Disinformation Experts continue to poison the Internet marketing community.

I'm scratching my head this morning after reading articles from opposing "Experts" about the do's and don'ts of Search Engine Optimization. If you believe the experts, the don'ts continue to multiply and the dos are diminishing to a point where eventually only the "Experts" will be able to perform Search Engine Optimization effectively.

One of the goals of AMI Studios, as a professional web design firm, is to dispel the myths and expose the outright lies that many of these so-called "Experts" are continuing to perpetuate. The truth is, every website owner can increase their sites popularity, by providing quality content for their visitors.

The fact that websites are dynamic by nature, not static, and should be updated and maintained regularly is one of the founding principles of AMI Studios.

Websites are most effective when business owners and individuals, who have a sincere desire to provide their customers and readers with new and interesting information, continually update their websites to ensure the content is fresh and relevant, and refuse to fall into the trap of allowing their website to become stagnant.

In my last two articles, SEO DISINFORMATION CONTINUES TO INFECT THE INTERNET MARKETING COMMUNITY and DISINFORMATION OR EXPERTS WHO SIMPLY DON'T AGREE? I covered topics on Link Exchange and Meta Tags. This week I'll be talking about the use and abuse of Gateway or Doorway pages.

For those who are new to Internet Marketing and Website Promotion, I'll first explain what this forbidden practice is and how it's used. Then I'll talk about the misleading beliefs that revolve around the use of this tactic.

The goal of this article is to inform readers about proper and ethical practices of Internet Marketing and to open people's eyes to the alarming reality that many Search Engine Marketing professionals are intentionally flooding the Internet Community with disinformation for their own gain.

Gateway Pages - What are they and how are they used?

Gateway pages are web pages designed specifically for attracting search engine spiders. Many Search Engine Placement companies employ Gateway pages as part of their strategy to drive traffic to your website.

Loaded with keyword rich content in an effort to gain top placement in Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines, each gateway page usually targets a single keyword phrase and incorporates links to the Real website. This tactic is intended to attract the spider which in turn will, hopefully, index the page and place it higher in the rankings then its competitors.

Misleading Beliefs:

One belief is that gateway pages are enticing to search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN because of the keyword saturation.

Explanation: The importance of having pages indexed by search engines is so that visitors find your page first when searching for the keyword or phrase, your page is targeting. With gateway pages visitors are then redirected, either automatically through scripting or by the visitor clicking on a link which redirects them to the real site.

Another belief is that the gateway page linking to your website, will count as an inbound link to your site.

Explanation: Inbound links are very important for increasing Page Rank. The more inbound links to your site, the more importance search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN place on your websites content.

Link building is a different topic, but I will say this; while it's true that inbound links to your site help to increase your sites page rank, there is another side to this argument. I'll discuss this in greater detail under The Real Story.

The real story:

The reality is, and what many disinformation experts don't want you to know is, gateway pages create many problems for website owners as well as Internet users searching for your product.

Gateway pages typically are not hosted on the same server as the websites they promote. This is important because the site, that the gateway pages are hosted on, has a different domain name then the website they are promoting.

This creates a problem because visitors don't come to your website; they go to the gateway page. Then if they're interested in finding out more they Click Through to your site.

Advocates of this practice would argue that this is a plus, because search engine spiders place a higher value on pages with more inbound links.

Inbound links: search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN place a higher value on inbound links that come from a website with a high page rank. This means that websites linking to your website must already have a high page rank for the link to be considered valuable.

If websites linking to your site have a higher page rank then yours, and are targeting the same keywords as yours, those websites will be listed higher, in the search engines natural listings, then your website.

The gateway page is competing against your website.

Gateway pages are not intended to promote your product or service or even your website. They are intended to trick search engine spiders into thinking the content on the page is related to the keywords you wish to rank high in.

In reality the content is usually worthless to visitors.

Internet users are not looking for web pages that are relevant to their search; they're looking for information relating to their search. When searchers end up at a site with little or no relevant content on what they are searching for, simply because it ranks number one or two, they become frustrated and often discouraged. Sometimes to the point where they lose interest and move on.

Does this raise concerns in your mind?

A much more practical strategy is to create keyword rich content that adds value to your website and resides on the same domain as your website.

Writing articles and editorials relating to your industry, products and services and continually adding new and relevant content to your website is far more effective in the quest to increase your sites popularity.

Providing searchers with information they are seeking is the true purpose of the Internet, and website owners and webmasters should strive to embrace this vision. (For a truly inspirational illustration of this vision, I encourage everyone to visit Google.com and read their company history and mission statement).

Visitors who find a site with relevant information to their search will spend more time on that site then if they were duped into going to the site in the first place.

Visitors who spend more time at a single website are more likely to become customers.

Still, there are many who refuse to subscribe to these principles, and sadly, the websites owner is the one penalized for the use of unethical practices.

Disinformation experts will tell you, "Your competitors all do it" and "It's not illegal". These reasons are not sufficient to put yourself and your website at risk by engaging in unethical practices for personal gain.

When your website is targeted for employing these tactics, the experts won't be around to help you when search engine administrators ban your website from their directory.

While this will continue, and there is very little that can be done to prevent it from happening, we can strive to make smart and ethical decisions that will bring exposure to our cause as well as provide a positive contribution to the Internet.

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