What is the optimal approach for a new site that has geo-targeted content available via 2 domains?
-
OK, so I am helping a client with a new site build. It is a lifestyle/news publication that traditionally has focused on delivering content for one region. For ease of explanation, let's pretend the brand/domain is 'people-on-the-coast.com'. Now they are now looking to expand their reach to another region using the domain 'people-in-the-city.com'.
Whilst on-the-coast is their current core business and already has some search clout, they are very keen on the city market and the in-the-city domain.
They would like to be able to manage the content through one CMS (joomla) and the site will deliver articles and the logo based on the location of the user (city or coast). There will also be cases where the content is duplicated for both regions. The design/layout etc. will all remain identical.
So what I am really wanting to know is the pros, cons and ultimately the best approach to handle the setup and ongoing management from an SEO (and UX) perspective. All I see is problems!
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Confused O.o -
Thanks for your help Ryan - much appreciated.
So from a technical perspective, how would you deal with duplicate content served on both sites? Simply no-index dupe content on one site? There will be lots of this (feature articles, major events etc.) posted daily-weekly.
-
Hi Ben. Thanks for the link. After looking through the site I'd stick with my above rec and just make them both as branded as possible for their respective locations. With some color coding and visuals you could incorporate both pretty well. You can also advertise the city site internally via linking, the addition of related articles, and so on. Basically the stuff you see done on other sites with systems like Outbrain could be done internally with these two sites as well.
-
-
Thanks Ryan.
Yes, this is the quandary.
Their intention is to target by ip address and the much of the content is events, event reviews, things to do etc targeting locals.
Whilst I guess it dilutes the juice, 2 separate domains/sites is the option I keep coming back to. But then it is a matter of dealing with duplicate content as there will be feature articles, major events and other content that will be served on both sites. So how to avoid duplicate content issues and at the same time avoid the brand confusion you mentioned? And how to do this from a technical perspective in set up that avoids ongoing pain?
-
It would be super helpful if you could share your current domain.
-
Hi Benny. I don't know if the small scale geotargeting is the best way to handle user intent. It'd probably be best to keep content tied to location as defined by the domain. For example, if I'm on the coast, researching a trip to the city, and get to a site about the city, but the logo is about the coast, I'm just confused.
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
-
Content Page URL Question
Our main website is geared toward the city where we are located and includes the city name in content page URLs. We also have separate websites for three surrounding cities; these websites have duplicate content except the city name: MainWebsite.com
Local Website Optimization | | sharon75025
City2-MainWebsite.com
City3-MainWebsite.com
City4-MainWebsite.com We're restructuring to eliminate the location websites and only use the main website. The new site will have city pages. We have well established Google business locations for all four cities. We will keep all locations, replacing the location website with the main website. Should we remove City-IL from all content page URLs in the new site? We don't want to lose traffic/ranking for City2 or City3 because the content pages have City1 in the URL. Page URLs are currently formatted as follows: www.MainWebsite.com/Service-1-City1-IL.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-2-City1-IL.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-3-City1-IL.html
www.MainWebsite.com/Service-4-City1-IL.html Thanks!0 -
How to Get google to get to index New URL and not the OLD url
Hi Team, We are undertaking a Domain migration activity to migrate our content frrom one domain to another. 1. the Redirection of pages is handeled at Reverse proxy level. 2. We do have 301 redirects put in place. However we still see that google is indexing pages with our Old domain apart from the pages from new domain. Is there a way for us to stop google from indexing our pages from Old domain. The recommendations to have Noindex on Page mete title and disallow does not work since our redirection is setup at RP and google crawlers always discover the new pages after redirection.
Local Website Optimization | | bhaskaran0 -
GMB Website Create Competition That Can Hurt Your Own Site?
Hello, Does anyone know if creating a Google My Business website for a business using the GMB builder creates competition for that business's main, non-GMB website? Thanks.
Local Website Optimization | | lawfather0 -
2 clients. 2 websites. Same City. Both bankruptcy attorneys. How to make sure Google doesn't penalize...
