp
DuckDuckBot
Baiduspider
YandexBot
Facebook (for link previews)
Twitter (for cards)
LinkedIn
Applebot

How Search Engines Handle Paywalled Content

The Modern Approach (Recommended)

Search engines like Google have official guidelines for paywalled content:

Use structured data — Add isAccessibleForFree: false to your Article schema
Show a preview — Let users see a teaser before hitting the paywall
Use noarchive — Prevent cached page bypass
Don't cloak — Show the same content to bots and users

PaywallWP implements all of these best practices automatically.

What Google Sees

When configured correctly, Google understands:

This is a paid article (from schema)
Users need a subscription (from isAccessibleForFree: false)
There's no cached version to bypass with (from noarchive)
The article is high-quality and worth ranking (from proper metadata)

Recommended Setup by Site Type

News Sites

✓ Prevent Cache Bypass: ON
✓ SEO Plugin Integration: ON (if using SEO plugin)
✓ Schema Type: NewsArticle (if no SEO plugin)
✗ Bot Bypass: OFF

News sites benefit from NewsArticle schema which can appear in Google News and Top Stories.

Membership Blogs

✓ Prevent Cache Bypass: ON
✓ SEO Plugin Integration: ON (if using SEO plugin)
✓ Schema Type: BlogPosting (if no SEO plugin)
✗ Bot Bypass: OFF

Research/Report Sites

✓ Prevent Cache Bypass: ON
✓ SEO Plugin Integration: ON (if using SEO plugin)
✓ Schema Type: Report (if no SEO plugin)
✗ Bot Bypass: OFF

Magazine/Publication Sites

✓ Prevent Cache Bypass: ON
✓ SEO Plugin Integration: ON (if using SEO plugin)
✓ Schema Type: Article (if no SEO plugin)
✗ Bot Bypass: OFF

Testing Your Setup

Check Schema Markup

Go to Google's Rich Results Test
Enter a protected article URL
Verify you see:
- isAccessibleForFree: false
- hasPart with WebPageElement

Check Robots Meta

View the source of a protected article
Search for noarchive

You should see:

<meta name="robots" content="noarchive, max-image-preview:large" />

Check Search Console

After a few weeks, check Google Search Console:

Go to Performance report
Filter by protected article URLs
Verify articles are being indexed
Check for any structured data errors

Common Questions

Will this affect my rankings?

No. Properly marked paywalled content ranks normally. Google's guidelines explicitly support paid content when properly marked up.

Do I need both SEO plugin integration AND built-in schema?

No. Use one or the other:

Have Yoast/Rank Math/AIOSEO? → Enable integration, disable built-in
No SEO plugin? → Disable integration, enable built-in with appropriate type

Why is Bot Bypass disabled by default?

Security. User agents can be spoofed, meaning anyone could bypass your paywall by pretending to be Googlebot. The schema markup approach is more secure and is the method recommended by Google.

Does noarchive hurt my SEO?

No. It only prevents cached page links. Your content still gets indexed, appears in search results, and ranks normally. It just removes the "Cached" link that could bypass your paywall.

Troubleshooting

Schema not appearing

Check if you have conflicting SEO plugins
Verify the post is actually protected
Clear any caching plugins
Check for JavaScript errors in browser console

Cached pages still showing

Request removal via Google Search Console
Wait for next crawl cycle
The noarchive directive prevents future caching

Duplicate schema warnings

Disable "Schema Type" if using SEO plugin integration
Check your SEO plugin's schema settings
Use Schema Validator to debug

Next Steps

Content Protection — Set up which content is protected
Subscription Plans — Create membership tiers
Troubleshooting — Common issues and solutions

Accessing SEO Settings​

Quick Setup Guide​

If You Have an SEO Plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO)​

If You Don't Have an SEO Plugin​

Settings Explained​

Prevent Cache Bypass (Robots Directive)​

SEO Plugin Integration​

Supported SEO Plugins​

Built-in Structured Data (Schema Type)​

Schema Types Explained​

What Gets Included​

Search Bot Bypass (Advanced)​

If You Must Enable It​

How Search Engines Handle Paywalled Content​

The Modern Approach (Recommended)​

What Google Sees​

Recommended Setup by Site Type​

News Sites​

Membership Blogs​

Research/Report Sites​

Magazine/Publication Sites​

Testing Your Setup​

Check Schema Markup​

Check Robots Meta​

Check Search Console​

Common Questions​

Will this affect my rankings?​

Do I need both SEO plugin integration AND built-in schema?​

Why is Bot Bypass disabled by default?​

Does noarchive hurt my SEO?​

Troubleshooting​

Schema not appearing​

Cached pages still showing​

Duplicate schema warnings​

Next Steps​