--- title: "So you want to publish your user manuals on the Web, but don’t want everyone to see them" id: "1136" type: "post" slug: "so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them" published_at: "2009-12-04T12:04:01+00:00" modified_at: "2009-12-04T12:04:01+00:00" url: "https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them/" markdown_url: "https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them.md" excerpt: "We often hear from Technical Authors who say they (or their bosses) have concerns about publishing their user guides on the Web. They are worried their competitors might read them, the manuals might stop a prospect from buying the product,..." taxonomy_category: - "documentation" - "SEO" - "user manuals" taxonomy_post_tag: - "SEO" - "Technical Documentation" --- We often hear from Technical Authors who say they (or their bosses) have concerns about publishing their user guides on the Web. They are worried their competitors might read them, the manuals might stop a prospect from buying the product, or that a client might not buy a support contract. On the other hand, there are many reasons for publishing user documentation on the Web and having it indexed by the Search Engines. Apart from a better “after sales experience” for customers, it’s great for improving a company’s Search Engine rankings, as Google loves information-rich content. The good news is that Google does offer a possible solution for these two opposing pressures to be resolved, called “[First click free](http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/10/first-click-free-for-web-search.html) “. According to Google: > While the first article can be seen without subscribing, all clicks on the article page are “trapped.” This means that if users click anywhere else on that page, they’ll be prompted to sign up. This allows our users to view the article of interest while also exposing them to your site, encouraging an actual subscription. However, it might not be perfect for you. People can potentially go back to Google, find another article from the same site, click to it from Google and read that. Google is offering additional options for content appearing in Google News search (called Subscription and Preview), but these aren’t available in the main Google Search Engine. Whether they will be added as options for non-news content is unknown. You can also have content on your Web site that is hidden from Search Engines. Google’s [Robots Exclusion Protocol](http://www.robotstxt.org/) options (robots.txt files or the meta robots tag) offer automatic exclusion from indexing by Search Engines. You can also hide content behind a login screen. For more information, see [Josh Cohen Of Google News On Paywalls, Partnerships & Working With Publishers](http://searchengineland.com/josh-cohen-of-google-news-on-paywalls-partnerships-working-with-publishers-29881) . ### Share this: - [Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook](https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them/?share=facebook) - [Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn](https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them/?share=linkedin) - [Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp](https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them/?share=jetpack-whatsapp) - [Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky](https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them/?share=bluesky) - ### *Related* ### 5 Comments […] Pratt discusses publishing your docs on the Web but without it being indexed by search […] “They are worried their competitors might read them”… rather than their competitors buying your product and reading the manuals that way? “the manuals might stop a prospect from buying the product”… doesn’t fill you with confidence about the quality of the manuals (or the product) “a client might not buy a support contract”… do you have to buy support instead of the manuals, or are they part of support? Are there other reasons why product managers don’t want docs on the web? I’m always slightly suspicious when documentation ends up behind a paywall. It may not strictly speaking be fair, but I do wonder how trustworthy a company is, if they’re intent on monetizing every last ounce of user interaction to that extent. It might just be because I’m a tech comms type, but documentation is also one of the first places I look if I’m thinking about buying software. In that sense, folks maybe should be worried about documentation visibility, since if your docs are good, and visible, and your product’s a shonky heap of junk, it’ll be rapidly visible. Either way, non-public docs make me suspicious. The First Click Free idea is an interesting one, though. I was talking to a guy a while back who had a similar idea for a big, content rich