External resources page (AKA a satellite site) - is it a good idea?

[maxweb]

So the general view on satellite sites is that they're not worth it because of their low authority and the amount of link juice they provide.

However, I have an idea that is slightly different to the standard satellite site model. A client's website is in a particular niche, but a lot of websites that I have identified for potential links are not interested because they are a private commercial company. Many are only interested in linking to charities or simple resource pages. I created a resource section on the website, but many are still unwilling to link to it as it is still part of a commercial website. The website is performing well and is banging on the door of page one for some really competitive keywords. A few more links would make a massive difference.

One idea I have is to create a standalone resource website that links to our client's website. This would be easy to get links from sites that would flat out refuse to link to the main website. This would increase the authority of the resource and result in more link juice to the primary website.

Now I know that the link juice from this website will not be as good as getting links directly to the primary website, but would it still be a good idea? Or would my time be better spent trying to get a handful of links directly to the client's website? Alternatively, I could set up a sub-domain to set up the resource, but I'm not sure that this would be as successful.

[MichaelC-15022]

Sort of.  It's per page, not per website.

[maxweb]

Thanks Michael, you raise some good points.

I just want to raise one point though. I was under the impression that the amount of link juice passed from one website depends on the total number of outbound links from that site (I'm sure I recall Matt Cutts saying something along these lines). Therefore, a link from a local newspaper would be good but watered down due to the total number of outbound links. A site with lower authority but with less outbound followed links (or 1 in this case) would still be of value. Is this correct or am I talking nonsense?

[MichaelC-15022]

I don't think you'd run afoul of Google by doing this, as long as you kept it to one (or a small handful, say, less than 10) satellite sites.  And if those sites can rank on their own for terms, and "feed" leads (not links) to the commercial site, then that might be a good strategy.

But the question really is, I think, is it worth the effort for the link juice that eventually trickles down to the commercial site, right?  Think of it this way: how much would your rankings change if your commercial site got 1 link from the city newspaper's site?  It'd probably make a difference, sure...but probably not massive (unless that was the only decent strong link you had).  Now....how much content marketing and link-building would you have to do to get your satellite site to have the same domain authority as the city newspaper's site?  Ummmm....a lifetime's.   Well, probably 10-20 years anyway.  So the answer really comes down to this:  you can do a TON of work on the satellite site, and you're never going to get as much benefit from that work as you'd get from getting your local newspaper to do a story on your company.  Or get quoted by a reporter in it (speaking of that....check out HARO...as long as you just respond to real reporters writing for real publications).