I read an article over at Search Engine Land, written by Michael Gray, that makes the case for using contests to boost organic search results. I found portions of the post to be of dubious merit.
Gray argues that the contest prize should inclue the keywords that you are trying to target.. People get word of the giveaway, they link to your contest landing page, and then you get a result boost for your target keywords.
This isn't a bad idea. However, I do believe that he goes off the deep end when he offers up advice for handling the page after the contest is over. Quoting from the text of the article (emphasis mine):
The portions I've italicized just happen to share the characteristics of a "doorway page", which is a big no-no in the world of legitimate SEO. Such pages are not an integral part of the website and serve as a sort of bait-and-switch to the visitor, forcing them to click on another link to get to the website.
There is no shortage of SEO advice on the web, but the web can be a misleading place. Any advice should be viewed with a critcal eye and weighed against current best practices.
Gray argues that the contest prize should inclue the keywords that you are trying to target.. People get word of the giveaway, they link to your contest landing page, and then you get a result boost for your target keywords.
This isn't a bad idea. However, I do believe that he goes off the deep end when he offers up advice for handling the page after the contest is over. Quoting from the text of the article (emphasis mine):
Another mistake a lot of people make is that after the contest ends they leave the page up with a notice the contest is over, or 301 the content to another page. A better solution is to leave the existing URL in place and just improve the page with different content. If you are concerned about usability, you can relocate the contest information to a new URL with a link at the bottom or even display a message based on incoming referral URL’s or referral keywords.
The portions I've italicized just happen to share the characteristics of a "doorway page", which is a big no-no in the world of legitimate SEO. Such pages are not an integral part of the website and serve as a sort of bait-and-switch to the visitor, forcing them to click on another link to get to the website.
There is no shortage of SEO advice on the web, but the web can be a misleading place. Any advice should be viewed with a critcal eye and weighed against current best practices.
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