How to properly redirect to the store subdir

My store is not at the website root directory (public_html), it is in a sub-directory called "catalog". I am using a redirect statement:
Redirect /index.htm http://www.aurora-teamspirit.com/catalog/index.php
to get the store to open when someone visits the www.com URL. I was told that this redirect is bad for search engine ratings, and is not allowed for DMOZ listing inclusion. Is this true? Is there a btter way to point to the catalog sub-dir? Should I move everything up to the root? :wacko:

If you have no reason for the 'catalog' folder, then I see no reason not to move things up.
If you had other content in the root and were using it to access the store and/or other subfolders of your site from that root content, then it might make sense to keep the subfolder. But if you're not doing that, then you're losing out on indexing benefits by having it in some unlinked location.

Muddler:

Should I move everything up to the root?If you do decide to move to the root, here's an FAQ on the process:
https://www.zen-cart.com/tutorials/index.php?article=122

Thanks Doc.

I have liked having a sub-dir for testing, applying mods, and upgrading. I set up a catalog2 dir at the same level and perform my upgrades and changes there. When it is working properly, I just copy the config files from catalog to catalog2 and rename catalog2->catalog. A real fast cut-over.

However, while you didn't say it, I am assuming that you are concurring that I am paying a indexing / page ranking penalty for this. If this is so, and there is no "Proper" way to redirect then I will just test/upgrade differently.