When you're customizing your page settings for your Zibster website, you may notice an option for Page Visibility. We like to give our clients the option to create as many pages as they like, and we know that some pages you don't want everyone to be able to access, and some pages you may only use seasonally. This is why we have three options available for you to use: Visible, Hidden, and Disabled. Sometimes these three options can be confusing, this guide will explain the difference between these settings.
VISIBLE
The default setting every page will get when it is added to your control panel. It means that this page is accessible both in the menu and with the direct page link. Anyone that can access your website can access this page. Google will also index this page as an individual page on your website.
Generally speaking, most of the pages on your website will be visible.
When viewing all of your website builder's pages, if a page is Visible, its name will display with a dark gray text color.
HIDDEN
This setting allows you to control who has access to this page, as a hidden page is only accessible via the direct page link. You can find the direct page link in the page details section as well as under the title of the page in your control panel.
Your direct page link will be in this format: yourdomainname.com/direct-page-link, where yourdomainname.com is your website address, and everything after the slash is the name of the page, with dashes replacing spaces in the name.
A page that is hidden is not accessible through the main website navigation menu, so you'll have to provide someone with the direct page link in order for them to view the page. Since the page is still accessible through the direct page link, it is possible that Google may index this page, but it is not probable because there will be much less traffic accessing this page comparative to the other pages on your website that are visible.
A hidden page is a great way to create a pricing page, promotional landing page, or other types of pages that you want limit access to the general public or are using targeted ads for.
When viewing all of your website builder's pages, if a page is Hidden, its name will be a light gray text color.
DISABLED
This setting makes a particular page completely inaccessible from anywhere but your Zibster control panel. It will not appear in the menu and it also will not be accessible using a direct page link.
If you try to access the direct page link, you will be given a 404 page not found error. In the same way, Google will not be able to index disabled pages because their direct page link is inaccessible.
You may wonder why you would ever use the disabled feature if it is completely inaccessible to the public, why not just delete the page?
There are times when you may need the information on the page, but you don't want anyone else to be able to access it. An example of this would be a special that you only run certain times of the year. When you're not running the special anymore, but you know you will run the same special next year, it is a good idea to disable the page. This way, customers won't see your lower prices that aren't available, but when you're ready to run the special again, you won't have to recreate the page from scratch. All you'll need to do is make it visible again.
When viewing all of your website builder's pages, if a page is Disabled, its name will be light gray and with a line striking through it.
Anytime you change your page visibility, make sure to click on save changes button at the bottom of the control panel to apply the changes to your webpage.