How to fix doorway site

[BobGW]

Hello,

This client has a one page doorway site that is a copy of a category of his main site. It looks like the main site and has over 100 links to the site. We're cleaning things up to be white hat and we're wondering how to capture this traffic and link juice (this doorway has no backlinks though, it is an EMD) without a ton of money and effort.

My thought so far is to put a uniquely designed paypal cart on there with top products and one link to the main site that says something like: To pay by credit card or to see more products, visit mainsite.com

Would that be squeeky clean white hat or is that still a doorway headed for an update? What's best to do here on a low budget?

[ThompsonPaul]

My guess is that if the domain has no backlinks, it probably has no link juice to even pass to the main site.

What kind of traffic is the doorway site getting? Is it mostly direct from type-ins due to being an EMD?

Without seeing the site, my recommendation would be to take down the doorway site altogether and 301-redirect the domain to the appropriate related category on the main site. That would still pass along the traffic, and also some of whatever minor link juice the page had managed to acquire.

Would that make sense?

Paul

[BobGW]

Thanks Paul, I always like your advice. This may be a stupid question but how will we still rank for the term if we do a 301 redirect? All the traffic is because its an EMD

[ThompsonPaul]

Thanks

Is the site actually ranking now, based entirely on having exact match in its domain? Even if it is, this is exactly  the kind of thing the recent EMD Algo was designed to supress, so I'd bet it won't hold it's ability to rank like that for much longer. Which is why I wouldn't really be willing to invest many resources in it as-is.

With the 301, the Domain URL will likely eventually fall out of the index, but you'll still continue to get whatever type-through traffic you've been getting.

The problem you face is that any single-page site that has thin content and only links through to one related site is going to be a flashing neon sign just begging to get hammered. The only way around that would be to invest enough resources to make it a truly valuable user experience on its own - certainly do-able but more work and expense than you indicated you were willing to do.

Look at it this way... you want an easy way for for a cheap, no-effort site who's only virtue is that it's an EMD to send valuable traffic and ranking to another site. Doesn't that sound like the very definition of what Google has stated it wants to get out of its SERPs?

This is old SEO thinking - trick Google for a quick win, as opposed to delivering real value. I've had more than enough evidence in the last 18 months that this isn't where I'd invest my time. YMMV.

You could certainly try to keep the page up and take whatever value it can provide until it gets devalued or penalized. At that point you'd just throw out the domain altogether, but "get it while it lasts". You'll have to make that call based on whether it's delivering enough value/traffic to be worth the (relatively minor) risk it could get your main site in trouble for questionable linking practices.

Personally, I'd let it go with a redirect and invest my resources in other higher-value activities.

Paul

Out of curiosity - what kind of PA/DA does the site have?

[BobGW]

PA 19 DA 11

It's dropping in the SERPs

Traffic isn't huge, but it's worth doing the right thing.

We'll definitely 301 redirect it. Thanks Paul!

[NakulGoyal]

I agree with Paul, 100%. Just do a 301 redirect and move on. As you said, it's dropping in the SERPS and there's really only type-in traffic and there's no SEO value of it's own. Minimal PA, DA. 301 Redirect and Issue Resolved.