Multiple Websites for a Large Home Service Company

[Lauren_E]

I have a client who offers multiple services, the current website is already huge because they have added on so many new offerings in the last year and want everything above the fold. As I am building out the sitemap for a re-design, they continue to add more services. (HVAC, Plumbing, Solar, Windows, Electrical) I am working on a sitemap for a re-build, but I am still well over 100 pages deep with huge menu's. **My question is what are the SEO pros/cons of breaking the site up into multiple websites? **

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Lauren,

Also wanted to add a link to a related discussion here:

https://moz.com/community/q/does-multiple-sites-that-relate-to-one-company-hurt-seo

[Lauren_E]

Moosa,

Thank you for responding! That's a good point about the listings. Although they do have three physical locations we can use. I am planning to lay out all of the pres and cons and present to them tomorrow.

[MoosaHemani]

There are always pros and cons for it!

Pros are that you will get a chance to target certain type of audience on one particular website. This means you will be able to create more targeted content around the specific type of audience instead of writing web copy keeping multiple audiences in mind.

You can easily target more powerful keywords that tar related to specific niche which is otherwise difficult on a website that convers multiple niches.

As the websites will be more targeted, it will be easier for you to complete within search engine from competitors and rank on the first page for targeted key phrases.

Cons have a list too! It’s not easy to come up with multiple sites as multiple sites means more and more content specific for every niche which can shoot your initial expense like anything.

Multiple websites means multiple SEO campaigns this can again put a huge dent on your initial marketing budget. If there will be one website, there will be one SEO campaign which can lead you towards the conversion in the longer run.

If it’s a local business, you cannot add multiple websites for one business page (I guess) and you cannot create multiple business pages as probably your physical location is the same.

I think the best idea is to see how your audience will react if you come up with multiple websites as compare for having one website for all services. Also what is more beneficial for your brand name. Once you have the answer you can take decisions accordingly.

Hope this helps!

[ChrisAshton]

No problem Lauren,  happy to help.

I did just remember a working example of a strong company here in Aus that has split their services across multiple niche sites, no doubt for all the reasons I listed. They do rank very well for each of their niches; usually #1.

The site is http://www.carsales.com.au/. You can find their other sites under the "Our Sites" menu item in the top right corner of the nav and also under "Sites" in the footer.

This is about the best compromise I can think of, though I'd be hesitant about those followed links between each site. If you went this route, I'd suggest making them nofollow at least.

Best of luck with the campaign!

[Lauren_E]

Thanks Chris, I appreciate the response. They were the dominate for years with HVAC and then started adding tons of pages into what is now a hamburger menu when they added Plumbing and then Windows last year. PPC budgets are high, and SEO/site management budget is not an issue but I am concerned about the point you made about the user experience...and not being able to link between sites. Thanks again for the feedback!

[ChrisAshton]

The pros and cons can both be quite compelling here so it usually comes down to a question of budget and available manhours.

Pros

Targeted niche sites allow the client to be far more specific about exactly what it is that they do. This can make them far more competitive in that particular niche. As an example, one of our clients installs fake grass in commercial applications and outranks the largest national hardware chain here in Aus simply because he does one thing very well while the hardware chain sells thousands of products.

It also makes the site much easier to manage and browse from the user perspective while also being easier on the crawl budget as well.

Cons

Multiple websites means multiple SEO campaigns. You have to duplicate all of your effort for everything from page titles and meta descriptions to content and link profiles. If you have 10 micro-sites then your time investment will increase 10x!

Thinking of the user experience, you  may miss out on same conversions and/or upselling if users only visit one of these niche sites and don't realise that you provide several other services that they're after as well. Sometimes, being able to get everything they need done by a single company can be a very strong selling point. Much like paying 1 renovation company to do your entire reno rather than orchestrating 20 different suppliers and service providers.

There are ways to manage this second point to some extent like including badges or a list of other services you provide, though I would warn against inter-linking between each of these sites.

So, if you have the time and resources to put into it, you're likely to see greater success from multiple small sites but for more businesses, this just isn't viable. In that case, a well structured site and navigation is going to be your best bet, as well as strong and relevant internal linking from blog posts and building backlinks directly to those category pages from their respective industries.