Usability Consultancy, Website Reviews, Website Optimisation

Now any decent SEO Expert will tell you that Google is not a fan of 'doorway' pages or micro-sites that simply lead web users to the main site. The reason is that 'doorway' pages and micro-sites are usually keyword-rich (keyword spamming) pages that are designed for SEO purposes and have very little relevance to the searches – except excessive use of keywords.

Google has built it's reputation as the number-one search engine because of it's clever algorithms that ensure your position on the results is based on relevance – thus, ensuring the person searching for a product or service will find what they want and, ultimately, continue to rely on Google.

Just to continue the clarification, Google is happy for you to link to 'landing pages' from a PPC campaign, because they are specifically related to the linked on your Google (or other) Pay Per Click (PPC) campaign. But 'doorway pages', no. They have been frowned upon for many years (and are so 90s), because, very rarely, are they actually part of the website they are trying to lead people to.

Anyway, back to the proposal.

So, this company was offering the development of a 'mini-website' consisting of 3, 4 or 5 pages to lead people through to the client's website – or even to pull in additional sales leads. The mini website would (or so the proposal goes) get high ranking in the top search engines so the 'client' gets 2 bites of the search engine cherry every time someone searched for the specified key words or key phrases.

I advised 'we' give it a go using a fairly new domain and a website that was in its infancy. However (because I am so ruthless when it comes to negotiating any advertising) we would only try it as a challenge to the SEO Company.

The SEO challenge:

My challenge to the company was: They will get a cheque for £300 as soon as is that mini website delivers customer number one!

And for some unknown reason to me, because I was always shocked by it, the challenge was accepted.

So here's the deal: This search engine optimisation company would develop this 3, 4 or 5 page mini-website on their own server, part of their own directory, which would help to pull people through to the client's website and/or provide enquiries, so the contact details would be there. A web link would be there, phone number all of that would be accessible if anybody came across that mini website.

We agreed that payment would only be made, and this was confirmed by e-mail, on such time that the client received an enquiry from that mini website and the SEO company would get in touch in three months time you see how their work had performed.

Guess what.

• Firstly, the company never got in touch again, even though they had accepted the challenge.
• Secondly, the client did not ever get an enquiry or any record of a click through
• Number three, they didn't pay a penny, and quite frankly, I'm pleased, because it wasn't worth a penny.

Any SEO Company who cannot perform based on a 'pay on results' scheme (or at least partially) cannot be too confident in the services they are offering. Approximately 75% or the Search Engine Optimisation work, Website Marketing, Link Building etc., carried out by Koss UK is based on results to some extent.