Anonymous Website?

[CleverName]

Just wondering if it's possible to have an anonymous website? One that doesn't get listed in search engines, etc.

 

I've heard of password protected sites too but would rather not do that if possible and really not sure how those work either...

 

Thanks in advance!

 

CN

[MikeJ]

To answer your question, basically yes. But that's a rather vague question. It depends on what level of anonymity you are looking for.

 

As far as search engines, you can use robots.txt file to tell them not to index you. Not every search engine pays attention to it, but all the major ones do.

[LisaJill]

Yes, it is possible. There are two ways.

 

You can include a meta tag in the header of each page that instructs robots to ignore it and links, that would look like this:

 

><meta name="robots" content="none">

 

or

 

><meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">

 

Here is a thread that explains the various methods, pro's and con's.

 

Does that help?

[DarqFlare]

Search engines can't really get to your website if there are no other websites with a link to it.

[TCH-Rob]

Or you can go the "serverxx.totalchoicehosting.com/~cpanel_name" way and not even have a domain name.

 

Dont have to worry about it then.

[HCSuperStores]

Actually, I don't believe it's completely possible. Mostly possible, but eventually it will be found.

 

The "referrer" link is something you can't hide. So when you bounce from your "anonymous" web site to another that logs and visits a referring web site, your cover is blown.

 

Also, the robots.txt file can be ignored. There's no rule that says search engines go by this. It's only a curtesy.

 

If you really want to protect it, give it password-only access. Then, in theory, only those with a password can get in.