Understanding and Managing Your Website Visibility with PrivateShield

What is PrivateShield?

PrivateShield helps ensure your wedding website remains exclusive to guests you invite. After activating this feature, our system will automatically monitor and attempt to prevent your website from being added to the Google (and other search engine) index from that day forward, protecting your personal event details from public access. However it is important to note that this protection is not retroactive, and must be done prior to Google and other search engines finding your website. PrivateShield is best activated prior to publishing to have the best chance at staying hidden.

What is "Indexing" and how does my website get added to Google?

Indexing is the process by which search engines like Google scan and store web pages to facilitate quick and accurate information retrieval. When a page is indexed, it becomes searchable and can appear in search engine results, making it accessible to the public. Once a website is indexed, it will usually stay in the index indefinitely.

Activating PrivateShield

PrivateShield is a feature designed to enhance the privacy of your wedding website by instructing Google to refrain from adding your website to its index, meaning it should not appear in search results. To ensure maximum privacy, we recommend activating PrivateShield as soon as you create your website on our platform. This prevents search engines from indexing your site from the outset. If your website is already in the search engine index, it can take some time to removed. To activate PrivateShield:

1. Navigate to Wedding Website from the main navigation
2. Select Settings
3. Toggle the PrivateShield option to Active

If your website is already in Googles search index

Understanding the Timing of Index Changes

If your website has already been indexed by search engines, it might still appear in search results for a period even after activating PrivateShield. This delay occurs because search engines need time to revisit your site and update their records. The delay is determined by Google, and cannot be sped up.

Immediate Solutions

If it's crucial to remove your site from search results immediately and the re-indexing process is taking longer than anticipated, you have the option to change your website address. This change is treated by search engines as a new site entry. When they crawl this newly addressed site and detect our PrivateShield from the start, they will not index it. This workaround ensures that your site remains private without waiting for search engines to update their existing index.

Another immediate solution is to add a website passcode to your website, preventing anybody that reaches your website from accessing the content without the passcode.

Key Recommendations

• Activate Early: For optimal privacy, enable PrivateShield when you first set up your website.
• Monitor and Adjust: If privacy is a top priority and the re-indexing is delayed, consider changing the website address as a more immediate solution.

By following these guidelines, you can better manage your website's visibility and maintain the privacy of your special day. If you need further assistance or have questions about using PrivateShield, please contact our support team.