Question about multiple websites in same field
-
I know what most people say that it is best to only have the 1 website for focus but if we can put this to the back of our minds, if we create 2 different websites that are totally different designs (one upmarket one and one targeting the cheaper market) but in the same fields (printing) and go after 80% of the same keywords is this ok (could we be penalized).
Please note we will not be interlinking the websites, the website .will be on different servers and the names will be registered under different people (2 partners in the business).
We will however be accessing webmaster tools from the same location.
-
Nor would it help local search. This could be a major factor in deciding where to purchase heavy printed materials.
-
Hi Bob,
In Cases like this, I take a step back and think is this being deceptive, is this already occuring on the web? The answer is no its not deceptive and yes its already happening in business today. I am sure there is an example where Google themselves are trying to capture top and bottom ends of the market (insert example here), but I'll give you this one.
In Australia a company called Coles Myer have two supermarket chains Coles and Bilo which capture the mid-to-top end and budget end of the supermarket market. They are shown as two completely separate companies, but I'm sure in an obscure about us page are still listed as part of the Coles Myer group.
The moral of my story, run both but ensure almost all aspects of the site are unique. Separate themes, separate dev teams, unique content, separate hosting etc. They should be seen to have been created by two separate teams to ensure success.
Hope this helps,
Dan
-
It's not something you'll be penalized for, but you may find it naturally harder to build value for a second site. Which one do you list on your business/directory/social profiles? Which one would you refer customers to? or tell someone else to link to you with? It's easy to wind up diluting your efforts. Not saying you shouldn't do it, but just make sure you're confident it's worth your while, and obviously rewrite content and you should be fine.
-
Accessing Webmaster tools from the same location won't be an issue otherwise there are lots of agencies that would have problems when carrying out work for different clients in the same or similar niches. You are essentially operating both your sites as stand alone and there is nothing that is connecting them, so having two sites in the same niche should be fine. Just make sure that you write unique relevant content for each. Up until the end of 2012 I worked on two sites that would both rank for certain keywords and I actually acknowledged the relationship between both sites - having a link from one to the other and also having them on the same Google Account for analytics and webmaster tools. They had separate hosting but both were registered to the same company. One site was stronger than the other but there was no issue in terms of search engine rankings as the content was unique on each even if it was about the same or similar things.
Both had a legitimate reason for being there and I think Googles algorithm when it comes to things like attempted manipulation through link networks is cleverer than a lot of people give it credit for!
These are my thoughts and experience hope it is of some help...
-
Are you creating both websites under one company name or two?
The only reason I ask is that from a usability standpoint people may find it confusing.
Let's say a user visits your upmarket site, but does not contact you during that visit. Then they perform a Google search again looking for your company name and the stumble upon the cheaper market and don't find the same solution and the website now looks completely different... that might be confusing, unless you are using two different company names... and if that's the case, I would hope that the companies would actually be "legit" or it may seem deceptive.
That said... I don't think you would get penalized for creating two sites in the manner you are suggesting.
I do think it may become confusing if you rank for both pages on the same page of Google, because having different URLs, different designs, but the same company name may seem deceptive to users.
Just my thoughts.
Mike
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
-
How to increase DA of website?
My website Domain Authority is not improving what should I do to improve DA of website
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JOkoiue0 -
About DA of the Website
Hi There, I would like to know why one of my website - https://patnalocalguide.com Domain Authority is not improving. It is not going up and down but it is maintaining its score between 10 since last 5 months. Not going above 10 or below. Why is it so? I'm conitnuously working on creating backlinks for the website and the DR score on Ahref improving but the DA is not. What steps to follow to increase DA? How to find out whats going wrong with our present strategy?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MozByAnuj0 -
HTTPS - implementation question
Hello, I am looking at a site on which they haven't 301'd http to https, so each URL is there whether you have http or https at the beginning. Why would a site owner not 301 to https? Is there any logical reason not to use 301? This particular website is simply using a canonical tag to point to the https version of each URL.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
New websites
Hi Moz community, My company updated and used a new developer to build and re-design their charity websites: www.runforcharity.com, www.cycleforcharity.com and www.sportforcharity.com. This sites were "re-launched" at the beggining of December 2015 and I have now been able to get a good 6 weeks worth of data. I've been religiously using Moz.com for a couple of years and I use it simply for SEO purposes. Our websites are built upon organic traffic being driven to them and I have noticed that the PA on the new sites has taken a hammering. They all appear to have a PA of 1 and I'm at a loss why? It appears that no page has h1 text? Would this be an issue with the developer or something the content team is doing wrong? Any help of advice would be much appreciated. Many thanks Ryan
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Bennerya0 -
Blog comments - backlinks - question
Hi, I see that many good websites have backlinks from very good blogs/sites which are relative. What I noticed that everyone use their real name or generic name in comments. They do not use the keyword for the name. So later they get backlinks with anchor text of their names... So, my question is this good technique ? Do I have any benefits from these backlinks for my website ? With such a technique, whether it is enough just to leave your real name or may I periodically put the keyword for the name ? Thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ivek990 -
Canonical or 301 redirect, that is the question?
So my site has duplicate content issues because of the index.html and the www and non www version of the site. What's the best way to deal with this without htaccess? Is it a 301 redirect or is it the canonical, or is it both?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bronxpad0 -
Website Is In Tables
Our website www.accupos.com is mainly created with TABLES, which I've heard is a practice from Neanderthal times. Nevertheless, it is my job as the new Dir. of Marketing to SEO the hell out of it. Would you recommend converting the ENTIRE website into Divs or changing the current Tables situation? Or is this not a big deal for SEO? The site APPEARS fine, but I want to get our keywords ranked as well as possible, putting my time in the most efficient places (like link building!). How much of a high priority might this Tables fix be? We are also running an AdWords campaign spending LOTS every month. Please Moz me! Derek
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DerekM880