Two Webstites Targeting the Same Keywords
-
If I aquire a website in the same industry targeting the same keywords. Should I merge them into one? I understand it's a bad idea to have multiple websites promoting the same thing, but i'd like to capture the customer base of a competing website.
What's everyone's thoughts?
A- Merge new to main website with 301's? will google like that?
B- Keep them separate? Will google like that?
C- Don't bother.
D- Toss the computer and get into Horticulture
-
Thanks Guys. Points well taken.
I considered merging simply because both sites sell basically the same products, so making each unique would be somewhat difficult. My site (A) is much larger, better optimized, ranks well and had much more content. Site B has many products but little content which I think is why it doesn't rank quite as well. I am concerned about how much work it will take to get B up to speed when the same amount of work into A would probably generate more revenue. Just wondered if putting the work into A, redirecting B to A might be the best game plan. But maybe not long term.
-
Another add on to Egol's post is the split of SEO resources. If you don't have the time to build the necessary online properties to rank both it may be an argument for focusing your efforts on one stronger site then splitting resources and having two "also-rans".
-
D is sounding pretty good right now...
You could go either way. Without knowing how much existing content, traffic and the age and authority of your existing site, I will share my recommendation based on the assumption it doesn't have much authority or traffic.
I would merge and put more effort into one site (option A). Focus on high quality, high value information for just one site. As important as content is, dividing your efforts between 2 sites chasing the same keywords would be tough. Combining your effort and time into one site would allow you to do a much better job. 1 + 1 = 3.
An exception to this recommendation is in the case that both have high authority and traffic, but different voices/ personalities. But even in this situation, you could merge and turn it into an a big event/ story of how you are getting bigger and bringing the two communities together in order to bring even more value to the table, etc. - this could help get you some extra publicity and traffic from the situation.
-
There is no sin to building or buying two toy stores on Main Street and there is no sin owning two websites that compete for the same keyword.
The problem arises when you use the same content or very similar content on these sites or when you decide to heavily interlink them.
I have two websites in the SERPs for lots of keywords. Those sites always have TOTALLY DIFFERENT content. Sometimes one is retail and one is informational. They have the same registrant (visible whois) and are both claimed in my Google Webmaster Tools.
If you acquire a new website. Don't take generic advice on what to do with these two domains. Merging them could be a mistake and running them separately could be a mistake.
You might be able do some SEO and design and flip an ugly, poorly optimized, poorly performing website into an asskicking producer. Spend time to assess the site and spend time studying its traffic in analytics.
You might make more money running them separately or merging them might make a lot more sense. I might merge sites that have content with little keyword duplication and with very little backlink duplication. For sites that have lots of overlap it might make sense (if one of them dominates the SERPs) to run them separately.
So, don't take generic advice and don't do this without detailed study.
Finally, know what you are buying, what comes with the deal, what doesn't and what links and content have been placed on this site just to make it look good for the sale but that will be yanked immediately after they have your money.
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
-
Keyword not provided now in search console
Hello, Is the not provided now available in google search console ? It seems that it is or is it a totally different thing in the search console ? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Primary versus secondary keyword
Hello, Can someone give a example of what primary and secondary keywords are and how to implement that in a sentence ? Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics2 -
Keyword explorer
Hello, I was trying the keyword explore and got some questions : I first used it with all the search terms for the keyword "italy bike tours" and came across terms like this one "tuscany bike tours florence italy" Does it mean I have to include this exact expression in my content or do I just need to include somewhere in my content the words tuscany and florence ? Then I did the same search but this time with closely related keywords and the keyword explorer give me the word "pasticceria" or "tirrenia" are being closely related to the keyword italy bike ... How does the keyword explorer find those words because I don't see how those can be related... If someone could explain that would be awesome. Thank you,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Why does our main keyword keep dropping?
Hey Guys, We've seen an alarming drop in our main keyword for our website. Our biggest driver of traffic has always been the search term 'gifts for men' which we commanded the top spot for a while, but have always been in the top 4 for. Recently (in the last 3-4 months) we dropped to 6 and as of last night we dropped down to 9th. We still rank number 2 for 'gift ideas for men'. Both search terms point to this page: GIfts For Men Nothing onsite or technically has changed, and there is consistently new content in the form of products being added almost daily. We hit a manual action back in October of last year and I'm concerned that the toxic links (that we didn't create mind you) we disavowed may have been unnaturally boosting this page and now we're dropping significantly because they're gone. Any ideas on how we can curb this concerning trend? Thanks a lot
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | TheGreatestGoat0 -
Of the two examples of markup (microdata, schema) code below, which of the two is better designed for its purpose of Q&A, and what might be suggested to improve upon these lines of code (context: questions and answers within article content.
ANSWER SEEN 'WITHIN THE QUESTION' BRACKET So you ask, why is the sky blue?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RedFrog
Well, the answer is not so simple; In the day-time, when it's clear and cloudless,
the sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light.
When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight. See Structured Data Testing Results 'QUESTION' AND 'ANSWER' IN 2 SEPARATE BRACKETS Why Is The Sky Blue? Well, the answer is not so simple; In the day-time, when it's clear and cloudless,
the sky is blue because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light.
When we look towards the sun at sunset, we see red and orange colours because the blue light has been scattered out and away from the line of sight. See Structured Data Testing Results Thanks, Mark0 -
Targeting different countries with domain name
Hi currently have a eCommerce store .com.au targeting Australia. We want to start targeting the US market with the same products. I guess what would be the top choice in this case since our domain is location-specific to Australia and not a generic top-level domain (gTLD)? Cheers, Chris
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jayoliverwright0 -
Keywords under product listing pages
Hi guys, One of my main concerns when we start redesigning the site Trespass.co.uk, is the current pages like this one http://www.trespass.co.uk/snow-sports/clothing/ski-jackets/womens-ski-jackets are bordering over optimisation. Is this the case as each product listed in the url above has "womens ski jacket" under each product. If we have 50 products on each product listing page with the product name + type of product, ie. flora womens ski jacket, xyz mens waterproof jacket. Are we over optimising the page for the main keywords by having them under each product? Would that page be over optimised for womens ski jackets? Thanks guys
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Trespass0 -
How many words in the same page creates keyword stuffing?
In the on page report indicates that the maximum is 15. What are the best? It includes keywords on title, description and images names?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Naghirniac0