Landing pages vs internal pages.

[bsofttech]

Hey everyone I have run into a problem and would greatly appreciate anyone that could weigh in on it.

I have a web client that went to an outside vendor for marketing. The client asked me to help them target some keywords and since I am new to the SEO world I have proceeded by researching the best keywords for the client. I found 6 that see excellent monthly searches. I then registered the .com and or .net domain names that match these words. I then started building landing pages that make reference to the keyword and then have links to his site to get more info.

My customer sent the first of these sites to the marketer and he says I am doing things all wrong. He says rather then having landing pages like this I should just point the domain names at internal pages to the website. He also says that I should not have different looks for the landing pages from the main site and that I should have the full site menu on each landing page.

I wanted to here what everyone here has to say about the pros and cons of the way to do this cause the guy giving the advice to me has a lower ranking site then I do and I have only started working on getting my site ranked this year. He has atleast according to him been doing this forever.

Thanks, Ron

[kbloemendaal]

I am in the US (North Carolina), my name is Dutch though...

Always good discussion, and I don't think either one is right or wrong here.

[katemorris]

Put simply, the marketer sounds right. But the purchase of exact match domains is not a total loss.

What should have been done:

1. Keyword research done, but not for the keywords that just have the most traffic, but rather those that are relevant and have the most traffic. The relevance is key there.

2. Identified the content on the site that should rank for those terms.

3. If no content exists, creating it on the site so that the content answers the query of the searcher and gives a call to action.

4. Worked with the marketer to influence the links to the pages for each keyword.

What can be done now:

1. 301 redirect the domains to the pages that make sense.

2. Only use those domains for sites if there is a reason for another site to be made on the topic. If your site can do it, leave it to one site, it's less work and less link building.

3. Work with the marketer to get GOOD, relevant links to the page on the clients current site. It's not about him being better than you, it's about you guys working together.

[EGOL]

I agree.. The marketer's methods are ineffective... and the OP's methods are ineffective.  And, they are at odds with one another.

However, he says that he prefers the school of hard knocks.

In my opinion they are wasting client money until they come to an agreement and develop a genuine plan for marketing and SEO..

[jeffreytrull1]

In my opinion, neither of these strategies is very good.

Redirecting domains like the marketer suggests will offer no benefit, SEO or otherwise.

Building content on an exact-match domain could work, but why not just try to rank for those exact match terms on the main site? Getting the new domains to rank may still take a good amount of work. If searchers do click through to those sites, they're still going to have to click again to get to the main site. This could be simplified by just doing a good job to bring searchers to the main site directly.

[kbloemendaal]

If you are already on the first page of Google with your new domain, whats the problem? Sounds like you were already headed in the right direction....

[nyanainc]

If you redirect it to another site with 301 the domain will disappear from google. If you like to keep it then use a 302 redirect. I hope that this helps.

[nyanainc]

I read the post of Rand. Is totally out of my point of view. This kind of subdoamins I know that they don't pass anything to your site. http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors#predictions. Read this post and you see what I mean. I mean to build subdomains of your site which include the keywords in and my main domain to be with your brand. Like this you avoid the devaluated old trick from the exact match domain, you build your brand and you have also the keyword inside the domain and not in a subdirectories as a subdomain is much powerful like a subdirectory. Me like this I am working and is going pretty well. Also the content on the subdomain must be related to the main site and to be connected between them. I think Egol can tell us if me or you is correct. Maybe we are both wrong but me I don't think so .... Anyway cheers and be happy. From where are you? Me I am from a small island called Cyprus, in Mediterranean sea, down from turkey.

[EGOL]

You say that you are a beginner at SEO.  That's honest.

However, you are jumping in with keyword research, registering domains, building landing pages, giving sites a diverse appearance.

I don't agree with a lot of your strategy.

In my opinion, it would be a good idea to put on the brakes.

Before you sink more of your time into things that are probably not going to work well it would be a good idea to increase your knowledge or hire someone who can get you moving with a solid plan.  Your team  might also need a referee.

[kbloemendaal]

I actually prefer subdirectories over subdomains.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites

There is a good resource on the topic... there were a couple of good instances to use a subdomain, but it also said you wouldn't necessarily get the authority of the root (which you will with a subdirectory).

[nyanainc]

Here the marketer is wrong. Dont have any effect if the domains dont have authority.

[nyanainc]

Anyway I think you did wrong that you purchased them , you shouldnt, this what you should do was to create subdomains including the desired keyword like

http://keyword.yourdomain.com as this method will give a faster ranking for the subdomain if your main site have an authority. Now you will have to build for all domains the authority. I think you should throw them and build the subdomains. Also I have to agree with the marketer which said that should look like the main site.

yoursite.com/keyword-phrase this method Keith also got devaluated from this what I know and what I saw in action on my own domains.

Another minus of your tactic is the extra money for the domain names and hosting etc...

My method is absolutely free if your hosting provider allows you to host multiple or unlimited subdomains. For example hostgator allows me to have unlimited subdomains at no charge.

[nyanainc]

They have zero benefits if they dont have backlinks from niche directories or whatever related to the keyword. I have to agree with you.

[nyanainc]

Hi there   Ron

First of all the exact match domains get devaluated from Google. You mean subdomain by the term internal pages? What you mean by the term "point domain names at internal pages" ? To redirect them to internal pages? Or to create internal pages from the keywords? Example:

http://keyword.yourdomain.com

or

http://yourdomain.com/keyword

ot to redirect the exact match domain to this one ?

http://yourdomain.com/keyword

please tell me some more details so I can help you...If I can !

[kbloemendaal]

Are they getting any traffic? Redirecting url's has zero SEO benefit (as far as I know), especially new domains.

If you are getting traffic, yes, redirect. If not, does it really matter? I guess if you already built links it wouldn't hurt to redirect with a 301.

[bsofttech]

Ok, but I have already purchased the domain names. What would be the best way to incorporate those into this scheme of things? Just redirect them to the internal pages?

[bsofttech]

Ok, but I have already purchased the domain names. What would be the best way to incorporate those into this scheme of things? Just redirect them to the internal pages?

[kbloemendaal]

I wouldn't consider myself an expert on this one, but I would have most likely created internal pages that have yoursite.com/keyword-phrase and optimize them, especially if the site already has some authority on the topic.

Pointing the new domains to internal pages won't do anything as they don't have any rankings yet, and you can't get any if they don't have any content (I don't think).

Just my .02