Should we use one domain with product-specific sub-domains or separate domains per product?
-
We are resellers of 4 separate products. Currently we have numerous different websites promoting each product, not all of them use a URL which has any real link to our business - it's only when you land on the page that it contains brand images, etc.
We are in the process of redesigning and rebranding, and want to know what would be the best course of action to take in terms of domain registration.
This is what we have currently, for example: -
www.accounts-solutions.co.uk - This site deals with the resale and support of a branded accounts package.
www.software-accounts-systems.co.uk - This site deals with the resale and support of a second branded accounts product.
In terms of moving forward with new domains, which are going to contain our business name, our options are as follows: -
OPTION 1 - www.our-business-name.co.uk/product1/etc, www.our-business-name.co.uk/product2/etc, www.our-business-name/product3/etc where all products are given separate sub-domains within our main business page.
OPTION 2 - www.our-business-name-product1.co.uk/etc, www.our-business-name-product2.co.uk/etc, www.our-business-name-product3.co.uk/etc where each product we resell is given it's own separate domain entirely.
Does anyone think one direction over another would give any benefits in terms of SEO, or would it not matter as long as each site was well optimised with a solid content and social strategy? My initial preference is for the first option, if only because of the continuity in terms of having one main company website with each product listed in sub-domains. Each landing page would obviously be optimised for each specific product/keyword, etc. so, from a user point of view, there shouldn't be any confusion between separate products.
Also, would it be recommended to install 301 redirects from our existing www.accounts-solutions.co.uk, etc pages to the relevant new sites?
Thanks, John
-
Is one domain with four directories an option? If so, that's what I'd probably go for (as long as the four products don't compete with each other directly). The reason for this is that I imagine you have a finite resource pool: using those resources on one website rather than four websites or subdomains (remember that search engines treat different subdomains in much the same way as different root domains - as separate entities) will be the most efficient way to use them, giving you the best chance of success.
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
-
Subfolder marketing issue - buying a new domain and 301 to subfolder on existing domain
Hello, I have a specific question and I'll try to be as precise as possible. I have a well ranked domain with good PA. When we were starting our new service I found out that for SEO purposes it would be best to put it under subfolder instead of subdomain or new domain all together because of PA that our domain has. Now, that went pretty well and our new service started appearing in SERPs and is improving rapidly since our link builing strategies were quite sucessful. But there is a problem - we can't advertise our service with a link like this - www.domain.com/subfolder. It's just really messy. And I was wondering if we buy a new domain and 301 redirect it to our subfolder what impacts will that have? If people start linking us as www.newdomain.com will it pass all the juice to www.domain.com/subfolder? Marketing wise I see a lot of benefits using newdomain but I'm afraid it can have SEO downsides and I'm asking for your help to clarify these. Thank you in advance, Best regards, Ivan
Branding | | mintmediadu0 -
Is it feasible to try to compete with an established site with a fresh domain any time soon?
Currently I'm looking at a competitor who owns a site with the following metrics: Domain Authority - 39 /100
Branding | | chrisjimallen
Page Authority - 49 /100
Spam Score: 1 /17
93 Root Domains
2,199 Total Links
Page Social Metrics
Facebook - 431 Shares, 17 Likes I'm thinking it would take 12 months+ to become a viable competitor, but thats a complete guess. What are peoples thoughts on undertaking something like this?0 -
Which domain will perform better on google.com? californiaweb.co OR webthreedesign.com ?
Which domain will perform better on google.com? californiaweb.co or webthreedesign.com ?
Branding | | Web3Marketing871 -
How can I claim authorship for a doctor using their title "MD" on Google Plus?
Hi Everyone, I am wondering how to claim authorship for doctors while still using their title "MD." Adding MD to Google Plus profiles goes against Google name policy, but in order to comply with the FTC we need to include "MD" to our doctor's name in our article by-lines. I have sent in many appeals with evidence that they have a degree. I also considered creating a "Google Page," but had the impression that you cannot claim authorship with rel=author tags with a "Google Page," only rel=publish. Can anyone help me figure out how to claim authorship for a doctor using (first name last name), MD ?
Branding | | dirigodev0 -
Using Press Release For Promoting Linkbait?
We all know that a thinly-veiled ad masquerading as a press release is not a good link building tactic. Of course, if the press release is newsworthy, then it can generate some real publicity and honest backlinks. My question is a bit more specific - are press releases an effective way to promote linkbait to niche websites/bloggers? Has anyone had success using press releases to promote linkbait to relevant bloggers and websites in their niche? My gut tells me that most niche bloggers are not reading press releases on a daily basis to find story ideas. I know that outlets like the Huffington Post and TechCrunch pay attention to press releases, but I'm guessing most blogs not run by professional journalists do not. Anyone know if this is a generally true assumption? Anyone know of a way to get a better feel for the type of bloggers that are signed up to get press releases from PRNewswire or similar services? (In other words, how do you figure out if bloggers in your target groups are signed up to get press releases?)
Branding | | AdamThompson0 -
About domain names
Hello all. I am a new member of SEOmoz and liking it so far. This is my first post to you all (my new family). I have a client who is starting a new company. We know for sure that he needs a new domain name. The question is two part: Part One Should he buy (is it worth the money) a parked domain that has some age to it. For example, a 9 or 10 year old domain that is getting "0" traffic and has no PR? Or Should he just put that same say $1000 price tag back in his wallet and spend the money on a link building campaign to his new $9.95 domain name? Part Two We found a domain he really likes but only the ".co" ".net" and ".biz" are available. The .com belongs to a big company that has made a simple landing page from the .com domain name (that we really want) and will probably never let it go to us. So we will always be stuck without the .com portion of the domain registrations for this domain name if we go for it. Question: a. Will we have difficulty competing for our own name recognition since the "big company" owns the landing page (even though it is a "0" PR page? b. Can we live on only the .co extension or would we live to regret not getting all the extensions related to our domain name? thanks everyone! I look forward to contributing here as well.
Branding | | webindustry0 -
What do i do with multiple cheap domain names I want to use for SEO?
My domain registrar was having a sale for 1$ per year .com domain names (just for the first year). So I went all out and bought 16 domain names. They pretty much all are two or more keywords that i'd like to rank high on put together. We do dedicated server monitoring, so for instance I bought apachemonitoring.com and haproxymoniotring.com. Can anyone tell me what the best way would be to put these to good use technically? Options: Each domain just 301's to a specific landing page on my main company website Each domain is a site on a drupal multisite with just one page that has links to just my company website Other ideas? Thanks in advance! Walter
Branding | | walterheck0