One client - 2 domains / same business - good or bad idea?
-
This is a follow up to a previous question actually:
My client has one domain that has 'hardwood flooring' in it and one that has 'concrete polishing' in it - both services they offer.
**Would it be wise (for seo purposes) to have them both point to ONE domain (more general of course) **
**- They only have a few local competitors that aren't doing anything to rank well. **
**- They aren't trying to rank nationally. **
If the smart thing to do is to have them point to one (more general) domain using a 301 direct will there traffic drop significantly? (at least for a short time)
Does it matter if they continue to keep the existing domains they are using now on their literature, business cards, etc. and let them continue pointing to the new domain or should they really start promoting the new domain name? (They do NOT want to do this).
My only concern is saving them time and money by not having to build links, submit articles, social media, on and on for two different sites
OK, that's like 3 questions
Thank you VERY much for any thoughts or opinions on the matter!
Have a great week everybody!
Matthew
-
Hi Matthew,
The 'multiple domains for one company' conversation is one that I feel like I've had hundreds of times now. It's a little subjective, but my advise is almost always absolutely not. Why not:
-
The SEO benefits of having a keyword in domain exist, but they're just one factor out of at least 200. They might just as well negate a brand looking stupid by building a few more great links, and keep the same rankings.
-
Keywords in a domain usually mean crappier branding. Personally, I'd be far more likely to want to buy from, or send a natural inbound link at seomoz.org, than buy-the-best-seo-software.com.
-
One domain with high domain authority from inbound links will often dominate two domains with moderate authority. And building up authority in inbound links isn't easy.
-
Any type of crafty interlinking in these scenarios is never nearly as clever as the person thinks.
The only scenario where I might keep both would be if both of them had a place as very strong businesses each by themselves, or the two topics would be completely categorized differently (ie. one business does flooring, the other sells kittens).
-C
-
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 am looking to find the top pages based on traffic volume on my competitors websites, does anyone know of any good resources?
I want to know how which pages on my competitors websites are the most popular based on the traffic volume. I do not care how many links or directed to that page or any other metric. Only thing I am looking for is the traffic volume. It would also be nice to know the length of time spent on that page.
Competitive Research | | kanteenboy0 -
Currently Number 2 - Worth Shooting for 1?
Hello SEO Community, So I was able to rise to #2 in a highly competitive search term after a guest blog post that I wrote really took off (wish I could recreate that for my other terms, haha) Anyway, I steadily rose from 30ish to number 2 and have obviously seen more traffic, which is awesome and I'm happy. But still, in terms of the amount of traffic that google estimates the keyword gets, and the amount I'm getting at #2, it seems like #1 is getting the VAST majority (I know this is how most markets work). Judging from my link profile compared to #1, it would be extremely difficult to dethrone them. So what do y'all think? Is it worth spending time and resources shooting for the glory and traffic of #1 and potentially never getting there - or focusing my efforts on my middling keywords and getting those on the first page as well?
Competitive Research | | CleanEdisonInc0 -
Free tools to find country of origin of backlinks/urls
Hey are there any free tools out there which can allow me to insert a large list of urls, and it determines the country of origin of the domain. I know the paid version of majestic does, but i was wondering if theres any free tools? Cheers, Chris
Competitive Research | | monster990 -
Possibility to see which domain carries contribute the most links?
Dear, From the linkexplorer tool, you can see: Total links Linking Root Domains Is it possible to see which domain(s) have the MOST links pointing to the website you are exploring (the URL typed in)? Thanks.
Competitive Research | | waidohuy0 -
Content Ideas in a limited market
I've hit a road block of sorts and my mind is having trouble thinking out of the box. I'm in a relatively small niche with a roofing product called snow guards. I am struggling with ways to build links and content for my website at www.roofthings.com. I've used some forums, blogs, and directories. After going through my competitors link data, it seems that one of the biggest links they have that I don't is a DMOZ listing, but that can take awhile and I have submitted about 7 months ago. It also appears that a lot of their links I cannot get are coming from construction magazines they paid to be in. I don't have that kind of budget at this time and so I'm trying to compete via organic rankings. My biggest thing I am struggling with is how to gain more back links. My biggest competitor has over 40,000 links compared to my 2700. I'm somewhat new to SEO and am just looking for a couple suggestions. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Competitive Research | | kadesmith0 -
Business Directories and Spammy Link Profile
Hi, have been reading a lot about submissions to directories and posting spamming blogs and forums and how they're a bad idea, saw a great post on it by Rand in a white board Friday lecture, the only thing is I've been analysing a company and that appears to be what makes up its entire link profile, all the links point to their home page with their primary phrase as the anchor text. Just wondered how a company with some 4k links the majority being follows, hasn't been penalised for what are a really bad set of back links. Should add that this is an insurance company, they're no light weights in their industry but certainly not one of the big boys. Thanks, Lee Example here
Competitive Research | | LeeMiller0 -
How can I estimate a domain's overall organic search traffic - any tools?
Most of my analysis revolves around looking at rankings for specific keyword phrases that I've identified as important/relevant. But it'd be nice to be able to look at a domain and get a sense for how much organic traffic they get overall. If they're not ranking for the keywords I'm researching but have a lot of organic traffic that would be a nice signal to me that they are probably targeting other phrases more or have a big brand presence or something. Any suggestions? Thanks! Jeff Gibson
Competitive Research | | jeff.gibson0 -
Google Places - Client showed up before, now does not
This is a strange one, and I hope a few local experts are out there. My client basically has one major competitor in the market. The competitor is closer to downtown and he is out about 27 miles. A couple of months ago, if you searched on "biplane rides in atlanta" the places map in the SERPS would show two - my client and his competitor. Now, the initial local in-line serp just shows his competitor, zoomed in. If go to Google Maps and type in the same search, he is listed, but you first have to click show more results. Then, he's listed twice - one his airport address (which is the real one) and one his business registered address (his house). How would I go about straightening this out? My client is #1 in the natural SERPS, it's just this local thing drives us crazy. If anyone can figure this out, you may walk away with a biplane ride next time you're in Atlanta! Thanks, Charles
Competitive Research | | Chas-2957210