External Microsite VS Internal Folder
-
We would like to create either a new website or a new section of our existing website that will feature (in time) a lot of content including a forum, video training, tutorials and downloadable resources. Logistically, it would be much easier to create this in a new site (we'll call it newproduct.com) and refer people to the new site. We would, however, like to keep all of that content on our existing site for the sake of content building and SEO.
Should we:
- Duplicate the content and use no index no follow and/or rel canonical?
- Host all of the content on our site and set up a vanity domain (www.newproduct.com) to point people to the deep linked area (www.mainsite.com/product/newproductinfo)?
- Host the content only on an external site with the occasional link back to our main site?
I realize there are other options but they're mostly variants of the above. Our main objectives are to make it easy for people to get to while leveraging the new content for SEO purposes. What are the pros and cons of these different approaches? What seems to make the most sense?
Thank you!
-
Thanks, EGOL and Ryan. This is what I've been leaning toward - I just wanted to make sure there wasn't an easy and acceptable way to do this on an external site that I was missing. One downside to the onsite method is that we'll have to use vanity domain(s) to send new visitors to this site since our main domain is our (relatively unknown and way too long) brand name. It sounds like it'll be worth it to avoid the hassles of dual domains, dual content and the associated mess. Thanks again for chiming in, guys :).
-
I would recommend keeping your content together in one site. There are exceptions, but based on the limited information you have shared, it doesn't seem your site would be an exception.
Why intentionally create duplicate content, create the need to update two sites and then apply meta tags to control your data?
-
On my sites this type of content is in a folder on the primary domain. Look at the location of the blog and forum on SEOMoz - they are in folders on the primary domain.
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
-
Disallowing URL Parameters vs. Canonicalizing
Hi all, I have a client that has a unique search setup. So they have Region pages (/state/city). We want these indexed and are using self-referential canonicals. They also have a search function that emulates the look of the Region pages. When you search for, say, Los Angeles, the URL changes to _/search/los+angeles _and looks exactly like /ca/los-angeles. These search URLs can also have parameters (/search/los+angeles?age=over-2&time[]=part-time), which we obviously don't want indexed. Right now my concern is how best to ensure the /search pages don't get indexed and we don't get hit with duplicate content penalties. The options are this: Self-referential canonicals for the Region pages, and disallow everything after the second slash in /search/ (so the main search page is indexed) Self-referential canonicals for the Region pages, and write a rule that automatically canonicalizes all other search pages to /search. Potential Concern: /search/ URLs are created even with misspellings. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | Alces1 -
Folders in url structure?
Hello, Revamping an out-of-date website and am wondering if I need to include the folders (categories) in the url structure? The proposed structure has 8 main folders. I've been reading that Google is ok if the folder is not included in the url, but is it really? The hesitation I have is that the urls are getting long and the main folder only has only a sub folder beneath it. So, /folder-name/facility-name/treatment-overview. This looks too long, doesn't it? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | lfrazer1230 -
International Config in a WP Multisite environment: GWT, Yoast, Hreflang, SiteMaps etc ?
Hi If setting up on a WP multisite environment using Yoast seo plugin how should you: 1) Geotarget in GWT - set up a profile for the different tlds OR the network.domain.com different subfolders ? 2) Set up hreflang sitemaps - can Yoast handle this or anything manual need to be done such as disabling Yoast and creating a bespoke site map with hreflang ? Would this plug in help: https://wordpress.org/plugins/language-selector-related/ 3) Any other ideas or recommendations for setting up geotrageting correctly using WP Multisite ? Thanks Dan
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence0 -
Wordpress vs. home grown directory
I just moved my blog from a wordpress hosted solution to my owner server and am really hopeful that all the SEO ready wordpress pages plus I downloaded Yoast SEO will move my site. I started with 9000 pages being moz indexed with tons of errors eyerywhere, I have almost fixed everything getting ready to do a google index. One question. I have a directory of businesses and events for my local mountain community that is home grown with about 200 pages. see here: http://www.destinationbigbear.com/directory/bigbeardirectory.aspx which has a PA of 21 which is the same as my DA 21 (I know terrible)... Should I migrate these 200 pages with images to wordpress to take advantage of all the nice SEO possibilities? I have staff and it would probably take about $600 bucks to do it. I would only have to put about ten 301's such as http://www.destinationbigbear.com/directory/contentcat.aspx?ParentID=7 would be http://www.destinationbigbear.com/big-bear-restaurants/ Thank you again to all, I am hopeful I can answer some questions in the future for people... I am learning alot! Nick
Technical SEO | | nickcargill0 -
When criteria do you use for external linking?
When linking out to external sources what criteria do you use? Also, do you ever add the URL in plain text instead to conserve link juice?
Technical SEO | | Charlessipe0 -
Is having too many outgoing external links bad?
I'm currently writing articles for my site Eugene Computer Geeks and remember reading somewhere that having more then 100 outgoing links is a bad idea. I plan on writing lots of guides, and most of them will have several relevant links. Some examples are: a virus removal/prevention guide I want to link to the different antivirus programs I'm recommending. Or on the "Free WIFI in Eugene, OR" guide, I plan on linking to all the businesses' websites that offer free wifi. **Would having too many outgoing links hurt my rankings in anyway? ** If so, should I use the "nofollow" tag to prevent any harm? I always thought that having lots of relevant outgoing links was a good thing, but lately have been reading otherwise. What is all your opinions here at SeoMoz?
Technical SEO | | eugenecomputergeeks0 -
302 vs. a href="nofollow"
we came across one thing the we did not asked to programm by our intention. we have a magento shop and on the produktpage we have those "compare" buttons. these link have a session id and the follow a 302 back onto the same page. so i beleive the idea is that google will just not follow 302s and thats it. so my questions is: is this right what we beleive if so why is a 302 better compared to a a href="nofollow" ???
Technical SEO | | kynop0 -
Geotargeting a folder in GWT & IP targeting
I am curently managing a .com that targets Canada and we will soon be launching a .com/us/ that will target the US. Once we launch the /us/ folder, we want to display the /us/ content to any US IP. My concern is that Google will then only index the /us/ content, as their IP is in the US. So, if I set up .com and .com/us/ as two different sites in GWT, and geotarget each to the Country it is targeting, will this take care of the problem and ensure that Google indexes the .com for Canada, and the /us/ for the US? Is there any alternative method (that does not include using the .ca domain)? I am concerned that Google would not be able to see the .com content if we are redirecting all US traffic to .com/us/. Any examples of this online anywhere?
Technical SEO | | bheard0