site, and was initially sceptical. It’ll be intriguing to see how well this works for users. My company was formed around the idea that companies deliver pdfs with their product – as part of the product. Publishing the manuals online in a print on demand environment allows the companies to buy the printed material, something that is not supplied with the product. Publishing to the web is a brilliant idea. Here in Germany I have experienced exactly the same concerns, especially the fear that competitors might steal some new ideas and will be able to copy new features more quickly. As a result, documentation is often downloadable only by registered users. The idea to understand documentation as part of the company’s SEO and marketing strategy is clearly less important, but I think slowly it is becoming more popular over here, too. ### Leave a Reply[Cancel reply](/2009/12/so-you-want-to-publish-your-user-manuals-on-the-web-but-dont-want-everyone-to-see-them/#respond) This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. [Learn how your comment data is processed.](https://akismet.com/privacy/) #### Previous post [Study shows people use search to learn as well as to find facts](https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/11/study-shows-searching-is-a-source-of-learning/) #### Next post [Where does technical documentation fit into a “Freemium” business model?](https://www.cherryleaf.com/2009/12/where-does-technical-documentation-fit-into-a-freemium-business-model/) #### Browse posts by month Browse posts by month Select Month October 2026 (3) September 2026 (12) August 2026 (8) July 2026 (7) June 2026 (14) May 2026 (8) April 2026 (6) March 2026 (14) February 2026 (9) January 2026 (9) December 2025 (7) November 2025 (9) October 2025 (10) September 2025 (7) August 2025 (6) July 2025 (1) June 2025 (3) May 2025 (2) April 2025 (5) March 2025 (3) February 2025 (3) January 2025 (2) November 2024 (8) October 2024 (3) September 2024 (2) August 2024 (3) July 2024 (4) June 2024 (1) May 2024 (2) April 2024 (4) March 2024 (1) February 2024 (2) January 2024 (1) December 2023 (2) November 2023 (9) October 2023 (8) September 2023 (5) August 2023 (3) July 2023 (1) June 2023 (1) May 2023 (2) April 2023 (3) March 2023 (2) January 2023 (2) December 2022 (4) November 2022 (1) October 2022 (1) September 2022 (1) August 2022 (1) July 2022 (1) June 2022 (1) May 2022 (2) April 2022 (1) March 2022 (1) February 2022 (1) January 2022 (2) December 2021 (1) November 2021 (2) October 2021 (1) August 2021 (1) July 2021 (2) June 2021 (3) May 2021 (5) April 2021 (3) March 2021 (3) February 2021 (1) January 2021 (2) December 2020 (4) November 2020 (4) August 2020 (3) February 2020 (3) January 2020 (1) November 2019 (3) October 2019 (1) September 2019 (1) August 2019 (3) July 2019 (2) June 2019 (3) May 2019 (4) April 2019 (1) November 2018 (2) October 2018 (1) July 2018 (2) June 2018 (4) May 2018 (2) April 2018 (3) March 2018 (4) February 2018 (2) January 2018 (3) December 2017 (2) October 2017 (3) September 2017 (1) August 2017 (3) July 2017 (2) June 2017 (7) May 2017 (4) April 2017 (5) March 2017 (1) February 2017 (7) January 2017 (1) December 2016 (3) November 2016 (4) October 2016 (1) September 2016 (5) July 2016 (1) June 2016 (3) May 2016 (1) April 2016 (2) February 2016 (2) January 2016 (5) December 2015 (1) November 2015 (4) October 2015 (2) August 2015 (1) July 2015 (1) June 2015 (2) May 2015 (3) February 2015 (2) January 2015 (6) December 2014 (1) October 2014 (1) September 2014 (4) June 2014 (4) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (2) March 2014 (3) February 2014 (4) January 2014 (4) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (3) July 2013 (3) June 2013 (11) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (6) March 2013 (7) February 2013 (4) January 2013 (4) December 2012 (9) November 2012 (23) October 2012 (14) September 2012 (8) August 2012 (4) July 2012 (12) June 2012 (12) May 2012 (10) April 2012 (8) March 2012 (12) February 2012 (3) January 2012 (6) December 2011 (2) October 2011 (3) August 2011 (1) June 2011 (5) May 2011 (2) April 2011 (1) January 2011 (1) December 2010 (1) November 2010 (3) October 2010 (4) September 2010 (8) August 2010 (5) May 2010 (2) April 2010 (3) March 2010 (3) February 2010 (2) January 2010 (3) December 2009 (2) November 2009 (6) September 2009 (1) July 2009 (6) June 2009 (7) April 2009 (8) March 2009 (3) February 2009 (3) January 2009 (3) December 2008 (1) November 2008 (3) October 2008 (3) September 2008 (4) August 2008 (1) July 2008 (3) June 2008 (5) May 2008 (2) April 2008 (2) March 2008 (3) February 2008 (2) January 2008 (1) November 2007 (3) October 2007 (2) September 2007 (1) July 2007 (3) November 2006 (1) October 2006 (2) September 2006 (3) August 2006 (1) April 2006 (1) March 2006 (3) #### Browse posts by category