Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
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
-
Cross Linking two related ecommerce websites
Hi Guys, Hope you'll be able to help me with a technical problem I am facing right now. We are a company right ? We own 2 webistes. Let's say one sells car parts, the other one buys second hand car parts to refurbish them and sell them. (It is not our case, just an example very similar to ours). sellparts.com buyparts.com Both are ecommerce websites, with large catalogues (7000 skus). sellparts sells a lot and is a big actor in its market. buyparts.com doesn't work nad has a really low DA. My new SEO external consultant, which I am not too convinced about, is telling me to cross link the sites on product level using cross-linking extensions. He want have them do-follow. That would mean having hundreds or thousands of links with really similar linking patterns. buy [parts] [model ] [make] sell [parts] [model ] [make] That to me seems a bit too much and I am worried it compromises the sellparts site's SEO. So should i no-follow the links ? Or do it differently ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kepass0 -
How to combine 2 pages (same domain) that rank for same keyword?
Hi Mozzers, A quick question. In the last few months I have noticed that for a number of keywords I am having 2 different pages on my domain show up in the SERP. Always right next to each other (for example, position #7 and #8 or #3 and #4). So in the SERP it looks something like: www.mycompetition1.com www.mycompetition2.com www.mywebsite.com/page1.html
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rayvensoft
4) www.mywebsite.com**/page2.html**
5) www.mycompetition3.com Now, I actually need both pages since the content on both pages is different - but on the same topic. Both pages have links to them, but page1.html always tends to have more. So, what is the best practice to tell Google that I only want 1 page to rank? Of course, the idea is that by combining the SEO Juice of both pages, I can push my way up to position 2 or 1. Does anybody have any experience in this? Any advice is much appreciated.0 -
Keyword Phrases - Can You Break Them Up?
Can you break up a search query across a sentence and have Google still recognize which query you are targeting? Let's say I'm trying to rank a page for the phrase "best haircuts calgary". Is Google's algorithm advanced enough to look at page title "Best Haircuts - Where To Get Them In Calgary" and know it's targeting the query "best haircuts calgary"? If it can't do this right now, I could see it advancing to this at some point in the future, which would then change the game quite a bit in terms of how creative you can get creating pages for queries.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | reidsteven750 -
Should I remove Meta Keywords tags?
Hi, Do you recommend removing Meta Keywords or is there "nothing to lose" with having them? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeytzNet0 -
Meta Keywords: Should we use them or not?
I am working through our site and see that meta keywords are being used heavily and unnecessarily. Each of our info pages will have 2 or 3 keyword phrases built into them. Should we just duplicate the keyword phrases into the meta keyword field, should put in additional keywords beyond or not use it at all? Thoughts and opinions appreciated
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Towelsrus1 -
Google and keywords with and without accents. How to approach optimization for both?
This is more of a problem for people optimizing for keywords in spanish, french, german and such. It is well known that SERPs for keywords with and without accents are different. However, I haven't been able to discover how do I make the incorrectly misspelled keywords rank without messing up the site's content. Another fact to take into account is that more than half the searches made in these languages are done without accents because, let's face it, it's just too much work. An example of my specific problem: The misspelled keyword "cursos de ingles" is currently ranking higher than the correctly spelled keyword "cursos de inglés". However, the misspelled keyword "clases de ingles" is not ranking at all and the correctly spelled keyword "clases de inglés" is on the first page. How is this possible? Now, how can I optimize the misspelled keywords to rank higher without misspelling the content on my site? Thank you! Capture.PNG
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | 7decode0 -
Zero visits from keyword in Google Analytics
The keyword "business engagement in outsourcing" shows 0 visits. I have a look at Seomoz post at - http://www.seomoz.org/blog/advanced-google-analytics. According to it, "If someone makes more than one visit to a site within the same "session" and each visit comes from a search but on different keywords, then both keywords will be included in the keywords report - the first with 0 visits and the second with 1 visit" In my GA report, i could only see 0 visit for the above keyword. Why is 1 visit not being shown ? On reading the blog, http://webanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/04/google-analytics-tips-and-tricks-why-do.html#axzz1UPqhMV7o i am more confused, as it says "Google Analytics, assigns the visitors activity to the first keyword " . which is NOT what seomoz suggests
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seoug_20050 -
Subdomains for niche related keywords
I wanted to know how efficient using a subdomain is, taking in consideration all the updates Google has made lately. I am looking to use a subdomain for a well branded website for a niche specific part of their website. The subdomain will end-up having more than 100 pages. I'd like to see in what cases do you guys recommend using a subdomain? How to get the same benefit out of a subdomain as i am getting from the actual main domain?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | CMTM0