Multiple domain SEO strategy
-
Hi Mozzers
I'm an AM at a web dev. We're building a new site for a client who sells paint to different markets:
Paint for boats
Paint for construction industry
Paint for, well you get the idea!
Would we be better off setting up separate domains - boatpaintxxx.com, housepaintxxx.com, etc - and treat each as a searate microsites for standalone SEO activity or have them as individual pages/sub doms from a single domain - paints4all.com or something?
From what i've read today, including the excellent Beginners Guide - I'm guessing there's no definitive answer!
Feedback appreciated!
Thanks.
-
I would place them in folders rather than subdomains. This is because subdomains are not treated as well in the SERPs as folders.
-
I have a similar query from a client and I am wondering if the way ahead is to use the domain names as sub domains and give a different look to the niche sections (using Wordpress btw) and list all on the sitemap. That is possible? Advisable?
-
Thanks for your feedback everyone, much appreciated. May even print out this page and take to the next client meeting to validate our suggestion!!!
-
Do you already own an EMD? It's worth considering how good the EMD is and if the site owner is going to use PPC advertising. I can say with absolute certainty that people can talk about Google's crack down on EMD's all day to dissuade you; however, I own a lot of EMD's in the real estate industry. My click through rate is great with them.
If you aren't working for one of the big names in paint (sherwin williams, Benjamin Moore, Behr) then you are not going to get the "recognition" in the paid per click area. You can get recognition for an EMD though.
Just my two cents- It's good to consider all things. I personally operate a site that encompasses all of north west florida, but I do have domains that target neighborhoods that don't rank over my main domain. I simply have better returns on adwords with those domains.
-
People who buy one type of paint likely buy other types of paint - and need brushes and dropcloths too.
If you have all of the products on one domain there can be lots of cross selling.
And if you have one big site instead of ten hotdog stands you will have greater credibility, a stronger brand and become the "GO-TO Place" for paints of all kinds as well as painting supplies.
This is a nobrainer.
-
I recommend using only one domain. You'll have much less setup, maintenance, ongoing SEO work with 1 site compared to 3.
I would just use different sections for the different kinds of paints/markets.
-
yup, agree with Edward and SEO5. EMD cannot be relied upon. Add the content and pages as sub-pages. SEO those pages and link througout the site to these pages. No need for separate domains.
-
i agree with Edward as well. With Google cracking down on exact match domains , you would be better off focusing your efforts on building all the keyword related content on one portal related to that industry. You can have a resources section on the site and write good content on the different topics and over time establish your site as a credible repository of information.
-
The only benefit here would be a keyword-related domain name for each industry; however, as Google has made clear in recent history, this matters less and less.
The major downside would be having four or five sites to build up and promote to rank versus only having one.
While others may disagree, I feel your efforts will be better served concentrating on one site.
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
-
Searchability Strategy
We recently had a technical SEO audit carried out and it highlighted how many clicks it took to get to many of our pages (more than 4)). Does anyone have advice on how to create a structure for our pages to avoid this or recommend any articles I can read?
Technical SEO | | Caroline_Ardmoor0 -
New domain wipes out domain authority
A client wanted to change their domain name, which we have now done. The site content itself is exactly the same. We put 301 redirect links in so that Google searchers would redirect from the old site to the new one. However Moz then said that it couldn't crawl the old domain because of the redirects and advised creating a brand new campaign for the new domain. We have done this but now Moz says that the domain authority of the new site is 2 (it was 14 on the old domain). Specifics are:
Technical SEO | | mfrgolfgti
old domain: https://ryemeadcleaning.co.uk
new domain: https://ryemeadgroup.co.uk So basically it seems like we're starting again from scratch with the new domain and all the SEO from the old domain has been lost? Have we done it wrong?0 -
Best Web-site Structure/ SEO Strategy for an online travel agency?
Dear Experts! I need your help with pointing me in the right direction. So far I have found scattered tips around the Internet but it's hard to make a full picture with all these bits and pieces of information without a professional advice. My primary goal is to understand how I should build my online travel agency web-site’s (https://qualistay.com) structure, so that I target my keywords on correct pages and do not create a duplicate content. In my particular case I have very similar properties in similar locations in Tenerife. Many of them are located in the same villa or apartment complex, thus, it is very hard to come up with the unique description for each of them. Not speaking of amenities and pricing blocks, which are standard and almost identical (I don’t know if Google sees it as a duplicate content). From what I have read so far, it’s better to target archive pages rather than every single property. At the moment my archive pages are: all properties (includes all property types and locations), a page for each location (includes all property types). Does it make sense adding archive pages by property type in addition OR in stead of the location ones if I, for instance, target separate keywords like 'villas costa adeje' and 'apartments costa adeje'? At the moment, the title of the respective archive page "Properties to rent in costa adeje: villas, apartments" in principle targets both keywords... Does using the same keyword in a single property listing cannibalize archive page ranking it is linking back to? Or not, unless Google specifically identifies this as a duplicate content, which one can see in Google Search Console under HTML Improvements and/or archive page has more incoming links than a single property? If targeting only archive pages, how should I optimize them in such a way that they stay user-friendly. I have created (though, not yet fully optimized) descriptions for each archive page just below the main header. But I have them partially hidden (collapsible) using a JS in order to keep visitors’ focus on the properties. I know that Google does not rank hidden content high, at least at the moment, but since there is a new algorithm Mobile First coming up in the near future, they promise not to punish mobile sites for a collapsible content and will use mobile version to rate desktop one. Does this mean I should not worry about hidden content anymore or should I move the descirption to the bottom of the page and make it fully visible? Your feedback will be highly appreciated! Thank you! Dmitry
Technical SEO | | qualistay1 -
If a permanent redirect is supposed to transfer SEO from the old page to the new page, why has my domain authority been impacted?
For example, we redirected our old domain to a new one (leaving no duplicate content on the old domain) and saw a 40% decrease in domain authority. Isn't a permanent redirect supposed to transfer link authority to the place it is redirecting to? Did I do something wrong?
Technical SEO | | BlueLinkERP0 -
All in One SEO weirdness
For some reason, I'm getting extra words in my title tags. For example, I wrote "Washing Machine Widgets | Acme Widgets, Inc. | Acme Widgets Inc. Anyone have any idea why I'm getting the extra " | Acme Widgets Inc."? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | PGD20110 -
Is Buying Domains Good For SEO? Can I 301 redirect domains to an Original website?
I have a friend that purchased multiple domains related to their website. Each of these domains have the back ground of the original website and irrelevant content on them. Is is possible to redirect the various domains to certain pages on the original website. For example if the website is www.shoes.com and they purchased domains such as www.leathermensshoes.com and a few others related to the website. Is it SEO friendly to link the domains purchased to the original website?
Technical SEO | | TSpike10 -
Using hyphenated sub-domains or non-hyphenated sub-domains? What is the question! I Any takers?
For our corporate business level domain, we are exploring using a hyphenated sub-domain foir a project. Something like www.go-figure.extreme.com I thought from a user perspective it seems cluttered. The domain length might also be an issue with the new Algorithm big G has launched in recent past. I know with past experience, hyphenated domains usually take longer to index, as they are used by spammers more frequently and can take longer to get out of the supplementary index. Our company site has over 90 million viewers / year, so our brand is well established and traffic isn't an issue. This is for a corporate level project and I didn't have the answer! Will this work? anyone have any experience testing this. Any thoughts will help! Thanks, Rob
Technical SEO | | RobMay0