Hi there - I hope I'm in the right section for this. I've done a search... but couldn't quite find what I was looking for. I have a habit of writing an essay, when a couple of sentences will do - so I apologise if this is all a bit wordy. I have a large website on which we sell internal pages for our clients. This is so they can get a web presence and be found quickly, rather than having to market their own site. We market the TLD... and our clients get found easier - it works well, and everyone's happy. Anyway... we provide a .co.uk domain name for them, which takes visitors straight to the relevant internal page. They use it on their flyers, and any other forms of advertising that they do - so in effect we have a couple of hundred internal pages being marketed too. I don't mask the web forwarding... so if someone typed in www.companyname-area.co.uk it would take them to a page that actually displays www.mytld.com/area/advertisers/advertisername.htm in the header. So... 1. For SEO purposes, is it better to keep it as what the internal page displays, or should I have the shorter domain name displaying the web domain that is being forwarded? 2. Am I potentially harming my site by having so many web forwards pointing to internal pages? Would the SEs think I am trying to fool them - when actually I'm not, I'm just trying to help my clients. Thanks so much for any help! E x PS: I will PM the site for people to have a look at if they like (and if it helps to make more sense about what I'm describing) - but I don't wish to put it on an open forum.
In past some directories have been penalized for getting similar redirects. Your approach seems like a genuine one. I would also love to hear from SEO experts in this forum about what they think. I think you can probably hurt your site with this process (but I am unsure).
Hmmm... that's a worry - I'll hang fire for the moment, but maybe we should stop including the domain for their internal page... and get them to simply say "You can find us on www.blah-blah-blah.com" It also means I don't have to buy a .co.uk domain each time. Thanks for the feedback! E x
What ever you do, do not redirect. Google will bust you for it. It is better to have a copy of their page on your site with the onpage links going to their site. "Add nofollow" Therefore any click goes to their site (Google legal). Your site has the SEO power and on-click goes to their site. Also, it would help everyone if you would give the url.
Aha! Ok... thanks! So I should have the URL that I bought for them to display in the header when they type it in, rather than my own URL? And I won't be buying any more .co.uk domains for new clients. I'll also let the old ones expire... and stop most of them from the "web forward". Some I will have to leave, as I know they have flyers etc printed up... but I'll reduce it down as much as I can. Thanks for that! I won't put the link to my site on an open forum... but I'll drop it into a PM for you in a second for if you want a nosey. Thanks again for your help! E x