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I would need to optimize, build up the link popularity of, and submit the subdomain because the doorway page has no text on it (I could optimize the doorway but I presume dmoz etc doesn't like doorway pages?)
Would this be disadvantageous? (I might be able to persuade the owner to get rid of the doorway page but she made it using 'Web Studio Site Builder' so I doubt if there are any alternatives to how she has the doorway page set up).
Sorry this is such a basic question - couldn't find the answer in the archives.
Thanks for your pearls of wisdom.
There are a few strategies that you can use... but in the "true" (old school) version of doorway... this is not a good idea.
It is a page with 2 photos and the name of the site as a Flash presentation and a 'click here to enter the site' link.
The page that this links to is www.domainname/home
and there are of course no other links back to the 'doorway page'.
I don't like it but I'm not sure exactly what to tell the owner.
Fine.
I am promoting a site that has the home page as a doorway page and the real home page as a subdomain.
I assume this is so a keyword is in the domain name.
I would need to optimize, build up the link popularity of, and submit the subdomain because the doorway page has no text on it (I could optimize the doorway but I presume dmoz etc doesn't like doorway pages?)
Specifically DMOZ doesn't care. But the link (to them) would go where it makes the most sense - thus the opening site page to the site is?
Would this be disadvantageous? (I might be able to persuade the owner to get rid of the doorway page but she made it using 'Web Studio Site Builder' so I doubt if there are any alternatives to how she has the doorway page set up).
I think the first thing is determining why a sub-domain. There are benefit in using this - but also pitfalls.
E.g. would all root or top hierarchy pages be in this sub-domain or in the true root.
Having a physical web site connected through external links (sub-domain) aid link popularity/PR development but one pitfall I see immediately is web site size (# or pages) per domain/subdomain.
A small site using sub-domains can become very fragmented and if attempting to use this strategy to simply develop PageRank without a sizable amount of pages per domain and each sub-domain what you gain in PageRank you will lose in "topic association" within a single link structure.
If however, an example: the overall theme of site is transportation and your strategy is to start with "cars", adding in "trucks" as a new sub-domain, then boats, planes, etc. this is a good ways to go.
I recommend though the homepage (using my example) be transportation and located in the domain root not a sub-domain.
Long-term growth and site development will by very difficult to plan - if your primary theme transportation.autofuture.com, and the root directory only has non-relevant (theme) pages like: contact us, policies, press releases, etc.. The highest link hierarchy should be in the root and using sub-domain to separate theme diversity.
Thanks for your detailed response.
There is no strategy behind the way she has it set up - there are no keywords on the 'splash' page and there are no keywords in the subdomain. It is a small site featuring a single vacation property and will not be added onto.
I believe she just did it that way because she the option was there.
The 'splash page' is www.domainname.com, so are you saying that dmoz would likely link to this page even if I submitted www.domainname.com/home?
Thanks.
The very first thing you should be doing is developing inbound links - not directly related to her site(s) and make sure (if possibly) the link anchor is the precise phrase being targeted.
When you get to the top page in Google look for another complementing phrase (anchor) and start developing that, and so.
Content development extremely important -- add pages, a few a week minimum.
Within a few months - you can then start considering complementing theme and possibly sub-domains.
The 'splash page' is www.domainname.com, so are you saying that dmoz would likely link to this page even if I submitted www.domainname.com/home?
If you submit www.domainname.com you will likely be accepted
If you submit www.domainname.com/home? you may possibly be accepted, however, if the editor does not see the reasoning to this link design in all likelihood they will not normal add www.domainname.com in lieu.
Therefore - trashed.
I'm not developing her site - just optimizing it, building link popularity and submitting it.
I can see what you mean about Dmoz - thanks for that. The 'splash' page would only be worth submitting if it had a substantial amount of text with keywords............in which case it wouldn't really be a splash page!