Hi Moz'ers! I am creating 2 new websites for 2 different bankruptcy attorneys in the same city. I plan to use different templates BUT from the same template provider. I plan to host with the same hosting company (unless someone here advises me not to). The content will be custom, but similar, as they both practice bankruptcy law. They have different addresses, as they are different law firms. My concern is that Google will penalize for duplicate content because they both practice the same area of law, in the same city, hosting the same, template maker the same, and both won't rank. What should I do to make sure that doesn't happen? Will it be enough that they have different business names, address, and phone numbers? Thanks for any help!!
Local Website Optimization | | BBuck0 -
Rebranding a Website to a new Domain Name
Hi All, I'm looking to rebrand my current website to a new domain name.
Local Website Optimization | | Mark_Ch
In short the current website has out grown it's potential. The domain name is not memorable nor is it attracting a wider audience.
I will create my new website and 301 redirect the old website to the new, hence pass SEO value. Google Places
Having spoken to Google they tell me that I can simply change the URL in Google Places to the new URL. Articles on my current website
I have a number of rich content articles on my current website, can I simply create my new website and copy & paste these previously written articles? Google+, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
What should I do for accounts associated with the current website? Any other useful information would be much appreciated. Regards Mark0 -
Perfect Site Structure help please and EMD question
Hello to all, I appreciate your time and trouble greatly, so thank you in advance. Question - 1 - I just watched a video regarding onsite <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym>. This video explained to instead of using a services page to list each service, instead if possible make a page and menu item for the most popular search terms. So my families business site is allspecialtybuildings.com We do construction. I currently have it setup to have a services page then the listings of the services with its own page under the menu. But from watching this video, would you also suggest that it would be best to take maybe the top 3 or 4 services, then list the services as actual page menus? So say instead of this: Service Menu Link -
Local Website Optimization | | Berner
-Pole Barns
-Indoor Riding Arenas
-Garages
-Horse Barns
-Loafing Sheds Would it be best to have each service as a menu in itself like this: Home
Pole Barns
-Pole Barn Construction
-Pole Barn Kits
-Pole Barn Color Charts Indoor Riding Arenas
-Indoor Riding Arena Construction
-Indoor Riding Arena Kits
-Indoor Riding Arena Color Charts Same- Different word
Same- Different Word So basically create specific and relevant pages and remove the popular pages from a service page. Not sure if this make sense, or is basically not needed? Last Question - Branding- I got 2 <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> companies reviews back, and was told to change my branding and domain. See the issue is that the company name is All Specialty Buildings. So All is basically thrown out of some search results, almost like its a stop word. So "Specialty Buildings" shows up on many results. I would like to counter this. So I am curious if I get a new domain, like say something like ColoradoBarnConstruction.com Would this be a better domain for <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> rankings and memory for people? Or would I risk an EMD penalty? When I look for dentists, or <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> help, I get coloradodentist, or coloradoseo(dot)com's So they all rank well, I just want something brandable and easy to remember. I figured the company name would be best, But these companies that want 3500 a month for <acronym title="Search Engine Optimization">seo</acronym> services are saying different. Again thank you for your time, your ideas, and your advice. Thank you Chris0 -
International Site Geolocation Redirection (best way to redirect and allow Google bots to index sites)
I have a client that has an international website. The website currently has IP detection and redirects you to the subdomain for your country. They have currently only launched the Australian website and are not yet open to the rest of the world: https://au.domain.com/ Google is not indexing the Australian website or pages, instead I believe that the bots are being blocked by the IP redirection every time they try to visit one of the Australian pages. Therefore only the US 'coming soon' page is being properly indexed. So, I would like to know the best way to place a geolocation redirection without creating a splash page to select location? User friendliness is most important (so we don't want cookies etc). I have seen this great Whiteboard Friday video on Where to Host and How to Target, which makes sense, but what it doesn't tell me is exactly the best method for redirection except at about 10:20 where it tells me what I'm doing is incorrect. I have also read a number of other posts on IP redirection, but none tell me the best method, and some are a little different examples... I need for US visitors to see the US coming soon page and for Google to index the Australian website. I have seen a lot about JS redirects, IP redirects and .htaccess redirects, but unfortunately my technical knowledge of how these affect Google's bots doesn't really help. Appreciate your answers. Cheers, Lincoln
Local Website Optimization | | LincolnSmith0