by athard
6 replies
  • SEO
  • |
I had a client ask me a question that I am not sure how to answer. Hopefully somebody here can advise me. Thanks in advance.

Situation:

I launched a new site for a client. Let's say example.com. Now, the client wants to run TV ads to promote the site, but instead of promoting example.com, he wants to use other url's like exampledallas.com and examplekansas.com. He wants me to re-create just the home page for each of these and the rest of the menu items will be hyperlinked to go to example.com. So, if a user clicks on any menu item, they are taken to example.com and get to see the rest of the site there.

Now, exampledallas.com etc will have the same design and menu structure, but the content will be slightly different. Since we are re-creating the page over and over and can potentially create 50-60 such sites in the next few months, I was concerned that we are doing something blackhat. Am I right?

One solution that I have recommended is that we put a robot.txt file on each of these, blocking search engine spiders from indexing these sites and I will make each link NOFOLLOW links. That way, we won't get any SEO/backlink benefits.

Note: The reason for creating these sites is that the main site will have generic content and each of the other sites will have city specific content. He also wants to track how well the TV ads are doing for each independent TV campaign in each city. We recommended a redirect but the client doesn't want to do that.

My question to you is, will we get into trouble for using this approach? Would a robot.txt file and nofollow links suffice to keep the search engines happy and not penalize us? I would appreciate your insight.

Thanks again.
#blackhat
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Why not a single site, with multiple categories?
    • Houston
    • Miami
    • Chicago
    • Denver
    Sounds like they are trying to over complicate things for no reason.

    Whatever...

    If the client has the $$ that's just more $$ in your pocket for building 50-60 extra sites, I would give them what they want. Easy job with a lot of copy/paste & search/replace keywords.

    As far as tracking I would use something like Google Analytics Event Tracking from day one. You really need that tracking setup & working 100% before they air the first tv Ad.

    Event Tracking Guide - Google Analytics - Google Code
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    • Profile picture of the author JRCarson
      Yeah, wouldn't it be just as easy to say in the commercial "Go to example.com/Dallas" for blah blah...? Then if they don't type in the /Dallas part, the opportunity to go to the Dallas section is right there.

      I guess I'm saying what Yukon said...

      But talk about easier to track one website and all the stats, looking at them all within one site on Google Analytics, versus having to click into 50 or 60 different site codes and check out the stats...then compare them all somehow! (maybe there's an easier way in Analytics, I don't know)
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      • Profile picture of the author JRCarson
        ...oh yeah, and I thought the content of this thread was going to be a lot funnier!
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Come on people. Nobody should have "clients" if they
          don't know.

          There is nothing wrong with it. Gasbuddy.com has literally
          hundreds, texasgasprices.com, for example, whereevergasprices.dom,
          younametheplacegasprices.com, etc., doing the exact same thing
          you propose. Take a look at texasgasprices.com and arizonagasprices.com.
          Then multiply that by about 300 other sites. All indexed, all doing
          very well. No panda-monium there for these "thin" sites.

          Why on earth would you not want them to get any SEO benefits?
          That's the purpose of SEO, right? If not, then how could it be
          black hat anyway?

          You have no clue as to what nofollow means.

          I'd say, stop taking clients.

          Paul



          Paul
          Signature

          If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author Headfirst
    Odds are they want to track the effectiveness of their TV spots. This is SOP in our industry.
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Banks
      Not black hat at all, especially if he is getting traffic from t.v ads.
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