Are you ever handicapping yourself in search by using a subfolder over a new domain/website?

[Patrick_at_Nebraska_Medicine]

Hello Moz Community!

We are building a separate hospital related to a single service line that is currently part of our main website. Traditionally all our hospitals are folded into one website with the same brand.

Problem: Our organization's leaders want to market the new hospital as "Brand Name X" nationally, and not use our locally strong brand name at all.

Therefore is the smarter long-term decision to begin building content on a new website with the new "Brand name X" even though it will take longer and be harder, than building it on our big, established website with a 60+ DA site?

What I fear is our current website's DA won't matter much if people nationally are using Brand X, which isn't part of our traditional brand name? And they won't be using the traditional brand name at all.

Example Scenario: We create a new hospital just focused on heart-related issues.

Do we move the bulk of information for this new hospital from http://www.nebraskamed.com/heart,  to a new website that will better rank with the new brand X and for just heart-related keywords?

Or is it still better to try and stick with the same domain in a subfolder?

[Account-Owner]

Hi Patrick, I hate to be the dissenting opinion here, but I think it would be best to use a subdomain or something connected to the main brand domain.

For example, I feel heart.nebraskamed.com (or even building up nebraskamed.com/heart, but giving it a distinct brand and look) would get off to a better start by leveraging the existing DA, while also being separate enough to have an associated brand. Branding is super tricky, but I know it's also a marathon to launch a new website from scratch and compete for new business. Is there a lot of cardiology competition? Are you trying to compete locally or regionally, or both? Plus, wouldn't you want to leverage the strength of the local brand, for something as serious as cardiology where the best-of-the-best expertise is sought?

Just a few thoughts. Of course if your organizational compass points to a completely separate domain, I would establish a linking strategy and go from there.

Best of luck!

Kristine

[Patrick_at_Nebraska_Medicine]

Thanks Ryan, Josh and Dmitrii,

You all brought up good points for me to consider. Thanks.

Patrick

[Coolguyry]

Hey Patrick,

I lean toward Dmitrii's response as well. With a new domain you don't have to try to work in the new branding into your existing brand at all. Many times the attempt to make a new entity work within an existing one fails because of confusion. The clearer you can make something to a unfamiliar visitor, the better and can very likely turn into some indirect SEO benefits.

Additionally, I'm sure there is a way you can utilize the power of your existing authoritative website and build up a secondary domain. For example: if the secondary product is all about heart-related issues, could you link to this entity from a hear-related page on the primary website? A link from a health-related website on a heart-related page to a heart-related website seems pretty relevant to a visitor and can pass some great juice.

I'm also on the same page with Josh regarding cost. If the budget really doesn't support the above efforts, then the route of a sub folder being the primary landing of this product is a great option. If budget isn't the primary concern, I'd think the second entity is much better for the long-term health.

Best of luck, Ryan

[Patrick_at_Nebraska_Medicine]

Thanks for the quick and useful feedback Dmitrii. We're leaning toward what you're saying, but just want to make sure others feel the same way.

[DmitriiK]

Hi there.

Yes, I'd recommend to create new domain with new website, new brand name and content. Since you guys want to market it on it's own, it's going to be separate entity, so separate website/domain is needed. Yes, it's going to be more work in the beginning, but much less work than moving and rebranding (or "disonnecting" brands) in future. Additionally, there won't be any user-related confusion, which can happen if you put new brand on existing brand's website.

Cheers.