Breaking a Big Website into Multiple Unrelated Sites
-
I have a big cluttered website that I want to simplify. There is content for patients, researchers, therapists who are looking for grants, etc..
Would it be a bad ideas to turn these into 3 or more, completely different sites with each focused on their specific demographic? Or should I just figure out how to organize the one site better?
Thanks for your help!!!
-
Really great question and there really isn't any one right answer here. In general, from an SEO perspective, I lean toward one consolidated website that is really well organized. That way all of your SEO efforts benefit one domain. For example, instead of building links to three sites, you can concentrate on building links to one website. Even if the content for patients gets more links (let's say), if everything is on one domain those patient oriented links will still help the content for therapists earn rankings because they'll contribute to overall domain strength.
Along with the SEO though, my other question would be if there is any great harm in having one website serve multiple audiences? There are numerous examples of companies who are able to do exactly that with their content. Doing so requires a strong information architecture to clearly define what each section is, who it is for, how sections are labeled, how you navigate to various sections, etc. Totally doable, and good IA tends to also be good for SEO too. That said, in some cases one audience group might be distracted/offended/annoyed by content that is intended for another audience group or maybe there is just one set of content you'd rather one group not see. Do you have any situations like that? Have you surveyed users for their opinions about the content to identify these pitfalls?
Of course, the other question to ask here is if there is a strong business case for dividing the sites apart? It doesn't sound like it based on your question, but I want to throw that idea out there. I've worked with some organizations where they have one department focused on a certain audience group. To simplify dev and maintenance, the business case is pretty compelling to split the sites apart. Still though, in a lot of cases it is easier to have one website because then all dev, design, branding, etc. budgets (of time and money) can be focused on the one domain vs. divided across multiple domains.
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
-
Looking for feedback on review website
Hello Moz community. I’m looking for feedback on how
Content Development | | Paul-Paquin-Golden-Financial
to improve this national company review/comparison website. We bring in experts in the industries we are writing reviews on. Well then conduct extensive keyword research and provide an SEO optimized recommendation content briefing to the writer. The writer creates the content including the high search volume and most relevant keyword phrases that people are searching for. We also make sure to match the intent of the keywords to Commercial intent for the content to ensure it matches our audience. For example, we brought in a leading audiologist and created the top Hearing aids for tinnitus.. How can we improve the process and site, any recommendations?0 -
Blogging , do I create a huge blog which links to all my sites
Blogging , do I create a huge blog which links to all my sites or do i create a blog on each site, or do i guest blog to each site from other peoples blogs 😞 which is best ?
Content Development | | SocialAssist1 -
Are press releases that could end up being published with duplicate content links point back to you bad for your site ?
With all the changes to the seo landscape in the resent years im a little unsure as to how a press release work looks in the eyes of Google (and others). For instance, you write up a 500 word press release and it gets featured on the following sites : Forbes Techcrunch BBC CNN NY Times etc ... If each of these cover your story but only rewrite 50% of the article (not saying these sites wouldn't re write the entire artcile, but for this purpose lets presume only 50% is rewritten) could it be negative to your backlink profile, ? Im thinking not, as these sites will have high authority, but what if once your press release is published on these sites 10 other smaller sites re publish the stories with almost no re writing, either straight from the press release or straight from the article in the mainstream news sites. (For clarification this Press release would be done in the fashion of a article suggestion to relevant journalists, rather than a blanket press release, via PR Newswire, mass mail out etc. Although i guess the effect with duplicate content backlinks is the same.) You now have c. 50 articles online all with very similar content with links pointing back at you, would this have a negative effect or would each link just not carry as much value as it normally would. By now we all understand publishing duplicate content on our own sites is a terrible idea, but dose have links pointing back to your self from duplicate (or similar) content hosted on other sites (some being highly authoritative) effect your site 's seo ?
Content Development | | Sam-P1 -
Guest blog on my web site.
**I received this email from a lady who wishes to write articles and post them on my site under my news section . Ok, if its quality I dont mind hiring somebody to create a post. Her proposal is as follows and this is her email :-**Basically what I can offer is to write a couple of articles for your News section, something fun and interesting for your visitors which will hopefully drag some traffic your way. I could make them well suited to your site and I could include in each a link to a client of mine - one who wants to be exposed on a good site like yours - and for doing that I can offer you compensation of £33 for each client link - 1 per article. For example, one client is Watches of Switzerland, so I could write an article about ideal wedding gifts for a groom maybe, or something about a perfect Honeymoon destination like Switzerland, and slip a link in there. Other clients include Weddingsite and Lampcommerce - which could be included in something about making a matrimonial home. There are a few stipulations I would need to abide by, like - the article would need to be 500 words, it would need the link to be a 'do follow' link, it would need a picture or two, and it would need a couple of 'sacrifice links' (just links to Wikipedia or something to make it more Google friendly). Question. Is this what a guest article is ? and also is the format ok ? Sorry if this seems a dumb question but still learning guys . King regards to everyone Peter
Content Development | | weddingshoesandaccessories1 -
Can I get Google to re-evaluate my comany's website?
For the last few months I've been rewriting website descriptions for the company I work for, trying to comply with the Panda algorithm as best I could. There are about 400 items. Today I am going to begin working on titles and descriptions. Question: Once I'm finished and have run the site through SEOMoz's pro tools, I would like to have Google look at the site _**in toto **_once the changes have been made so that maybe we can procure some decent organic rankings. Can the site be resubmitted, and what is the procedure? Ps. Today I am asking my fellow employees to help me proofread each description for grammar, spelling, accuracy, and keyword placement. I am also asking for suggestions from them.
Content Development | | RScime250 -
Name Some Ecommerce Sites That NAIL Blogging
Have a few favorites but would like to get some other people's opinions on some ecommerce sites that are doing blogging RIGHT. Who is supporting their online marketing with an amazing blog? One of my favorites is Backcountry.com's The Goat (http://thegoat.backcountry.com/) Let me know!
Content Development | | GManSEO1 -
Can you link build without adding any content to the website?
I am an agency-side SEO who has a few different SEO clients. A couple of them absolutely refuse to add any content to their site - no blog, no articles, no link bait, nothing. They have resisted efforts for any content to be placed on their site - whether it is written by us, them, or a third party. They just don't see the value in it, despite my attempts to persuade them. As a result, these websites are just brochure websites. What are your options for link building in this situation? If content is the foundation of white hat link building, what do you do if the client refuses to add content to their site? All help gratefully received! Thanks
Content Development | | kevinmorley0 -
Does anyone have some examples of Ecommerce websites that have great product reviews that are SEO friendly?
I am trying setup product reviews on an Ecommerce site and was wondering if there were some good websites to create a model around that is SEO friendly. Right now my reviews are in a separate directory off the review (http://www.example.com/review/product/etc) and I would like my reviews to be attributed to the product page to add in free, fresh, unique content that contains valuable information for both the user and SEO (new keyword derivatives). Also any suggestions on getting users to leave reviews? Whether it is a monetary incentive/coupon or a free method (of course this is preferred :)) Thanks in advance!
Content Development | | ResponseMine0