welcome page, good or bad?

[80smusic]

Hi, I want a welcome page on my website with just a picture and a few lines, which then has a link through to the main page. I know this in itself would be terrible for the search engines indexing. Is there any way to get around this.

thanks

[www.tradeco.co.uk]

Don't try to hide the links, for example by making them white on a white background, googlebots are wise to this.

[ben_tambling]

just put all the targeted keywords in your splash page,, and don't spam it!

[zvinx]

You could also, by meta tags, tell the web crawlers not to index the front page, but index the following links on the page.

... Doesnt know if it works

[zvinx]

Or like ben_tambling mentioned, do a description or a small welcome text on the frontpage which include all the important keywords...

[akdiver]

So you want a page that can be fully optimised for search engines so you wont have to wreck the aesthetics of your home page? If thats the case google doesnt like it but id have the link at the top to keep most visitors coming and place your best article out there or a detailed about as a pre-emptive message for your site. Dont go near the black hat seo stuff cos if you get found out which u will eventually its a very very long climb back.

If that is why you want the welcome page remember that off site (link building) is the most important seo any way followed by u.r.l and titles which have no effect on the aesthetic of your home page.

Hope that helped.