How hidden are hidden products

[Fairyglass]

OK- showing my ignorance here... when I "hide" a product by checking the box, does this mean that this product page isn't crawled by the various search engines?
The reason for the question is that I am expecting a fairly large stock delivery of new items in around 2 weeks, and am wondering if there's any SEO advantage to adding the product now but hiding it, as opposed to adding it when it arrives.
All responses gratefully received!
Ben

[leehack]

Surely the best approach is to add it now, have it set as out of stock but provide a date by when it will be available. A nice step is to also provide a pre-order facility or in fact ask for emails where you can let them know when in stock. All depends on the products and the expected demand as to what you decide i guess.

[Fairyglass]

I can see the benefit but it's more a matter of time- I'm stretched at the moment, but if there was likely to be an SEO advantage I'd work a little later than usual
I'll more than likely do just what you suggest, but I thought it would be interesting to know the answer to the question too!
Cheers Lee
Ben

[leehack]

If this is the first time it gets uploaded, then it can only get crawled if there is a link to it, otherwise noone knows where it is, including a search engine. If i intend to sell blue widgets in 4 weeks time, i would not put blue widgets live in 4 weeks time and then wait for search engines to come find it, that would be p-poor marketing. If we used that ideal, nothing in the world would ever be pre-launched.

Learn from the best, take Actinic's stance on this, we've known for around 12 months that Google Checkout will be with us in the future, you can't beat engaging your audience like that.

[Fairyglass]

I'm only being wary because the supplier's new and I don't feel confident giving a delivery date to customers yet! You're right though, and thanks for the answer to my original question also.
Cheers
Ben

[leehack]

Just say 'expected by' and give yourself a couple of days grace.

[pinbrook]

I always add products in advance to get max SEO, i just don't mark them as orderable online, hence the page gets indexed but product can not be bought.

[Ginnys Attic]

It can take weeks/months/years and may not ever happen for search engines to index and list pages and there is certainly nothing instant about it. The rule of thumb for me would always be get the pages online as soon as possible and submitted to google etc and if necessary as suggested simply mark them out of stock with details of when they are scheduled to be in stock.

[Fairyglass]

looks like that's what I'm doing then....
thanks for all the replies.

[pinbrook]

Also use related products to get a link from an existing indexed page to a new product

[jont]

always be get the pages online as soon as possible and submitted to google etc and if necessary as suggested simply mark them out of stock with details of when they are scheduled to be in stock.

This combine with a "coming soon" set as a user variable is a good way to get the ball rolling ... especially at quieter times so when they are available it is easy to click a few boxes and the product is live and ready to go.

[jont]

Also use related products to get a link from an existing indexed page to a new product

These links go via the cgi-bin which has had many a debate on here.. even if Google et al do not like them (no empirical evidence either way as usual) but they do serve to assist human visitors which is the final goal. I would be tempted to list the new products as unable to buy and then link also like back to currently available products on the chance of a sideways sell if visitors have found the new product.

[Fairyglass]

Thanks Jo, Jont, all valuable suggestions.
Ben