Will combining multiple websites/brands into one Wordpress Multisite Installation hurt SEO?
-
My company currently operates four websites, independently of each other, a corporate website and three separate store brands.
- innovativemattresssolutions.com - corporate website
- mattressking.net
- sleepoutfitters.com
- mattresswarehouse.com
All of our stores have the same branding, same TV spots, same print ads, etc across the company, we just swap out logos on all marketing pieces.
It is proving nearly impossible for us to maintain four separate websites, currently on three different platforms. all four are hosted separately as of now. We would like to combine all four websites to one Wordpress Multisite installation so we can manage the pages from one place, using the same theme and even content in many places because all brands share the same info, policies, products, etc. We would set up wordpress multi using subfolders for installation and point the URL directly to resolve to the appropriate subfolder. The only site that would crosslink to the others would be the corporate website.
Is this a bad idea for SEO? What other options would we have? Should we keep the corporate site on its own installation, but put the other three brands on a multisite install? Would duplicating content on the three brand pages be an issue? Less of an issue if they were not on multisite?
Any insight is much appreciated.
-
My first reaction was the same as Brads. After looking at the sites themselves and hearing your response, I think it's very normal to operate these sites separately since they are separate brands. I wouldn't worry about that aspect.
-
So, for the most part I don't see any issue with this.
The only thing that comes to mind is that all 4 domains would suddenly be on a single IP address. While that's fine for the brands that aren't competing with each other, it looks like there are a few store location in KY under competing brand names. In the event that there are geographic areas where you have competing locations that are suddenly on the same IP address, I could potentially see one of the domains being affected if the SERP for "city name KY mattresses" is highly competitive. I don't have any tests I can point you towards to support this, it's primarily a theory that Google might display just 1 in the interest of domain diversity. That said, I wouldn't worry about it too heavily.
Another option is a paid service such as ManageWP.com. This would allow you to manage multiple Wordpress installations on separate servers and mitigate any unforeseen consequences of having the domains on a single IP address. I can't say that the risk of experiencing issues simply due to server IP address is enough to justify the expense, however, so that should show you that I'm not very worried about the IP consideration overall.
-
Brett,
It sounds like there are more business reasons other than search visibility. Given that information I can see this is a more difficult issue for you. I don't envy you. I stand by my assessment that managing 3 brands that are so similar is going to prove to be difficult. In my business we attempted to manage 2 for a very long time. Ours was more driven by search visibility but we also had a brand associated. Ultimately we decided to perform the 301s and certainly lost some business by doing so. In the end I stand by the decision. I think the focus on 1 hurts in the short run and pays huge dividends in the long run.
-
Thanks Brad, I don't take that as harsh at all and I don't disagree with you. Yes, search visibility, rankings of local store listings, etc is one of the primary reasons we have operated the sites separately to this point. One of the sites is a recent acquisition so that has just compounded the issue. I should clarify that content is not 100% duplicated, mainly store locator functionality and local partnership content on each site.
The other reason we have not gone the 301 route is marketing perception. Several years ago, this is how we handled it. But the brands operate independent of each other in different areas of the country. It's not a Limited example where they operate Gap, Old Navy, etc. Customers in the Mattress King area of the country, have no idea what Sleep Outfitters is and 301s to the strongest domain was causing huge bounce rates, customer confusion and low visibility for individual store locations.
So there is our issue. Weighing pros and cons and not sure which side is winning right now.
-
I think there is a bigger issue going on here. Why are you operating 3 different sites where you are just swapping out logos? I don't see the multi site causing you any specific problems but my gut tells me your long term prospects are not good. All the effort that you are going into for this elaborate scheme are probably causing you to not do as well in search as you would with one brand. I would suggest instead of trying to maintain 3 brands (for no other perceivable reason than search visibility) that you bite the bullet and reduce to 1 site. Take your best one and 301 the others to it. Maintain one platform and you might be able to cut some operational costs internally. To me the strategy you are outlining above was a good idea in 2005. Not trying to be harsh. Hope this helps.
