One client - 2 domains / same business - good or bad idea?
-
This is a follow up to a previous question actually:
My client has one domain that has 'hardwood flooring' in it and one that has 'concrete polishing' in it - both services they offer.
**Would it be wise (for seo purposes) to have them both point to ONE domain (more general of course) **
**- They only have a few local competitors that aren't doing anything to rank well. **
**- They aren't trying to rank nationally. **
If the smart thing to do is to have them point to one (more general) domain using a 301 direct will there traffic drop significantly? (at least for a short time)
Does it matter if they continue to keep the existing domains they are using now on their literature, business cards, etc. and let them continue pointing to the new domain or should they really start promoting the new domain name? (They do NOT want to do this).
My only concern is saving them time and money by not having to build links, submit articles, social media, on and on for two different sites
OK, that's like 3 questions
Thank you VERY much for any thoughts or opinions on the matter!
Have a great week everybody!
Matthew
-
Hi Matthew,
The 'multiple domains for one company' conversation is one that I feel like I've had hundreds of times now. It's a little subjective, but my advise is almost always absolutely not. Why not:
-
The SEO benefits of having a keyword in domain exist, but they're just one factor out of at least 200. They might just as well negate a brand looking stupid by building a few more great links, and keep the same rankings.
-
Keywords in a domain usually mean crappier branding. Personally, I'd be far more likely to want to buy from, or send a natural inbound link at seomoz.org, than buy-the-best-seo-software.com.
-
One domain with high domain authority from inbound links will often dominate two domains with moderate authority. And building up authority in inbound links isn't easy.
-
Any type of crafty interlinking in these scenarios is never nearly as clever as the person thinks.
The only scenario where I might keep both would be if both of them had a place as very strong businesses each by themselves, or the two topics would be completely categorized differently (ie. one business does flooring, the other sells kittens).
-C
-
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
-
What are some good SEO tactics to defend our position against an upcoming competition in a near monopolistic market?
I'm doing SEO for a medium sized client whose area of business is targeting a very niche audience, in an almost monopolistic market. We're currently in top 3 ranks in our head terms. However, market research has indicated the threat from an upcoming competitor. The competitor is relatively larger and is well established in other countries. Is there something I could do from my end to defend/maintain our current position?
Competitive Research | | iQuanti0 -
Expiring Domains by Content
I use sites such as expireddomains.com and Snap Name sin searching for expired domains. All these sites let you do a keyword search based on the domain name, but does anyone know a site that lets you search by the CONTENT of the site rather than just the name? Thanks, Kevin
Competitive Research | | Ebtec0 -
Decent domain authority score with no links other than their own linking back to them. How is that possible?
Hello everyone I just spotted the following 'abnormality' while doing a little link analysis with Open Search Explorer. I checked out a site that has a domain authority score of 35, when the only domain linking back to them is ''the site itself'. They happen to have a domain authority of 35 themselves, but no other links pointing back to them apart from their own and yet they have the same authority as other sites with twice the amount of content and an actual backlink profile. How is that possible? 🙂 Links and authority scores, stills baffles me...
Competitive Research | | Hermski0 -
Internal/External link ratio
I have a client who ranked #3 for a very important and highly competitive keyword phrase. Using the 'Compare Pages' tool in open site explorer I could see that we were far better optimized than the two websites that were out ranking my client. Our PA was higher, the MozRank was higher, more internal and external links (and the external are all high quality) more linking C blocks etc.. etc... not just the page but the website, in general, was better optimized. The one thing I did notice was that although we had more internal and external links, our ratio was far heavier to the external side than the ratio of either competitor. So, at a loss of what else to do, I went through the website and beefed up the internal links to the specific page in question. I didn't over do it, just moved up from about 6% to about 12% (one competitor was at about 20% while the other was about 65%). Six days later we are number two rather than number three. Coincidence? Should I beef it up even more? Has anyone ever come across anything like this? Thank you for your comments in advance.
Competitive Research | | Vizergy0 -
Root Domain Metrics Stagnant for 3 weeks now
We are doing a Competitive Domain Analysis for a client and 2 of their competitors. The results from the Root Domain Metrics have been ok from the past months where in the results we are getting changes every time the website is re-crawled by SEOMOZ to update its analysis. However, in the past few weeks, the results we are getting for the Root Domain Metrics have remained the same even after three weeks. We have attempted a separate Open Site Explorer analysis for the client and their competitors but be are getting the same results. From the "Domain Authority" to the "No Followed Linking Root Domains", the results have remained the same for three weeks. Could anything be affecting the results or is it just the fact that the links have not changed (not a single one, for three websites) in the past three weeks. Hope you can help me clarify my issue. Thanks!
Competitive Research | | TheNorthernOffice790 -
Best Way to Consolidate Domains/Rankings After Purchase of Competitor
One of my customers is buying a competitor. The competitor has a site that usually ranks just 1-2 spots below the main site that we manage for them (our site has been up for about a year, and their's is 15-years old). I am wondering what is the best way to consolidate the rankings/websites to take advantage of the purchase of the competitor's web assets. I would love to leave both sites up and just get 2 top-25 links to our products, but with no more marketing being done under the competitor's name, I assume their rankings will degrade. Would a basic 301 re-direct on a page-by-page basis be enough to 'steal' all of the juice their domain name/site has built? Is there some other method of using an older domain to boost the rankings of a newer one (I am assuming they only rank as well as we do because of how long they've been active - all of our metrics are better than theirs across the board). Thanks for any help/advice the community here can provide!
Competitive Research | | dschapira0 -
"keyword" - rank the home page or sub page domain.com/keyword?
One of my clients has a pretty decent website that ranks 1st place for most major keywords in their line of business. EXCEPT one keyword that i've been struggling to get 1st position on Google (currently 2nd). My problem is: let's say "tennis shoes" as a keyword the home page of course has several other shoes listed but I've seen that Google took my home page and made it 2nd position (on 1st page). Where the section domain.com/tennis-shoes is on 2nd page of Google. My question is should i rel cannonical from the /tennis-shoes section to the home page so it focuses more on the specific keyword that i need to get the home 1st? Or should i leave the home page generic and focus more on /tennis-shoes to get that 1st position? What do you Moz'ers Think?
Competitive Research | | mosaicpro0
