Every guide has a Visibility setting that controls who can read it, and an "is public" listing toggle that controls whether it appears in the resource-center grid. These two settings are independent — a guide can be Public-visible but unlisted (reachable by direct URL only) or Public-visible and listed (appears in the grid).
The four visibility levels
Private — only the guide's author can view it. Doesn't appear in any listing. Staff sign-in required.
Team — anyone signed in to your organization can view it. Doesn't appear on the public resource center, but staff with the Internal view toggled on can see it there. Staff sign-in required.
Client — placeholder for a future feature where guides are attached to trips and shared with clients. Not yet functional. Today, Client guides return a 403 access-required page.
Public — visible to anyone with the URL. No sign-in required. The default for content you want to share or for the public resource center.
Listing in the public resource center
Only Public guides can appear in the public resource center grid. When you set visibility to Public, a "List in public resource center" toggle appears below it. Turn it on to include the guide in the grid; leave it off to keep the guide reachable only by direct URL (an "unlisted" Public guide).
Unlisted Public guides are useful for shareable URLs you don't want crawled or featured — a one-off itinerary you sent a single client, a draft that's ready to share for review but not promote.
Internal vs External view (staff only)
When a staff member is signed in on a tenant's custom domain (e.g., resources.yourdomain.com), the public layout shows an Internal/External view switcher. Internal shows Team and Public guides side by side; External shows only Public.
The toggle is per-session and the choice is remembered until you sign out or switch organizations. If you're viewing the External version of your own site and want to confirm what a client would see, that's the right mode.
Sharing a guide
For Public guides, copy the URL with the "Copy public link" button in the admin editor and share it however you like — email, Slack, a quote document, social. The URL is the canonical public URL; the guide loads with full preview metadata when shared on social platforms.
For Team guides shared with another staff member, just send the admin URL. They'll sign in to Compass to view it.
For Private guides, only you (the author) can see it. Sharing requires changing the visibility first.
SEO and indexability
Public + Listed guides are indexable by Google and appear in your tenant's sitemap.xml. Public + Unlisted guides set noindex on the page, so search engines skip them.
Team and Private guides require sign-in to view, so search engines never see them in the first place.
There's a global "sitemap_enabled" toggle on your organization settings. Turning it off adds X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow to every public response, which is the right setting if you want your resource center private to clients you invite but not search-engine-indexed.
What is not available
No time-limited share links. Sharing a Public URL means anyone with the URL can read it indefinitely.
No password protection on PDFs or guides.
No per-share tokens or one-time links.
No client-facing sign-in yet — Client visibility is reserved for future use.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between Public-unlisted and Team?
Public-unlisted is reachable by anyone who has the URL — no sign-in. Team requires a staff sign-in. Use Public-unlisted for sharing with a specific client or partner; use Team for internal-only docs.
Why is my client getting a 403 page on a Client-visibility guide?
Client visibility isn't implemented yet. Until client sign-in ships, set those guides to Public (with the listing toggle off if you don't want them in the grid) and share the URL directly.
Can I see a guide as a client would?
Yes. On the public side, toggle the Internal/External switcher to External. You'll see exactly what an anonymous visitor sees — only Public-listed guides.
How do I keep my resource center private to invited clients only?
Turn off "sitemap_enabled" in your organization settings. Public guides will still work via URL, but search engines won't index them and your sitemap won't expose them. Share the URLs directly with the clients you invite.
Related guides
SEO & AI Search Best Practices for Compass
How to get the most search-engine and AI-assistant visibility out of your Compass resource center — the exact settings to turn on, and how to write guides that get found and cited.
New: The Promotion Guide Type
Turn a limited-time deal into a shareable, trackable page — and, with one click, a draft email campaign in Marketing. A walkthrough of the new Promotion guide type, with examples.
Compass Categories
Organize guides into top-level categories and subcategories. Used for filtering in the admin guide list and the public resource center.