External Microsite VS Internal Folder
-
We would like to create either a new website or a new section of our existing website that will feature (in time) a lot of content including a forum, video training, tutorials and downloadable resources. Logistically, it would be much easier to create this in a new site (we'll call it newproduct.com) and refer people to the new site. We would, however, like to keep all of that content on our existing site for the sake of content building and SEO.
Should we:
- Duplicate the content and use no index no follow and/or rel canonical?
- Host all of the content on our site and set up a vanity domain (www.newproduct.com) to point people to the deep linked area (www.mainsite.com/product/newproductinfo)?
- Host the content only on an external site with the occasional link back to our main site?
I realize there are other options but they're mostly variants of the above. Our main objectives are to make it easy for people to get to while leveraging the new content for SEO purposes. What are the pros and cons of these different approaches? What seems to make the most sense?
Thank you!
-
Thanks, EGOL and Ryan. This is what I've been leaning toward - I just wanted to make sure there wasn't an easy and acceptable way to do this on an external site that I was missing. One downside to the onsite method is that we'll have to use vanity domain(s) to send new visitors to this site since our main domain is our (relatively unknown and way too long) brand name. It sounds like it'll be worth it to avoid the hassles of dual domains, dual content and the associated mess. Thanks again for chiming in, guys :).
-
I would recommend keeping your content together in one site. There are exceptions, but based on the limited information you have shared, it doesn't seem your site would be an exception.
Why intentionally create duplicate content, create the need to update two sites and then apply meta tags to control your data?
-
On my sites this type of content is in a folder on the primary domain. Look at the location of the blog and forum on SEOMoz - they are in folders on the primary domain.
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
-
I want to move some pages of my website to a folder and nav menu in those pages should only show inner page links, will it hurt SEO?
Hi, My website has a few SaaS products, to make my website simple i want to move my website some pages to its specific folder structure , so eg website.com/product1/features
Technical SEO | | webbeemoz
website.com/product1/pricing
website.com/product1/information and same for product2 and so on, the website.com/product1/.. menu will only show the links of product1 and only one link to homepage (possibly in footer). Please share your opinion will it be a good idea, from UI perspective it will be simple , but i am not sure about SEO perspective, please help thanks0 -
Internal duplicated content on articles, when is too much?
I have an automotive rental blog with articles that explain the pros of renting a specific model. So in this articles the advantages of rental versus the buying of a new model. This advantages are a list with bullets like this:
Technical SEO | | markovald
Rental | Buy new car
Rental:
Free car insurance
Free assistance
etc.
Buy new car
You have to pay insurance
You have to pay assistance
etc. etc. I want to do this because i want to make all articles like landing pages...
This "advantages box" have 100 characters. The general length of articles on my blog is 500/600 characters. So i have an average of 15/20% internal duplicated content on all my articles. Is this bad for seo? Any alternatives?0 -
Domain Mapping - International Config - WP Multisite - Problems/issues experienced ?
Hi My new clients devs are setting up new client according to below domain mapping type config Is anyone aware of any probs this could cause ? or other way should be setting up ? Also will setting up an MA campaign for the root domain 'catch all' given the domain mapping aspect etc ? Cheers Dan Set up now using WP Multisite. The root domain for the network of websites we are going to roll out, is set up as "network.domain.com. This is a "parent" domain from which all languages variants will be children of this root domain name. so: "network.domain.com/uk/" - English Language
Technical SEO | | Dan-Lawrence
"network.domain.com/tr/" - Turkish Langauge
"network.domain.com/za/" - South African
etc I then will domain map domain names to each of these children, once I get DNS control of each language's settings. I have already mapped "www.domain.com" to "network.domain.com/uk/", so the english website is set up (and launched - as you know). I fully expect that "www.domain.tr" will be mapped to "network.domain.com/tr/" and so on, but depending on domain availability at the time of purchase. Any domain name can be mapped to each of these children, and the system doesn't care, or mind! I can also map one (or more) domain names to each child, and make ONE of them the primary domain name.0 -
Is it bad for seo to have a large number of external links opening in modal windows?
I've got a job board that pulls in feeds from various job sites and recruiters. Rather than losing visitors exiting my site, I thought I was being clever by opening all external links in modal windows, so the user can 'click to close' and effectively stay on my site. I'm now starting to think this may potentially have been a bad move for SEO. Is there any evidence to suggest this? Simon
Technical SEO | | simmo2350 -
Tool to search relative vs absolute internal links
I'm preparing for a site migration from a .co.uk to a .com and I want to ensure all internal links are updated to point to the new primary domain. What tool can I use to check internal links as some are relative and others are absolute so I need to update them all to relative.
Technical SEO | | Lindsay_D0 -
Main vs Pointing URL Confusion
Hi, I have a new website that deals with 3 very similar businesses The main purpose of the website is to assist the consumer to search, compare and book chaffered transportation online. The 3 businesses are taxi cab hire, limo hire, party bus hire. My main domain is www.mytaxicab.co.za. I also own the domains mylimo.co.za and mypartybus.co.za. My question is, from a best practice SEO perspective, how should I set this up. Should I have one main site www.mytaxicab.co.za and have the 2 other niche domain names point in eg user types www.mypartybus.co.za and lands on www.mytaxicab.co.za/party-bus-hire or is there a better way? Any help or insite would be appreciated
Technical SEO | | chirsirwin0 -
Ror.xml vs sitemap.xml
Hey Mozzers, So I've been reading somethings lately and some are saying that the top search engines do not use ror.xml sitemap but focus just on the sitemap.xml. Is that true? Do you use ror? if so, for what purpose, products, "special articles", other uses? Can sitemap be sufficient for all of those? Thank you, Vadim
Technical SEO | | vijayvasu0 -
URL Structure "-" vs "/"? Are there any advantages to one over the other?
An example would be domain.com/keyword/keyword2 vs domain.com/keyword-keyword2 Are there any advantages / disadvantages to one over the other?
Technical SEO | | nicole.healthline0