# No Landing Page vs. Search Engine Optimization



## ducks33 (Jan 9, 2007)

I selected a company to build my website and they also do the SEO. I hadn't planned on having a landing page (I wanted my site to be like BustedTees.com where you land straight on the shopping page with all the designs). However, the guy building the site says I almost have to have a landing page with links and content in order to get decent search engine rankings in a competitive market like t-shirts.

What do you guys think? Is the trade off of not having a landing page worth it? Anybody with experience that can offer some advice on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks.


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## FSP (Aug 9, 2007)

Yes, make a landing page - in fact make a whole whole lot of them - but think through each one don't just make them to have a whole lot. There are lots of reasons to do so, if they are done correctly. 

To name a few:

1) You will get better search ranking on your keywords if your guy knows what he/she is doing (and depending on competition for that keyword phrase). 

2) Your sales will (should) be better b/c you can customize your message/offer to the specific keywords the landing page is about

3) The majority of your site visitors won't come in through your homepage anyway


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

ducks33 said:


> I selected a company to build my website and they also do the SEO. I hadn't planned on having a landing page (I wanted my site to be like BustedTees.com where you land straight on the shopping page with all the designs). However, the guy building the site says I almost have to have a landing page with links and content in order to get decent search engine rankings in a competitive market like t-shirts.
> 
> What do you guys think? Is the trade off of not having a landing page worth it? Anybody with experience that can offer some advice on this subject would be appreciated. Thanks.


No, you don't need a landing page with no real content for web users.

Don't hire any SEO company that does something you are uncomfortable with. 

Landing pages add an extra click that slows down the shopping experience and serve no real purpose. 

Google agrees as well: Webmaster Help Center - Webmaster Guidelines



Google.com said:


> *Quality guidelines - specific guidelines*
> Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
> Don't use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
> Don't send automated queries to Google.
> ...


I put the line item above in bold that's relevant to the landing page (also known as a doorway page). You don't need a landing page to be search engine optimized.

Sure, people use them, but to me, they seem spammy when the whole purpose of them is for SEO reasons and they seem like a waste of a click when they are done for "visual" reasons (flash intros, click here to enter type ones)

You don't really need to hire an SEO company though. The same thing that they do, you could do yourself and save yourself a whole lotta money.

Google gives you good info on this in their help pages: Webmaster Help Center - How can I create a Google-friendly site?

Read how this guy did it: How I Went From 600 to 14 on Google in 100 Days


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