2 Domains With Same Name But 1 With A Number
-
We have been marketing a website for a client with a domain name example2.com. Their main site example.com is used to post information about their services and example2.com is their eCommerce site they use to sell their products. After the Google Penguins update, we have lost all rankings for example2.com. We did not do any unethical, black hat SEO and I am pretty sure its wasn't just mistakenly blocked. We use the same strategy for our other clients and they have not been impacted. Do you guys think the domain name has anything to do with it? Whats odd it example.com is now ranking for some keywords that example2.com used to rank for. We have never marketed that website or anyone else for that matter.
I have been scratching my head over this one for the past week and this is the only feasible problem I can think of.
-
Yup, example.com is ranking for a few terms example2.com used to rank for. We do not have access to analytics for example.com, but my assumption is that those keywords are driving traffic as some are ranking on page 1.
The rankings have dropped very far. For keywords we were ranked on page 1, now have dropped to page 5. For some keywords we were ranked on page 2 have dropped to page 10+.
What odd is although head terms have had a bigger impact overall, there are a few head terms that have had a smaller drop then long tail terms.
Yes, surprisingly still ranking for the brand name but now example.com comes up first.
-
So is example.com ranking for terms that example2.com used rank for? If you check your analytics you should be able to see if those keywords are driving traffic.
I would doubt that it's solely the domain name causing this.
How far have the rankings slipped for exmaple2.com? Have all rankings dropped the same amount? Are head terms affected more than longtail terms? Does it still rank for it's brand name?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
White Label Subdomain Competing with Top Level Domain?
Hi All, We have a top level domain that is a comparison site for companies in our industry. We also manage a white label website for a specific company in the same industry, which was originally set up as a subdomain. In other words we have: "example.com" and "companyname.example.com." The sites are treated as separate websites--the subdomain site isn't filling a role like a subfolder would. It has it's own branding, navigation/url structure, etc. Since these sites are in the same industry, there is obviously a huge overlap in the keywords we want each to rank for. In fact 100% of the keywords for the subdomain, are targets for the top level domain. My question is, are we hurting ourselves in google rankings by having two sites under the same top level domain competing for the same keywords? We want both sites to be as successful as possible. Would we be better served by kicking the subdomain out into a new top level domain? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | Rodrigo-DC0 -
Google's Importance on usability issues in sub directories or sub domains?
Hi Moz community, As the different usability issues like pagespeed or mobile responsiveness are playing a key role in website rankings; I wonder how much the same factors are important for sub directories or sub domain pages? Do each and every page of sub directory or sub domain must be optimised like website pages? Does Google gives same importance? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Are companies buying .company domains?
Hi All, Are companies buying .company domains? And does anyone have any thoughts on the future rank-ability of these domains? Kind regards! 🙂
Algorithm Updates | | Avid_Demand0 -
How to Change Geo Target Location of Country Specific Domain
Hi - I have a country specific domain (www.updater.in), used it for writing blog articles Now when i go to site settings in Webmaster - the Geo target by default is coming for India, and no option of changing geographic target. Is there any way to let Search Engines know (despite .in domain) that site Geo Location is not country specific, but is meant for users from all across !!
Algorithm Updates | | Modi0 -
Does Google use data from Gmail to penalize domains and vice versa?
Has anyone noticed issues with Gmail deliverability and spam inboxing happening around the same time as other large Google updates? For example, if Google blasted your site in Panda or Penguin, have anyone seen them use the same judgement across into Gmail deliverability to blacklist your domain?
Algorithm Updates | | Eric_edvisors0 -
Direct Domain Name Anchor Text Spammy Links
Hello! I have a website that has been hit with around 120-150 spammy bookmarking sites which I believe are just scraping content from one another or were added by someone that was hired earlier or maybe some other action, but that really doesn't matter. My question is whether I should be worried about that many domains linking to the site in question with anchor text that is "www.domainname.com" and linking to the domain itself? I have done quite a few researches on this issue and the general conclusion is these don't help, but they don't hurt your rankings either. I wanted to hear from the SEOMoz community about it though. My opinion is Google doesn't take them seriously and we shouldn't worry about them, try to take them off and we should simply work on our content, guest posts, produce our generally great deals on our services and move on. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | | Njave_MCP0 -
More youtube results from the past 2 days
Hi, Did anyone see changes in their serps? There are more youtube videos appearing in the organic results?
Algorithm Updates | | Indexxess0 -
Do search engines penalize for too many domain aliases?
I have a main domain name and 20+ related alias domains pointing to it. Is there a danger, penalty or concern that I should be aware of related to alias domains? I saw something on Google "Apps Administration" under "What is a domain alias" saying "you can add up to 20 domian aliases" but I don't use Google Apps. Please advise... Thank you, Chris
Algorithm Updates | | caliboyz0