Do your paywalled articles tell AI which sections are gated?
Confirms paywalled pages explicitly mark gated sections so AI tools know what they can and cannot see.
What this signal tests
We check whether your paywalled or subscription-gated content declares isAccessibleForFree:false at the page level and identifies the specific gated sections via hasPart WebPageElement entries with cssSelector pointing at the elements containing the gated content. This tells AI crawlers exactly which parts of the page are behind the paywall.
Why it matters for your visibility in AI
Without this markup, AI crawlers see your full article HTML (if served to crawlers via the first-click-free pattern) but cannot tell which sections are gated to ordinary users. This causes two problems: AI tools may hallucinate by quoting content that real users cannot actually read, embarrassing both you and them; and crawlers may treat the page as cloaking (showing different content to bots than to humans) and penalise it in classic search ranking. Marking the paywall explicitly solves both problems. AI tools know which sections are gated and either summarise around them or include a paywall indicator in the citation. Search engines understand the content discrepancy is intentional rather than deceptive. Publishers with paywalled content who skip this markup risk both AI misquoting and classic SEO penalties; the fix is small and protective.
Pass criteria at a glance
| Criterion | Passes when |
|---|---|
| Both fields and cssSelector present on gated content. |
How we test it
We look for two specific markers in your structured data: a top-level isAccessibleForFree:false on the Article or CreativeWork, and a hasPart array containing one or more WebPageElement entries each with isAccessibleForFree:false and a cssSelector pointing at the gated DOM element (typically a CSS class like .premium-content or .paywall-body). Missing either marker, or having isAccessibleForFree without the cssSelector, fails the signal.
Show technical detection method
JSON-LD has isAccessibleForFree:false plus hasPart WebPageElement with isAccessibleForFree:false and cssSelector.
If your site fails: how to fix it
- Identify the CSS class or wrapper element that contains the gated portion of your articles. Common patterns are .paywall, .premium, .subscriber-only.
- On your paywalled article template, add isAccessibleForFree:false to the top-level Article block.
- Add a hasPart array containing one or more WebPageElement entries. Each entry should have @type WebPageElement, isAccessibleForFree:false, and cssSelector referencing the gated DOM class (such as .paywall-body).
- Make sure the cssSelector actually matches an element on the page. If the class changes, update the markup; mismatched selectors invalidate the declaration.
- If only a small teaser is free and the rest is gated, the cssSelector should cover only the gated portion. If the entire article is gated past a headline and image, the selector covers the whole body.
- Validate one paywalled URL in Google's Rich Results Test. Paywall structured data does not have a dedicated rich result but is checked during the Article test.
Quick facts
| Maturity | ESTABLISHED |
|---|---|
| Weight | low |
| Category | Structured Data |
Primary sources
Related signals
Frequently asked questions
Do I have to show the gated content to crawlers at all?
Not necessarily. Some publishers serve only the teaser to crawlers and treat the paywall as fully opaque. Others serve full content to crawlers and rely on the markup to indicate gating (the first-click-free pattern). Either approach is valid; the paywall markup is required only if you serve gated content to crawlers and need to declare it as gated.
Will this hurt my classic SEO?
No, in fact it protects against being mis-flagged as cloaking. Without the markup, serving different content to bots and users looks suspicious. With the markup, the discrepancy is declared and Google explicitly supports the pattern. Publishers who serve full content to crawlers and mark it correctly maintain full search ranking.
Can AI tools quote my gated content even after I add the markup?
AI tools can technically quote anything they have crawled, but well-behaved ones (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google) respect the markup and either skip gated sections or include a paywall indicator. Tools that ignore the markup are violating the publisher signal; the markup gives you a documented basis to push back if your content is misused.
Run your own scan
Run a free scan and see how your site grades across all 155 AI-readiness signals.