Accessibility of Public Confluence Spaces

[Allison Beaudry]

Hi there,

We are implementing Confluence Cloud as a database for user manuals. My question is this:

-How accessible to the general public are Confluence pages set to "public"?

-Are they searchable in any search engine, or is a unique URL required to access it?

-Would our Spaces be easily accessible/searchable by any Confluence or anonymous user?

Thanks,

Allison

[Matt Reiner _K15t_]

Hi @Allison Beaudry

If you're looking for pages to be indexed by search engines, with a custom URL, you might want to check out my team's app Scroll Viewport. The idea behinds it is to be able to turn all your documentation in Confluence into an online help center without needing to write code or run a web server. Here's ours, as an example.

[Allison Beaudry]

Actually, it is preferable for us if the information isn't super accessible via an internet search engine. We are trying to avoid having unnecessary user costs by making the page public, but would prefer the information be accessible only through a custom URL. Any thoughts on this?

[Kat Warner _TechTime_]

@John Tolle was commended on answering this question in Random Acts of December.

Thanks to his hard work and knowledge I can give you the following link that talks about public links (a special URL) that directs to safe, view-only versions of an individual Confluence page. The public link can be shared with anyone on the internet. 

https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/set-up-public-access/

[Allison Beaudry]

Ok, I am having difficulty turning on Public links in Settings. According to the article you linked (see screenshot), I should see "public links" on the left side of the screen in Settings. However, I do not see this option. 

Please advise, thank you!

[Kat Warner _TechTime_]

Sorry I am unable to help with troubleshooting. Check out @Matt Reiner _K15t_'s reply below. It may be more helpful.