Medium is one example. They have GREAT SEO, they're always in the first 5 results, but when you open the post is always behind the paywall.
I could use something like 12ft.io, but that's not the point. What surprises me is that Google is serving ME a pretty bad result, and they don't know/care.
If it's the best content for the query, search engines should give it high rankings, even though there is a paywall. Because you can access it if you want, by paying.
A best search engine right now is Kagi, if you want to switch from Google. It is a paid service.
If you gave #1 position to a paywall article most will click away causing rankings to drop.
What do you mean? Of course it should be indexed as well. Some people want that information and are willing to pay.
Is it possible to game this behaviour for outsmarting Medium's paywall?