Criticism, though sometimes painful to swallow, is a good thing.  It challenges our preconceptions.  It pushes us to be something better than we are.  I like criticism, but not when it’s unfounded.  I ran across such an unfounded critique this past weekend in which SEO Theory writer Michael Martinez attacks SEOMoz writer Rand Fiskin’s video post entitled “The Microsite Mistake.”

Here’s the gist of “The Microsite Mistake.”  Rand advises against the tactic of creating a “link-bait” microsite for the purpose of funneling links to your main/corporate website through targeted anchor text.  This is a poor SEO strategy, he argues, as it eliminates the domain diversity of your linkbacks–and hence, diminishes the value of the linkbacks.

That was Friday morning.  Just hours later, Michael’s criticism hit the blogosphere.  In his post, Michael accuses Rand of “a diatribe against the corporate use of microsites” among other things (but we’ll get to those other things in a minute). 

Really?   A “diatribe against the corporate use of microsites?”  That’s an awfully bold claim, a claim which implies that Rand sees NO inherent value in a microsite strategy whatsoever.  But Rand isn’t taking that position.  In fact, he isn’t even addressing the question, “Should you use microsites?”  Rather, he is making the assertion, “Don’t misuse microsites!”

Michael Martinez is a very confident, persuasive writer.  So persuasive, in fact, that I was hard pressed to uncover any fault in his assessment.  But take a look at both posts for yourself, and I think you’ll conclude with me that Michael’s critique falls short of addressing the actual point in Rand’s post.  Have at it.

The Microsite Mistake:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/whiteboard-friday-the-microsite-mistake

Michael’s Critique:
http://www.seo-theory.com/2009/01/23/the-microsite-mistake-mistaking-microsites-for-mistakes/

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