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
-
Does my website builder/host have an effect on my SEO?
My SEO ranking has been suffering over the last year despite all my efforts. Do you think my website builder/host could negatively effect my SEO? I'm using something called jigsy. They seem really good in the sense that they are very responsive to requests for help, but I have found them to be limiting at times.
Technical SEO | | joebordersmft
I cant:
-edit H1 and H2 tags on individual pages...the same ones are plastered throughout the site as part of a "theme"
-Do any link cannonicalization, which Moz Pro is marking me with 282 critical issues for.
-and I've had numerous times I've had to search out HTML code to paste into my page because they're missing something. ...I may have just answered my question myself, but I'm wondering how much of a problem all of this might be for my SEO? I was looking at switching to something like squarespace recently but it looks like Jigsy has thought of that and doesn't have any way for me to transfer my site to another service..... ugh! site:www.joeborders.com1 -
Http://newsite.intercallsystems.com/vista-series/sales@intercallsystems.com
I keep getting crawl errors for urls that have email addresses on the end. I have no idea what these are. Here is an example: the-audio-visual-system/sales@intercallsystems.com Where would these be coming from, how are they created? How can i fix them? When I try to do a 301 redirect it doesn't work. Thanks for your help,
Technical SEO | | renalynd27
Rena0 -
Http:// to https:// 301 or 302 redirect
I've read over the Q & A in the Community, but am wondering the reasoning behind this issue. I know - 301's are permanent and pass links, and 302s are temporary (due to cache) and don't pass links. But, I've run across two sites now that 302 redirect http:// to https://. Is there a valid reason behind this? From my POV and research, the redirect should 301 if it's permanent, but is there a larger issue I am missing?
Technical SEO | | FOTF_DigitalMarketing1 -
Does http://my.dudamobile.com/ Effect SEO
Hi, Hope everyone is enjoying the new year! I was wondering if converting your desk top website to a mobile one, example via http://my.dudamobile.com/, has any negative effects on SEO. Did it effect your site? Do you recommend doing it? Does it effect links? When people link to your desk top URL does that authority carry to the mobile, or would it be better if they link to the mobile (m.website.com) URL? Is http://my.dudamobile.com/ a good choice? Any feedback, as always, is greatly appreciated! Thanks Jimmy
Technical SEO | | jimmy02250 -
I'm redesigning a website which will have a new URL format. What's the best way to redirect all the old URLs to the new ones? Is there an automated, fast way to do this?
For example, the new URL will be: https://oregonoptimalhealth.com/about_us.html while the old one's were like this: http://www.oregonoptimalhealth.com/home/ooh/smartlist_1/services.html I have redirect almost 100 old pages to the correct new page. What's the best and easiest way to do this?
Technical SEO | | PolarisMarketing0 -
Which Wordpress Framework for Best SEO
Which wordpress framework would you use for SEO. From what I have had a look at: Thesis is good but you cannot use other SEO plugins with it such as yoast SEO as it is not compatible Genesis or woo framework are good and a plugin like yoast SEO works well with them. What are your thoughts?
Technical SEO | | VivaArturo1 -
How do you incorporate a Wordpress blog onto an ecommerce website?
Hello there, We have a company website: http://www.parklanechampagne.co.uk/ and a Wordpress blog: http://www.alastairharrison.me/ and I would like the blog on the subfolder http://www.parklanechampagne.co.uk/blog so that we get maximum SEO benefit from updating this regularly (I understand this would be better than putting it on a subdomain blog.parklanechampagne.co.uk?). The Wordpress blog is hosted externally but I was after some advice on how we can move this blog to the parklanechampagne/blog subfolder? Any help gratefully received - I've asked several SEO and web agencies this question and had a lot of contrasting replies! Many thanks, Jon
Technical SEO | | jonmorse860 -
URL Structure "-" vs "/"? Are there any advantages to one over the other?
An example would be domain.com/keyword/keyword2 vs domain.com/keyword-keyword2 Are there any advantages / disadvantages to one over the other?
Technical SEO | | nicole.healthline0