# Can search engines crawl, if forum behind single sign on

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [19 november 2017 om 00:22 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342 "2017-11-19T00:22:28Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![sbsmithjax](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sbsmithjax/32/117809_2.png) [@sbsmithjax](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sbsmithjax)
#### Post date: [19 november 2017 om 00:22 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342/1 "2017-11-19T00:22:28Z")

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Greetings, we are loving our new Discourse Forum. Thank you to the community that is supporting this.

We have a novice questions. Our forum: [https://forums.ppsapta.org](https://forums.ppsapta.org) is hooked to single sign on, via our client’s membership directory. We redirect to the login page for any one not logged in.

Does this inherently indicate that search engines will NOT be able to crawl our forum posts at all?

Our client wants to keep the information private, only available if you pay member dues to the non-profit.

Thanks!  
Stephen

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### Author: ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/codinghorror/32/110067_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [19 november 2017 om 01:11 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342/2 "2017-11-19T01:11:32Z")

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Yes, if login is required to see content in your site, crawlers will not be able to see anything either.

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### Author: ![fefrei](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/fefrei/32/119538_2.png) [@fefrei](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fefrei)
#### Post date: [19 november 2017 om 09:37 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342/3 "2017-11-19T09:37:37Z")

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In general, while crawlers are served a special version of the site that makes it easier for them to read the content, they do not have special permissions in any way: Crawlers can see whatever an anonymous (i.e. not logged in) user can see 🙂

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### Author: ![system](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/system/32/443519_2.png) [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [11 januari 2020 om 11:38 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342/4 "2020-01-11T11:38:27Z")

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### Author: ![blake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/blake/32/157322_2.png) [@blake](https://meta.discourse.org/u/blake)
#### Post date: [11 januari 2020 om 13:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/can-search-engines-crawl-if-forum-behind-single-sign-on/74342/5 "2020-01-11T13:10:01Z")

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