Google Embraces Gated Content

Google rich results for gated content

Google has finally blessed or at least embraced gated content.

That’s right, in a recent post on Twitter / X, Google shared via its Search Central page that rich results on the SERP will henceforth support validation of structured data for paid content.

In simpler terms, Google will tell users if a content is paid-walled directly from the SERP. In order to save them time and effort.

How does this help SEOs?

This change helps SEOs in so many ways, including:

  1. Getting the targeted audience
  2. Reducing click bounce
  3. Help Google better understand their content

How can you implement it?

Adding structured data for paid content is the same as adding structured data for other things such as blog, events, etc. You do it using JSON-LD (preferably) and you verify once you're done.

                   {
                   "@context": "https://schema.org",
                   "@type": "NewsArticle",
                   "mainEntityOfPage": {
                   "@type": "WebPage",
                   "@id": "https://example.org/article"
                   },
                   (...)
                   "isAccessibleForFree": "False",
                   "hasPart": {
                   "@type": "WebPageElement",
                   "isAccessibleForFree": "False",
                   "cssSelector": ".paywall"
                   }
                   }

What type of content can you put behind a paywall?

You can add structured data for many types of paid-walled pieces such as:

Finally, Google mentioned that the SGE SERP (the new AI-driven SERP) will link to paid-walled content if they are deemed relevant. The users will have the choice to click or not.

Interested in knowing more? Check the announcement from Google: Google's Announcement