Have you heard of Reid Reviews? Until this week I hadn’t either. The quality photography review site is nearly invisible to Google search. Paywall is almost certainly the major reason. Photographer Sean Reid charges a yearly subscription of $32.95. The price he charges readers carries a hidden cost: Google search visibility.

In August 2009, I asked: “Can You Charge For News? Ask Google“. In that post, I looked at different online publications, including Advertising Age and Wall Street Journal Online, to assess their Google visibility and effectiveness of their paywalls.