---
title: What Is Flexible Sampling?
description: "Two main types of sampling are used to manage user access before a paywall appears: 1. **Metering**: - Users get a quota of free articles (e.g., 10 articles per month) before hitting a paywall. - After the quota, users must…"
url: "https://fsidm.in/knowledge/seo/flexible-sampling/"
updated: "2025-09-20"
category: SEO
---

# What Is Flexible Sampling?

Two main types of sampling are used to manage user access before a paywall appears:

1. **Metering**:

   - Users get a quota of free articles (e.g., 10 articles per month) before hitting a paywall.
   - After the quota, users must subscribe or log in to access more content.
2. **Lead-in**:

   - Shows a teaser—like the first few sentences of an article—above the paywall after the quota is used.
   - Builds curiosity and lets users get a taste of the content value before subscribing.

## **Best Practices for Metering**

- Prefer **monthly metering** over daily metering:

  - Gives more flexibility, less user frustration.
  - Focuses paywalls on engaged users more likely to subscribe.
- Most daily news sites find **6 to 10 free articles per user per month** a good starting range.
- Start by allowing **10 free articles/month** and adjust based on your user behavior and conversion data.
- Analyze how many search visitors reach your paywall now, then set your sampling limit to match or slightly improve that.

## **Best Practices for Lead-in**

- Showing article leads after the free quota is exhausted is a great way to:

  - Offer value beyond a hard paywall.
  - Encourage subscriptions by teasing the full content.

## **How to Experiment and Adjust**

- Test different sampling limits carefully.
- Watch referral traffic and subscription conversions closely.
- Avoid showing paywalls too frequently; more than **10% paywall exposure** risks alienating users. This often means about **3% of total users see a paywall**.
- Consider **targeting the most engaged users** (those who use all free articles) with stricter limits, while allowing others more access to keep satisfaction high.

## **Important Technical Note: Marking Paywalled Content**

- Use **structured data markup** (Paywalled Content schema) to mark paywalled sections.
- This helps Google distinguish legitimate paywalls from cloaking (showing different content to users and Googlebot).