Host header setup

[clickclick]

My primary business is an ISP, so I can do just about anything required to the server for zip outlay or effort. I have a plan but just wanted to check if it would be 'spam' or penalised or not.

My main site sells stuff - not a lot but its definealey commercial. Around the theme of the topic is a lot of information for refernce. Some directories will not list the site for free because it is commercial so I thought I would set up several host headers such as reference.mydomain.com an fill it with the reference material. I can then submit the site to higher PR ranking directory pages. The content of the sites will all be in the same folder on the server but the main site will link with a relative url and the pages will be included on a site map. The pages in the reference section will link absolutley and will only have one link to my site. So theoretically the spiders will follow the site all the way through as one site and the directories will only see the reference sites.

Will this work?

[Damian]

I don't think it'll work.

If two addresses exist for the same page, and you link to both of these (or somebody else like a directory), both addresses will be spidered sooner or later, and you run the risk of getting penalised for 'duplicate content'.

Google and other engines will probably just drop one of the two addresses..