Using subdomains to dominate rankings

[Jon12345]

I have noticed that my targetted keyword phrase is getting dominated by a competitor using subdomains.

e.g. keyword1.competitor-domain.com

keyword2.competitor-domain.com

keyword3.competitor-domain.com

Are Google likely to ban these sites? Is this considered an effective way to dominate the top slots on Google?

I just can't find any discussion on this practice on this site. Wish there was a more advanced search facility for the forums.

Thanks,

Jon

[rfgdxm1]

You need to be more specific. If is is:
widgets.domain.com
dohickeys.domaim.com...

and each subdomain is about widgets, dohickeys, etc. sounds OK to me.

[jackofalltrades]

What about:

www.company1.companyX.com
www.company2.companyX.com
www.company3.companyX.com

(different companies - same content).

JOAT :)

[Jon12345]

It is all about the same service. The keywords are just what surfers type in to find this particular service.

They are trying to take all the top slots using subdomains.

[rfgdxm1]

It can't hurt to bitch to Google. If these are basically duplicate sites, you have a chance.

[littleman]

Sounds like an old fashion spamming technique to me. Usually the creators of such sites know that they will be short lived.