Signalquiz.com is a railroad signal testing and informational website I created whose primary audience is train operating crews. Conductors and engineers use the website for initial training and to prepare for, in many cases, annual qualification exams.
Much of the content on the website is free, however, practice exams require a paid subscription, and access to that content is password-protected.
Google can not index content that is within a password-protected area, therefore that site content was inaccessible and would not appear in Google, or any other search engine results.
By utilizing SMF member group permissions, however, I was able to create two versions of the website; one for Google and guest users, and the other for paid subscribers.
By creating a Google version of the website I was able to get significant keywords indexed and also give potential subscribers a sampling of the content they could expect to receive once they obtained a subscription. A win-win for everyone!
When a member takes out a subscription, they are automatically placed into a permission group that has access to the intended content. They are also simultaneously removed from the user group that has access to the original Google/Guest content. Thus the 'Preview now!' links are replaced with links that point to full content quizzes, not the sample quizzes.
Additionally, because Googlebot never sees the password-protected subscriber content, there is no duplicate content, which could potentially hurt the rankings, indexed.
This alone won't get you on page one. You also need relevant content, quality backlinks, and a well-coded responsive website, particularly for mobile.
Check your website on Google Search Console for mobile useability like the pros! Not sure how to do that? I can help.
See the table below for several competitive search terms and their ranking on Google for the Signalquiz website.
| Google Search Rankings - March 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Keyword or Phrase | Position |
| amtrak signal test | 1 |
| amtrak michigan signals test | 1 |
| bnsf signal test | 5 |
| cn speed signal test | 1 |
| csx signal test | 4 |
| norac 11th edition | 3 |
| norac signal test | 8 |
| ns signals practice test | 4 |
| railroad signal test | 1 |
| up signal test | 2 |
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