# I DON'T want robots, to find a page, once its uploaded?



## lizacwilson (Mar 9, 2007)

Hi all, 

Sorry its been a while since last posted, been real busy with website! I have a question about a page I wish to upload purely for customers who have requested customised stuff, and need to pay (pay pal button). I intend to upload the page with the pay pal button and details of the sale, and send my customers an e-mail with a link to this page. R U with me?  What I DON't want, is for anybody else to access this page, including robots. I believe I would need to add a code to the head section, but not sure what that would be? Can anybody help me with this code? 

The ONLY link to this page would be the link from the e-mail and not from my site, but I do believe people can still access a page once its uploaded?

Thanks in advance for any help


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## Qacer (Sep 13, 2007)

You can try the following links for more information:

Robots exclusion, avoiding the index, META robots tag :: The search engine tutorial
Robots Exclusion


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## paulo (Dec 13, 2006)

<meta Name="robots" Content="noindex, Nofollow">


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## lizacwilson (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks, That's great. Just what I needed!! Thank you both for your prompt replies! I have looked at the links you included quacer, and they were very helpful!

Its also nice when someone writes it down in black and white too, so I know exactly what I need to write! (Thanks paulo ) Especially someone like me who takes ages to understand a new code Hee he.


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

Liza,

the robots nofollow tag works but i've read that not all robots/spiders obey it.

To be on the safe side, i would consider a password protect script for that page. So that the only people or bots allowed would need a password. Period.


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## lizacwilson (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks Lucy,

Do you know how I would need to go about doing this? And is it complicated?


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

lizacwilson said:


> Thanks Lucy,
> 
> Do you know how I would need to go about doing this? And is it complicated?


most hosts provide you with a control panel to do this the easy way, no need to know any code etc. The button you would push to auto-create a password protect page or directory on the control panel would be called something like *password-protect*.

If your host does not provide you with the above control panel, just ask them to do it for you.

As for it being simple/complicated, it sorf of is, the code would involve creating a .htaccess file and uploaded to the same directory as your nofollow page and the code would be something like this: 

<---sample .htaccess code for password---->

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Password Required"
AuthUserFile "/your-page/your-domain/.htpasswds/control/passwd"

require valid-user

<---end sample .htaccess code for password---->

this would work with server stuff. But no need to learn code if you dont want.

just contact your host, they can help you and do it for you. Its a common function.


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## lizacwilson (Mar 9, 2007)

T-BOT said:


> most hosts provide you with a control panel to do this the easy way, no need to know any code etc. The button you would push to auto-create a password protect page or directory on the control panel would be called something like *password-protect*.
> 
> If your host does not provide you with the above control panel, just ask them to do it for you.
> 
> ...


 
Hi again Lucy,

I will certainly look into doing this. Thank you for taking the time to explain it in such simple terms! Much appreciated.


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## krylonking (Aug 28, 2007)

T-BOT said:


> Liza,
> 
> the robots nofollow tag works but i've read that not all robots/spiders obey it.
> 
> To be on the safe side, i would consider a password protect script for that page. So that the only people or bots allowed would need a password. Period.


wouldnt that make it inconvenient for the customer to have to get a user name and password just to place an order? or are you talking about having them enter a captcha (sp?)??


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

krylonking said:


> wouldnt that make it inconvenient for the customer to have to get a user name and password just to place an order? or are you talking about having them enter a captcha (sp?)??


It's not likely that the bots will find the page if there are no links to it from anywhere on the web.

But password protecting the page would make it harder for the customer to purchase.

You may want to think over the benefits/drawbacks of just leaving it up there. What are the real drawbacks that would happen in the unlikely event that the search engines found the page?

You could also delete the page after the customer purchased.


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

krylonking said:


> wouldnt that make it inconvenient for the customer to have to get a user name and password just to place an order? or are you talking about having them enter a captcha (sp?)??


i guess you need to balance convenience vs security.

Since it was more of a security concern, page password protect fills that need.

I guess it can be done as a simple auto-responder to the order email that would provide the password etc. with a link to the actual pay page, or even a straight ALLOW access to the pay page just by clicking on the reply email link  . 
...there are many ways to do it i guess, email reply is one used often, like when you sign up on this board for example.

But yes, since we do not know in detail how all of liza's site is setup and the question was to prevent a page from being indexed or viewed by ALL, password protect the page made sense to me.  

Is there a need for a hidden page ? that's another question.


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## lizacwilson (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks for everbody's helpful comments here. 

I guess it wouldn't really matter if someone else accessed the page, as I don't plan on putting anything more than a name and reference number to associate with the bill! I am sure nobody else would be silly enough to click on the pay pal button for somebody elses's bill? So in that case the worst that would happen is they see somebody elses bill?  

(The details of the page will change, i.e the customer details, but the page format will stay the same, so I wouldn't delete the page, just update it)

I don't want this process to get too complicated, as it might prevent further orders, so i've made a make believe bill with the link on it to the page in question, with the no follow attribute, and I guess i'll just see what happens! If my websites statistics show up with this page on it, then I may think about password protect! 

Searching around the internet I have found some tools that might be able to help with this, so we'll just see what happens!

Thanks again for everyone who's replied


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## imadork (Aug 7, 2007)

You can also do it with .htaccess if that is enabled on your server. Or you could set up a password protected directory. Bottom line the only fool proof way to keep people out of your business is to not put it online. People can crack anything...


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