Buying existing domain: 301 or keep site?
-
I have the opportunity to buy a domain in the same vertical as my own (real estate) which has a decent link profile and good SERPs.
What are the pros and cons of keeping the existing domain and tweaking the content versus 301ing the domain to my existing domain or a page on my domain?
-
interlinking different domains targeting the same keyword universe can get you penalized, so if you're going to play the "more than one horse in the race" game keep them as independent as possible and know what you're doing and understand the risks.
-
Thanks for your thoughts Adam.
1. This other site doesn't have great content. It has a lot of links from pages with decent authority, but it didn't earn these links because of great content.
We are a small shop and creating content is a challenge just for one site. 301ing would certainly be easier.
2. This other domain has a focus on a nearby town that really isn't our area of focus. I think we could get lots of leads by getting this site up and running, but we really don't have the staff to handle this new geographic area.
From a keyword perspective, there is an interesting overlap. The subject domain focuses on Wenatchee Washington. Our site is about Leavenworth Washington, which includes Lake Wenatchee (which is an hour from Wenatchee, but shares the Wenatchee keyword.)
Geordie
-
Keep in mind however that links and rankings can degrade over time. If you aren't building new content on the new domain then the advantage may begin to fade after a while. It can be difficult to develop unique, fresh content for both domains.
It depends on how close your branding of each will be and if it's meant to drive sales leads then you also have to make sure to focus on the user experience for both.
-Jason
-
I'm massively in favour of keeping these domains rather than using a 301 redirect. Although you can gain some short term benefits from the link juice passed on with a 301 redirect, you are much better off in the long term by keeping the domain and creating links to your site from the domain. Here's why:
-
If you 301 redirect the domain, no new content will be created on that domain and in all likelihood, no new links will be created for that domain and you may even lose links. Whereas if you keep the domain, you can continue to build new content that attract more links.
-
If the domain is in the same industry and has good rankings in search engines then why not capitalise on that opportunity? Now you can have two sites that rank well generating more sales/conversions for your single business.
That's my thoughts,
Adam.
-
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
-
Will modifying an existing CNAME record effect my Domain Authority
I'm switching my hosting over from AWS to google cloud, will changing the CNAME record to point to the google cloud server effect my Domain Authority score?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Moeealii0 -
Domain Name redirection to new Domain Name - VS - Transfering Domaine Name from account 1 to account 2
Hi there! Thanks for your time 😉 I have a new cutsomer that bought his domain name via WIX and your know... WIX sucks huge time for SEO. Basically, we want to do SEO outside of WIX. But I am not sure HOW I should proceed. I think I have 2 options: OPTION 1- We transfer the domain name from WIX to a new hoster. But we will lose 7 days during that, lose prospects while the website is in maintenance and we might lose the little bit of ranking we have on the way. BUT! ONCE Everything is done with the transfer, we will be able to operate our SEO campaing with a Domain Name that as 15 domain authority, links, little bit a ranking, etc. OPTION 2- I just buy a new domain name. I build the new Website on it and then use the SEO juice from the old domain name with redirect to push the new domain name. Like this, I won't lose any opportunities. BUT I will have to restart the SEO as new... Any tips or ideas for me? Maybe there is an OPTION 3 that I don't know about.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Gab-SEO1 -
Change domain.com to www.domain.com - influence on linkbuilding, seo, etc.
Hello, Do you know what can happen when i change domain.com to www.domain.com? Will it have an influence to my link-building portfolio (external links to domain.com), position on google search, etc. Thank you for help.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Reyzer0 -
301 redirect subdomain to path and 301 for popular pages
We have very popular pages that have many backlinks. www.chezmaya.com/jeux/game33.htm have so many backlinks and it's very popular. Now If i'm moving this page to a new path like : http://www.chezmaya.com/jeux/component/mtree/Défouloir/Game33/details.html with a 301. Your SEOmoz toolbar is now giving a very low PA:1 and mR:0.00 for this new page. My question is after you crawl my site again would you change the values to what /jeux/game33.htm got before ? We used to have jeux.chezmaya.com and moved to www.chezmaya.com/jeux/
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SocialGeekMedia
Same here PA:1 and mR:0.00 for this page. Also Matt Cutts say that Google does transfer the juice from the old page to the new one. I already saw one url changed in a search for puzzle, it's at the same position it was before, but it say's 6 days ago beside. So I wonder if this is temporary and it will move with time? Thanks0 -
One Web site many Domains
One of my client have about 12 domains related to his one web site .all domain name relevant to keywords .but doing seo for one target domain name.Now he ask what to with rest od domains plz advice and experts advices are highly appreciate..
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | innofidelity0 -
DNS(Name servers), IP and domain.. All Showing Same Site...
Hello, My site is hosted on VPS with dedicate IP. The problem I am facing is my site is indexed and cached by domain, IP address and name server. I am able to open all the pages via www.xyz.com and and IP 1.1.1.1 and the name sever like ns1. hosted.com And if I USE site operator in google for 1.1.1.1 and ns1.hosted.com there are so many pages which is cache and in sites. Is it any server issue my hosting company give me a reply as given below "This is because that site is on the same ip as the nameserver. This is completely correct and normal. This is not an error." Is it true ? can you help me in this issue? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | semshah1430 -
My site links have gone from a mega site links to several small links under my SERP results in Google. Any ideas why?
A site I have currently had the mega site links on the SERP results. Recently they have updated the mega links to the smaller 4 inline links under my SERP result. Any idea what happened or how do I correct this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | POSSIBLE0 -
On-Site Optimization Tips for Job site?
I am working on a job site that only ranks well for the homepage with very low ranking internal pages. My job pages do not rank what so ever and are database driven and often times turn to 404 pages after the job has been filled. The job pages have to no content either. Anybody have any technical on-site recommendations for a job site I am working on especially regarding my internal pages? (Cross Country Allied.com)
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Melia0