Is it a bad idea to build unique sites to build credibility for your main site?
-
It is hard to sum up the question in one line, but basically my company has bought several descriptive domains that we would like to build out into microsites that link back to our main site.
For example...say we are a florist. Our main site talks about all the different kinds of flowers we have and the work we do.
So the idea is to buy weddingflowersdallas.com (example only...) and have a mini site that has the same look and feel as our main site, but has unique content that talks solely about our wedding flower business and has a few links back to our main site.
1. Is this a no no from a google perspective?
2. Is this a good strategy in general?
Thanks,
David
-
The general response you'll see in the SEOmoz Q&A is towards spending your time on your main site rather than creating lots of micro sites. Arguments for one site include only having to update/maintain one site instead of five the next time there's an update to the software you're using, and not having to do all of your link building times five (if you have four micro sites and your main site). With microsites, you're often splitting up the value of your sites into pieces, rather than having all of the value go to your one main site.
-
Definitely have no desire to do anything close to black hat...so redirection and the like just isn't on the table.
We have several divisions here and while our main site talks about all of them, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle.
The idea here is to have a site with a descriptive domain that talks about a single division (i.e. wedding flowers as opposed to funeral arrangements). We would have links back to our main site, of course, for people to learn more about the company, but each site would have unique content and would stand on it's own.
-
I think this would be 'Doorway pages' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doorway_page) and more specifically:
"More sophisticated doorway pages, called Content Rich Doorways, are designed to gain high placement in search results without using redirection. They incorporate at least a minimum amount of design and navigation similar to the rest of the site to provide a more human-friendly and natural appearance. Visitors are offered standard links as calls to action."
Doorway pages are not allowed by Google.
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
-
Link Building in 2014
Hi everyone.
Link Building | | KarenJames
We like most are struggling to link build this year in line with Google guidelines. First step for us is a back link clean up then a really thorough competitor analysis to see what the competitors have that we may wish to emulate. We also ask the clients to provide us with information about their associations, memberships, suppliers, partners etc so we can see if there is synergy to get them a decent link from sites in their immediate orbit.
After that we produce some excellent content but getting it published, particularly with a follow link, is just getting harder and harder. We are also a PR agency so we encourage the clients to 'think out of the box' with regard to a PR campaign. It is fair to say that most clients don't understand what we are trying to do and don't have the stomach to be different.
I was wondering if anyone else did anything different, any fabulous ideas we are missing?
Also is anyone still submitting content to Ezine articles? They are incredibly picky about unique content, grammar etc but is it/will it still be grouped in with the article link farms?
Any advice much appreciated.
Thanks Karen1 -
Detected a bad site linking to you? what to do?
I have detected on linkdetox site that had stolen a face photo of a smile from a star my website and is linking to the page. I uploade a disavow with that site very bad domain. But my question is if should a take that picture of my site or rename so the link goes to 404. It is not an important or relevant page for my website
Link Building | | maestrosonrisas1 -
Guest bloggers on your own site
I know this has been possibly asked before however. is there any benefit for Guest bloggers to write on my website? Will it have any impact on my rankings? I do guest post on other sites and I know this helps my site.
Link Building | | Cocoonfxmedia0 -
Link & Content Building
this is a tough one for me. Some of you know that the average SEO contract is fairly limited in budget.Clients in very competitive industries are fearing spending a lot on SEO. I do not think I should list the reasons for this.what do you do with limited budgets for SEO.The onsite-technical optimization is fairly easy and take much prsonal labor but it is manageable.The off-site optimization, links, content , and just getting you client out there is time and funds consuming over the scope of regular projects I know.My question is what do you do with onsite optimization really. I am sure some advice will include write great content, get it out there, guest blogging however those are not readily available and are not fitting the scope of any project.what do you think?
Link Building | | ciznerguy0 -
One Website or Mini Sites?
Hello and thank you in advance for your responses. My wife and I have been running a small service business for over 5 years and we recently came upon an untapped niche in our industry we will like to explore. We have found some niche keyword specific domains and have been contemplating building a few specific minisites linking to our main site(blog) in order to reach a more targeted audience. It seems the more I research this concept the more confused I guess. My questions are the following: 1. Should we create a main blog, for example: "BestHotelConferences.com" and have some (about 10) independent optimized sites "HiltonConferences.com," "MarriottConferences.com," linking to our main blog or should we optimize these pages within our main blog? 2. If we choose to create this minisite buildout concept and these domains yield the following monthly search results which one should we pick? HiltonConference.com - 3900 HiltonConference**s.**com - 1700 HiltonHotelConference - 730 HiltonHotelConferences - 580 I have heard that the plurals already include the singular version however they will not be an exact match. Also if we add the word hotelwe will be targeting a broader audience since "hilton conference" will still be included in the domain name, but once again it will not be an exact match. Please help! Which domain name should we pick?
Link Building | | Laz1010 -
Any ideas for linkbait?
Hi, I'm working on an account where we are optimizing SEO, SEA and Conversion. The business is a very local car rental company that competes with Hertz, Europcar, ... I already posted a question about it here http://www.seomoz.org/q/very-fluctuating-rankings The lack of time made it almost impossible for this business to start bloggin', but we're about to change that in 2012 and I already came up with some ideas for some articles, but still looking for that big fish that will get those good links. Maybe an infograph, but what data should we cover?
Link Building | | nvs.nim
Any other suggestions on articles that are linkworthy are welcome 🙂0 -
Run of Site Links
I recently got a link from a relevant site but it ended up being a run of site link. The site has over 3,000 pages that now link to my site. Will my site get penalized for this?
Link Building | | mj7750 -
Getting a link from a page on a site with high site DA but low PA?
Does anyone know if it is still worth it getting a link from a page on a site with a really low Page Authority - say a news page on a site that has an SEO Moz tool bar PA of just 1 or 2, but the domain of the site has a high DA like say 83 Is this worth getting?? Thanks
Link Building | | inhouseninja0