Merging B2B site with B2C site
-
Hi,
A mobile phone accessory client of ours has a retail site (B2C) and a trade site (B2B). The retail site does pretty well and ranks highly for a number of terms. The trade site doesn't really rank for anything as they don't optimise it.
They would like to merge the two sites and allow trade customers to log-in and purchase goods in bulk for their business.
If they were to merge the trade site into the already successful consumer site, what would be the best way of doing this and what, if any, implications would it have on the organic visibility of the B2C site?
Would it be possible to target retail and trade customers on one website?
Cheers,
Lewis
-
Hi Lewis! Did Matthew answer your question? If so, mind marking one or both of his replies as a "Good Answer?" It'll get him a couple bonus MozPoints, and it helps us keep track of things.
-
Yeah, that would probably make the most sense. For sites where I've done something like this before, it is usually a single page (or maybe a few pages, depending) that talks about the trade program, answered common questions, allowed login, and encouraged signup. You could then promote that page(s), optimize it for appropriate terms, get links going to it, etc.
-
Hi Matthew,
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
I think everything on the B2B side would be hidden and not accessible to bots. If this is the case, how would we target B2B customers? Just set up a single page with content regarding the trade products and process?
Cheers,
Lewis
-
Hey Lewis,
I would imagine it is possible to merge the two sites with limited implications. From a pure SEO standpoint the biggest consideration factor is if there is any negative "baggage" associated with the B2B site--especially spammy backlinks or any wonky technology that would impact the B2C site (speed, redirect issues, etc.). Given that, I'd do a careful review of the B2B site first to evaluate backlinks to that site and any errors reported about that site (using something like Moz's crawl tool and/or in Google Search Console).
The other potential risk is if there is any duplicate content that would be created as a result of the merger of the two sites. For instance, if you have a page on the B2B and B2C sites about Product X, after the merger you'd potentially end up with two pages about Product X. From what you said, it seems like the B2B's site content would be hidden behind a login and wouldn't be accessibile to bots. If that is the case, then maybe this isn't much of an issue. But where this is an issue, I'd also work to figure out the sitemap of the merged site and map out any link changes or redirects that are required to implement that new sitemap.
Along with SEO considerations, there are of course non-SEO factors to consider that could have indirect implications on SEO. Would there be any harm in the customers of the B2C side knowing the B2B trade side exists? If so, that could potentially harm the visitor experience and the brand which could negatively impact clicks, social shares, link building, etc. in the future. Likely not a risk, but I've seen a handful of companies who've merged their two sites only to find that they should have kept their audiences more segmented.
Hope that helps!
any duplicate content that would be created as a result of the merger
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
-
Why is this site not indexed by Google?
Hi all and thanks for your help in advance. I've been asked to take a look at a site, http://www.yourdairygold.ie as it currently does not appear for its brand name, Your Dairygold on Google Ireland even though it's been live for a few months now. I've checked all the usual issues such as robots.txt (doesn't have one) and the robots meta tag (doesn't have them). The even stranger thing is that the site does rank on Yahoo! and Bing. Google Webmaster Tools shows that Googlebot is crawling around 150 pages a day but the total number of pages indexed is zero. It does appear if you carry out a site: search on Google however. The site is very poorly optimised in terms of title tags, unnecessary redirects etc which I'm working on now but I wondered if you guys had any further insights. Thanks again for your help.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | iProspect-Ireland0 -
Site not progressing at all....
We relaunched our site almost a year ago after our old site dropped out of ranking due to what we think was overused anchor text.... We transferred over the content to the new site, but started fresh in terms of links etc. And did not redirect the old site. Since the launch we have focused on producing good content and social, but the site has made no progress at all. The only factor I can think off is that one site linked to us from all of their pages, which we asked them to remove which they did over 3 months ago, but still showing in Webmaster tools.... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jj34340 -
Seo flash site
Hey. Would hear whether it is possible to SEO a website which is flash site cms?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Agger0 -
Similar sites on same IP address
Hello, A client has a small number (3) of large price comparison sites which have been launched on separate subdomains - BUT all on the same hosting IP address. The roll out of the sites was not ideal from an SEO perspective - as basically cloned versions of the sites were initially launched and indexed - and are only now being customised i.e. unique content added to each of the category and sub category pages. The first site initially got some traffic - and so did the 2nd in the early days - but then they both bombed (especially number 2). So we think there has probably been some kind of slap / sandboxing. We are starting to see some very early signs of recovery now some months after. My questions is - would it be a wise move to migrate each of the sites to a separate IP address as we start to evolve and optimise each site. Or are they ok to be left on the same hosting / IP address? The sites in question are : shop.deliaonline.com shop.ivillage.co.uk rewards.bestforfilm.com Thanks in advance for your help. Richard
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | RichBestSEO0 -
In mobile searches, does Google recognize HTML5 sites as mobile sites?
Does Google recognize HTML5 sites using responsive design as mobile sites? I know that for mobile searches, Google promotes results on mobile sites. I'm trying to determine if my site, created in HTML5 with responsive design falls into that category. Any insights on the topic would be very helpful.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BostonWright0 -
How Does This Site Rank So Well?!
So this website -> http://bailbondsripoffreport.com/ Ranks on the First Page for the term "Bail Bonds" It's the spammiest crappiest piece of junk website ever! lol - How does this site rank so well, it's not even a year old and it's link structure is crap. Can I like report them and have them removed lol. Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | utahseopros0 -
Why does this site rank on the 1st page
i dont mean to be calling any site out im just scratching my head on this one.- I can't see any signal that would make it worthy of ranking on the first page for keyword loose diamonds. page http://www.jewelryexchange.com/DiamondResults.aspx Am i missing something all tools seem to say the site isn't worthy- All help appreciated
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DavidKonigsberg0