Chat being search engine indexed

[John.]

Hi,

Thought chat was a private area where we could chat freely.

Was shocked to see a discusion turn up in a list of links.

Suggest making chat noindex nofollow so sensitive matters can be discussed.

John

[pritaeas]

Chat log is also available from within the site, so even if it isn't indexed, it's still retrievable.

[Dani]

Suggest making chat noindex nofollow so sensitive matters can be discussed.

The ability to discuss sensitive matters is the intention of private messages. Chats are designed to be communal and open.

Just because something is noindex doesn't make it private. It can still be viewed by everyone ... it just won't show up in Google.

[John.]

it can still be viewed by everyone ... it just won't show up in Google.

Exactly, kept private to the community but not put on search engines.

[Dani]

kept private to the community but not put on search engines

I think you're misunderstanding. Chat logs can be viewed by everyone ... not just community members. The vast, vast majority of our traffic are non-members who find our content as the result of a Google search or other means. That's simply our business model.

[John.]

Yes, not an issue with forums, only chat which should be free and informal.

Who wants their customers seeing community feedback on their websites on google?

Who wants to be seen by clients discussing grey hat matters on bing?

[Reverend Jim]

Who wants to be seen by clients discussing grey hat matters on bing?

For that matter, who wants to be seen on Bing?

[Dani]

Don't post sensitive matters that you don't want others to see in a public chat :) It's not a members-only feature. A meta tag requesting to Google to not show the page in its search results doesn't make it any more secure.

[John.]

Want people to criticise websites honestly, directly etc, but not in front of the customers and clients!

[Dani]

That's what our Business Exchange category is for, and that section is for members only. You have to be a logged in member to see content there.

If you want to participate in live chat, then participate in live chat within our Business Exchange category or, perhaps more appropriately, within our Website Reviews live chat.

Every forum on the site has a 1:1 relationship with a live chat room that shares the same permissions as the forum does.

[John.]

It is not the same as Daniweb chats where it is sheduled,and those are log on.

[Dani]

Yes, but that's our business model. We schedule chats and in exchange we get lots of good content that we can get traffic from Google from and make money selling ads.

[John.]

make money selling ads.

No ads in the chat section, it is being compromised for free

[Dani]

But there is in the chat log :) We don't make money when people chat live (that is just great for the social aspect of the community), but where we make our money is when people read the chat log in the future.

[John.]

OK, need to explore the other live chats and be more circumspect on the search indexed ones.

[emmaharward789]

ok gud this knowledge is very helpful to u...