Pages that go from password-protected to free

How to fiddle with meta settings to delay Google caching?

[m0nty]

I hope I'm not going over old ground here. I'll try to explain this without mentioning my widget (although my profile gives it away).

I have a certain type of page connected to a particular event which is generated automatically at a certain time as a password-protected page, but after about three hours (after the event is finished) it reverts back to being freely viewable by anyone without a login. Those who are not logged in who try to view the page in those three hours are shown a short "sorry" message explaining the situation.

My problem is that once the page is opened up to the public, I want Google ads on it relevant to the content on the page... but unfortunately the Googlebot has already crawled the page when it had the little sorry message, and it only serves ads based on the text in the sorry page - which end up being ads about password security!

Is it just a matter of putting in the <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NONE"> tag in the header of the sorry page, or is there something else I should be doing to prevent the Googlebot from feeding AdSense the wrong page?

[HitProf]

Wouldn't it be easier to include the AdSense code when the page goes public and no sooner? I'm sure you can do this with a simple time test in the php or whatever generates the pages.

[m0nty]

HitProf, I already do that. The Googlebot crawls that page in those 3 hours anyway.

[jchampliaud]

Is it just a matter of putting in the <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NONE"> tag in the header of the sorry page, or is there something else I should be doing to prevent the Googlebot from feeding AdSense the wrong page?

There is no relationship between the googlebot that feeds the Google SE and the Mediapartners-Google bot that feeds AdSense.

[m0nty]

Ah, thanks for that info jchampliaud. I saw elsewhere that changing your channel ID can lead to a reset of the bot's cache of your site, I'll try that.

[jchampliaud]

[quote]Ah, thanks for that info jchampliaud. I saw elsewhere that changing your channel ID can lead to a reset of the bot's cache of your site, I'll try that.quote]

No problem. Changing the ad/size type will also do it.

[m0nty]

Hmmm. Well that hasn't seemed to work as yet. Do I have to wait a bit?

[m0nty]

Actually, now that I think about it, the problem may be that the bot may be looking at my source code and taking too much notice of the text of the "sorry" message, which is very near the start of the code, even though it only appears under a certain condition. Perhaps I should take that sorry text out to be an include.

[petra]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you're not allowed to place adsense ads on pages that do not contain content such as registration etc..., What you're describing sounds like its against the T&C's

[TheRookie]

He said he's not displaying the ads when it's just the Sorry page, so it's not against the T&C.

[jchampliaud]

Hmmm. Well that hasn't seemed to work as yet. Do I have to wait a bit?

Normally no, but it could be something else like ad inventory.

[m0nty]

Yes, and I'm not even showing ads to logged in users during those first three hours.

[HitProf]

>HitProf, I already do that. The Googlebot crawls that page in those 3 hours anyway.

This sounds a bit strange. Why would the mediabot crawl a page with no code on it? From your further remarks I guess you do have the code on the page but just don't show it. What I mean is to not include it until it's due.