OH MY and I just realized… I have a couple “secret sites” for parents of kids I tutor that only the parents can see that tells about the student’s tutor sessions… I now realize THOSE could show up in the google search thing even if no one knows the URL!!!
Also be aware that if any of those pages did somehow already get indexed by search engines then the meta tags will not have any immediate effect and the pages can potentially still show up in search results until they are eventually dropped from the index. It could take some time.
how much time??? I realize that and just have to go with the chances that A) a student does not usually google my site name since they know it anyway B) anyone that may see it, would have no relation to the people whose info is displayed.
Tough to say. I suppose it depends in part on how often your site gets indexed but beyond that I don’t know what the timeframe is for such things.
If you’re really concerned you could always change the names of the secret pages (and make sure the old pages are no longer on the server) so anyone following the old link(s) gets a “Page not found”. Of course for “normal” pages this is not the best search engine approach but with hidden pages such concerns are less important. Of course that would mean alerting your approved visitors of the new url(s).
I have a client with a similar situation (they own a Montessori school) where they want to post photos and videos just for the parents (via the Perch CMS) so I put it all in a password-protected directory and they send the parents the username/password. It’s not fancy but it works well for their needs.
Todd
i did just that for 2 hidden pages that I only know about.
I could also do that for the hidden ones for parents… I can just send them the new URL.