What are the potential SEO downsides of using a service like unbounce for content pages?

[Seiyav]

I'm thinking of using unbounce.com to create some content driven pages. Unbounce is simple, easy-to-use, and very easy for non-devs at my company to create variations on pages.

I know they allow adding meta descriptions, title tags, etc and allow it to be indexable by Google, but I was wondering if there were any potential downsides to using unbounce as opposed to hosting it myself.

Any help would be appreciated!

[Mark_Jay_Apsey_Jr.]

Seiyav-

If you are looking for a simple and easy solution to start taking advantage of AB testing and getting landing pages created quickly without waiting for a developer, it is a very cost effective model. You can generate landing pages quickly and easily without developers.....you can set up testing easily and the system will provide you metrics to measure the results without a lot of in-depth thought.

There really are no downsides other than the cost.....

We have found with larger clients as they generate some expertise and some clarity regarding which landing pages are working better, then they start to bring it inside to generate more control, save money and become more knowledgable about AB testing and development of landing pages.  But unbounce is a great step in that process.

Good luck. Hope it helps..

Mark

[Audiohype]

This process may lend itself to PPC a bit more than SEO. When split testing you will need to be aware of duplicate content, and considering that your ultimate goal is to figure out which landing pages are more effective, you will end up removing some of the pages anyway. On a large scale this isn't going to be as effective.

I would consider running a PPC account to test these pages and not have them indexed. Then, once you have a landing page that performs well, create it on the site and promote it with SEO.

[Marcus_Miller]

That's some solid advice right there.

[Seiyav]

Hi Ben,

Thanks for the answer! Sorry if I wasn't clear in my original question, but we are actually using Unbounce for PPC testing already.

The pages that we are planning on creating are not necessarily landing pages. It's just much faster for us to create pages/content on Unbounce at the moment than it is creating actual pages on our site. (That way non-devs can work and create new pages as well.)

In your opinion would there be any major downsides to creating some page on unbounce? Obviously it's not ideal, but if there are no major issues we might use their service albeit temporarily.

Thanks!

Seiya

[inflatemouse]

Hi,

I'm the person behind SEO at Unbounce.

There is no technical SEO drawback. Unbounce allows you to directly control all of the elements of your on-page SEO. You can even employ rel="canonical" if you are so inclined to indicate which variation Google should pay the most attention to.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me: Carlos@unbounce.com