Linking from home page

what is considered spam

[allybongo]

I've just been reading an interesting (but quite old) post on 1x1 pixel images with links.

I recently had to submit a site for a client which was a bit of a mess, full of framesets, asp pages, not much copy etc etc, so I created a set of keyword pages identical in style to the normal site but without the frameset.

These pages have totally unique, relevant copy and are pages I want people to visit. However they are not linked from the main site but link back into the main site via the original menus which I have retained.

I added a 1x1 pixel link from the index page to one of these keyword pages thinking that when the spiders reached this page they would spider sideways from this (which they did). However the linked page has a pr4 whilst the other ones have pr0. Obviously I now want to link the other 8 keyword pages to the index page but is this considered spam? I have no other way of linking to these pages.

I was under the impression that it was only spam if it was pages I wanted spidered but hidden from users.

Sorry its a bit long winded, hope you get the gist!

Thanks!

[agerhart]

allybongo,

Is the client limiting your ability to link these pages naturally within the rest of the site? One option is to create a sitemap and link them from the sitemap.

You should not leave them as orphan pages within the site.

[allybongo]

Hi agerhart

Yes, I have no control over the main site, except for meta tags, alt tags etc. I cannot add anything. It doesn't make it easy with the home page being an image map with flags leading to different language versions and no text, which then leads to a frameset.

I had thought about putting a link on one of the side images that doesn't go anywhere but I would probably confuse some non-english speaker who was trying to get the spanish version!

The site map sounds like a good idea, would I have to link this from the index page?

Thanks :)

[agerhart]

Yes, you would need to link to the sitemap from the index page. It is natural to see a link to the sitemap in the top nav, or top section, of many websites. This will insure that the sitemap is found by the spiders and bots.

[allybongo]

Sounds stupid but what can I link it from. I'm going to have to link it from a 1x1 pixel! There is nothing at all to link it from!

:)

[agerhart]

I would really shy away from the 1x1 pixel. I would push the client to allow for some text links on the pages.

[allybongo]

agerhart

I've stickied you the url so you can see what my issue is!

:)

[martinibuster]

1x1 pixel is on the edge, and if it's on the edge it's unfair to the client. I think that in trying to please the client, we forget to be honest and tell them that THEIR WAY of doing things may be ineffective. Then explain the optimum way. Then find a compromise, like a text link at the bottom. That way, when their site shows up like 30 in the serps, your hands are already clean because you told them long ago that THEIR WAY of doing things was sub-optimal.

Politics aside, Ronald Reagan like many others, hired people who were tops in their field. But Reagan was notable for stepping aside and trusting their expertise 100%. He knew enough to trust their expertise.

[allybongo]

you are so right martinibuster. I am in the process of trying to arrange a meeting to get them to completely redesign the site as its awful and get rid of all the asp and frames as its totally unnecessary in their case.

I want them to be in a position where we can add new content on a regular basis but I am under the hammer a bit because they are expecting amazing results after 3 months for the keywords. Never mind the fact that for similar keywords (not the ones they chose) they are ranking really high and I've managed to increase their number of unique users by approx 3000 a month from practically nothing.

They're not even checking whether new clients have found them through the website or not. How much am I expected to do!

Right, that's off my chest now ;)