Hi,
I've set up my forum about 4 days ago. Now I have at least one regular vistitor ;-) His name is "GoogleBot". Ok, I assume that's Google scanning the site.
But, I haven't set up any account, nor he appears in the members list? Does myBB have a secret hidden user (even for admins) implemented?
P.S.: Funny is, in the detailed "who is online" I can see GoogleBot answering threads and writting private messages ;-) hehe
The Googlebot is a built-in member you cannot change. MyBB registers what the bot is doing, as it does with all search engine bots MyBB recognizes. You shouldn't worry about it - after a while the bot will appear less frequently than it does now.
Peter Wrote:The Googlebot is a built-in member you cannot change. MyBB registers what the bot is doing, as it does with all search engine bots MyBB recognizes. You shouldn't worry about it - after a while the bot will appear less frequently than it does now.
Well he is most welcome in order to make the form well known ;-) But, it makes me worried that I dont have any control on him. I wonder if he can enter my hidden non-public forums.
No, bots cannot read any private information as MyBB keeps it hidden from them the same way it keeps it hidden from non-authorized users.
By default, any bots (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) are in the same usergroup as Unregistered users. Consequently, they would be viewing the same "No Permission" pages as your guests would. So if you are not logged in, and you try to enter in your private forum, and you get a "No Permission" page, then the bot will see the same.
It's just a "feature" in MyBB 1.1x that even if the user is viewing a "No Permission" page, the Who's online list doesn't say that.
If you install the SEO Mod, googleBot will stop accessing those pages as time passes. By the way, there is no harm if google accesses those areas as the previous repliers explained.