Redirect on keyword

[Eye seven]

Hi guys, need some help on getting this right. Bit of background. I run a travel website that is very geographically targetted. However, the area name coincides with a large tour operators' name so I get a lot of traffic that should go to them. So, here is my thinking. I can become an affiliate of said tour operator and then redirect traffic based upon that one keyword phrase to either forward them directly having put my affiliate ID onto it or onto a specific page where they can then click through to the tour operator.

So here are my issues. I am happy with how to do this technically but I am unsure on how good an idea this is in as far as would Google frown upon me doing this and which method would be best. I don't want to jeopordize my sites ranking as it does well and earns me some good pocket money. On the other hand if I did redirect I have calculated that it would earn me around another £3,000 a year based on my site stats. So, any help on how to handle this would really be greatly appreciated. Ask any questions if I have been unclear on any point as I really want to get this right. Thanks very much in advance.

 

[Eye seven]

Shameless bump but also: I know this is a really specific question so does anyone know a forum that would be better equipped to give me some answers to the above? Cheers.

 

[sist_si]

could you not 301 redirect to the new url based on the page name in question? im presuming you have a page set up for said keyword in some form or another. just do it in something like the htaccess file or even a meta refresh.
I found this: http://www.affiliatebible.com/general-seo/how-to-redirect-affiliate-links.php

 

[Eye seven]

Thanks for the reply. As I said technically I am happy on how to do it. A 301 would not work as almost all traffic from that particular keyword lands on my home page so I would not want to redirect that. All I want to do is intercept traffic arriving to the site that has that keyword and redirect just that but I am unsure on how good an idea that is from a Google point of view. If anyone has any views on that aspect I would be really interested in your opinions as the last thing I want to do is lose my current Google ranking.

 

[sist_si]

you can still capture that particular instance / event on your homepage. If Google doesn't pass some kind of querystring to you then if you check the server variables available, you should see the keyword in Google's URL in the Referrer.

 

[davetherave2]

just throwing this out there but would everyone typing this keyword want to be redirected to this other site without being told they are going to this site. Would it not be better to trial a question to see what people do and see if it is worth the effort to you or has this analysis already been done.

Also are they just landing on your page with this keyword in tow via a paramater or are they using your site to search for this specific keyword?

If they are searching via your site for the specific area and then are suddenly shunted to another site without warning they may think something is up with either yours or the other site, even if it is a potential household site. Also have you considered what would happen if they then wanted to search for something else and didn't realise they are on this new site so potential traffic and i presume revenue is then being lost.

As an alternative why not speak to said company and just heavily promote their site via that keyword and let the user decide what to do.

Just a few thoughts.

 

[Eye seven]

Dave,

Thanks for the reply and here are some answers to your questions in the hope they will help you help me make the right decision.

The page they land on is my home page as that is the page most optimised to the area (which shares the name of the tour operator). The search they are making is within search engines, I have no search facility on my site. The bounce rate is over 90% so I think we can be pretty sure they are on the wrong site and those that do browse my site do so very quickly and with way under my average page views so again probably just curious rather than someone I could count on for a potential sale.

Hope that helps but just a point on your last paragraph as this is really the question I was trying to ask. As I see it I have two options. The first is I can intercept the keyword and move them to a page on my site saying something along the lines of "Were you looking for XYZ? Then click here". The other option is to intercept the keyword and then automatically forward the user to the other site having apended my affiliate ID. So, based upon the fact that a user is arriving at my site incorrectly using that one keyword phrase what is the best option and does either option have any negative impact with Google for my site ranking for other keywords?

Phew, hope all that makes sense. Cheers.

 

[davetherave2]

Then really your choices are url redirection for a clean solution or alternatively as I suggested just give the user the choice to forward on.

If you have the stats to backup the high bounce rate then it is probably clear that the url redirection is the best bet for you. I guess it all depends on what web server tech you are using and subsequent page technology eg striaght html, php, aspx etc. I have used anything from a simple java redirect on the page, to server side redirection to url rewriting to ensure the correct page/forwarding path is being used.

In terms of google ranking SEO and the ranking system is a black-hole to me. I think Google has changed their search algorithms a lot and the likes of "Panda" has meant some sites have been demoted from even the top 100 pages of results.

To be honest I would probably say that if your site is still in the first page or two of results then introducing this new redirect shouldn't negatively impact it. Maybe someone more familiar with SEO can confirm but i wouldn't see to much of an issue.

Again hope that helps.

 

[kwerk]

really easy, something like this:

$keyword = "tour operator";
$keyword = $keyword ."|". preg_replace("/ /", "%20", $keyword);
$search = $_SERVER['HTTP_REFERER'];

if(preg_match("/q=.*?(". $keyword. ").*?&/i", $search) {
 echo "<a href = 'http://www.touroperator.com'>Where u looking for this instead?</a>";
}

 

[Eye seven]

Thanks once again. My preferred method is to do a URL redirection with my affiliate ID attached - leave nothing to chance! I am top of Google currently for my main couple of keyword phrases. So, anyone any experience with this in regards to negative SEO impact or can I go ahead feeling happy and very slightly better off?

 

[kwerk]

Check the user agent for "google bot" before everything else and if it's google then skip the redirect message. Then it shouldn't interfere with SEO.

 

[Dark_Injection]

I cant see it having any impact on your SEO.

First question, is the site you are looking to be redirecting to of good quality and PR itself? If not make sure to add a nofollow parameter.

Maybe you can speak to them directly and ask if they want any more advertising on your site.

As for your SEO I wouldn't be worried. It seems like a fairly standard procedure and I dont think you would be black hatted. If worried, use nofollow.