WordPress' site visibility settings determine whether a site is public or private and if the site should be indexed by search engines like Google.
Changing Site Visibility
To change your site's visibility, simply do the following:
- Go to Dashboard -> Settings -> Reading
- Select your preferred visibility setting under the "Site Visibility" section
Levels of Site Visibility
There are 5 levels of site visibility to choose from and they are displayed as follows:
- "I would like my site to be visible to everyone, including search engines (like Google, Bing, Technorati) and archivers"
- "I would like to block search engines, but allow normal visitors"
- "I would like my site to be visible only to Registered network users"
- "I would like my site to be visible only to Site subscribers"
- "I would like my site to be visible only to Site administrators"
The five visibility levels can be split into two categories: public visibility and private visibility.
Public Visibility
Levels 1 and 2 (above) are public visibility levels. This means that anyone on the web can see the content presented on the site. The difference between the two levels is that level 1 allows sites to be indexed by search engines, while level 2 ensures that search engines are blocked and the site will not be found through conventional searches.
Private Visibility
Levels 3 through 5 are private visibility levels.
Level 3 allows the site to be visible to all network users. This means that anyone registered to the network where your site is located can view the content of your site. Example: A level 3 privacy blog on UBC Blogs will be open to all UBC Blogs users.
Level 4 allows the site to be visible to site subscribers. This means that any user that has been added to the site's subscriber base can view the content; however, the rest of the user base on the platform will not be able to see the content.
Level 5 allows the site to be visible to site administrators. This means that only users that have administrative privileges on the site will be able to view its contents.
The wording on these settings has changed:
If you would like everyone to be able to view your site choose option #1.
1) Allow search engines to index this site
2) Discourage search engines from indexing this site
3) I would like my site to be visible only to Registered network users.
4) I would like my site to be visible only to Site subscribers.
5) I would like my site to be visible only to Site administrators.
My UBC blog’s visibility is on option #1 but it was not appearing on Google. It was created 7 months ago so Google had enough time to index it. Do you know what could have caused it?