Should I Build A Niche City Site or Link to Existing Directory?
-
I have a main site for real estate that works fairly well. There's city pages within the site. I have been able to get the specific citynamehomesforsale.com domain and now I'm back to the old question of whether to build out a high traffic niche site to capitalize on the exact keyword match or should I just link it to the directory (domain.com/city)
Thanks!
-
Hey Josh,
Understood, and I think the basic feedback on this would be buy it if you have a plan for what to do with it, and you're sure that your plan won't be detrimental to what you've accomplished with the main site (like sharing NAP, which would be detrimental). I think that's pretty much what both Tom and I are saying.
-
The original reason for the question was I have a fairly good thing going with my current domain but a keyword specific domain became available. So I really was wondering if it made sense to build that out (which I decided to do).
Imagine you have Miriamstuff.com and it's doing well raking 15th for "Blue Whirly Widgets" However you can't seem to break to the top. A few of your pages do well "Blue Whirly Widgets with handles" etc. Then one day you have an opportunity to buy BlueWhirlyWidgets.com... do you take it?
In my example it's real estate specific. So the domain was a larger city option outside our metro area.
-
Hey Josh,
It's kind of a Rule #1 thing - don't put your NAP on more than 1 website (unless we're talking about building citations and earning links, of course!). So, yes, if you want to run multiple sites for what is actually the same business, you'll need to brand them separately and not use any part of the NAP on them. You'd need to think of them as having some other purpose, like educational content or something. In which case, I'd personally prefer to build that out on my own main domain to strengthen my core brand, but I have heard of other taking this multi-site approach, so long as it's treated as a totally different animal.
-
Nice, so you feel that the local "NAP" effect is strong enough to erode any SEO gains by having a niche. Thanks for sharing.
-
Hi Josh,
I would only suggest building out the nice sites if they are run completely independently of the main company website and do not share any of the NAP (name, address, phone). What you do not want is Google getting confused between the various businesses if they are sharing a name, address or phone number. So, if you simply want these to be independent entities, with no duplicated NAP or content, there might be some value.
-
I do have a physical office. My current set up has a main hub site of domain.com and pages with cities on them and then "neighborhoods" further in.
I would normally never opt for a niche site but I've never had the luxury of an exact keyword match before. The city itself is large enough (enough content) to stand on it's own - so it's just the effort it would take to get it up on it's own.
I think I answered my own question. In instances like this if I have the resources then it's worth it only if the city is large enough. If I was in Texas for example and had Texashomes.com - wouldn't it make sense to have Austinhomes and dallashomes as well and build those out?
Thanks for your response!
-
Hi Joshua,
Ah, yes, back to the old question of this I know how you feel about that and it is definitely an important decision. I'd like to understand:
-
Are you running a virtual business, or does your current website represent a physical realty office?
-
What would you be putting on the new site? Would this also be branded in some way with the realty office (if this is a realty office and not a virtual business)?
-
-
First thing's first:
Is the current city page getting any traffic?
If yes - don't change a winning formula.
If not - let's weigh up the options.
By going with a separate domain, you're making the assumption that you'll be able to target the site specifically for the region + product/service and that users might be more likely to convert on a domain that contains the city (which may or may not be true).
By adding to the existing site, you're helping to reinforce the site's brand and you're collecting link equity in one place. If you have a solid on-site SEO structure, that link equity can be efficiently passed around to rank other pages on your site. Potentially, you'll get a stronger link equity with this method than you would with a dedicated city site, as you have several cities and products all with the potential to win links.
The citynamehomesforsale.com (unless it has historical links) is unlikely to have any SEO equity itself, meaning you'll be starting from scratch? Is that really worthwhile, or would you be better off building up your existing web property and brand, utilising the strength it may already have, and attempt to rank your city keywords that way?
I'd be more inclined to look at that method, unless the site is under a form of algorithmic penalty.
Hope this helps
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
-
Explore by Site Feature not working properly
Hello! I am searching for high-ranking keywords through Explore by Site feature. But, it doesn't show me the relevant keywords I'm looking for. Like if I search for "written communication skills" on Google and copy URL of a lower authority domain and paste it into the Explore by Site search bar, it shows the results for "example of proposals", "hardware vs software", and so, but not relevant to written communication. What should I do?
Keyword Research | | Zafar4350 -
My Site Facing indexing issues
Hello, I am facing indexing issues on one of my blog namely knife ideas, Four months have been passed i built my site and published almost 20 article so far. But i am worried no any single keyword ranked on google till yet as i checked through MOZ site explorer. Can anyone guide me what should i need to do now. Thanks Mark
Keyword Research | | markwillson0 -
Authority site targeting multiple similar keywords
Hi! I found a niche I'd really like to work on. I was initially targeting a longtail keyword but there are so many available for this niche I decided to just make an authority site instead. My plan is to have multiple pages with each page targeting a separate long tail keyword in the niche. There's probably going to be over a 100. Let's say for example it's an organic gardening niche. The website will be setup for the entire niche and the page titles will be structured as such: Best Organic Gardening Soils Best Organic Gardening Tools Best Organic Gardening Seeds I'd prefer it to be setup this way so I can target traffic for the term with and without "best". I'm wondering if this sounds a bit spammy or is acceptable? Any other ideas as far as targeting similar longtail keywords in the same niche on a single site? Thanks so much!
Keyword Research | | Kusanagi170 -
Internal Linking inside page content
Hi! Actually, i have been getting down after i fix internal links on each page. What i have done is linked keywords to the concern pages from other pages on same website. But i see the result going down in the google organic list. is this bad practice? example: http://www.nortekk.no/vi-utforer/blikkenslager-15/ Keyword : blikkenslager 1. Internal link, i doubt on this. May be it is not good. please confirm and help me 2. Main keyword usage in document. Must i reduce it? Thank you in advance Vels
Keyword Research | | Webworld_Norway0 -
Link: or link: on Google giving diffrent results
I noticed today that lowercase and capital L give different results on Google: Link:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns983/index.html
Keyword Research | | StevenWB
link:http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns983/index.html Which one should I be using to check backlinks? Thanks0 -
Looking for 4 keywords for site home page
Hello, I am helping out Bentinho Massaro, a spiritual figure from Holland, for free since he is such a good guy. I want to give him 3 to 4 keywords for his home page title tag. That's all he has time for. site: www.free-awareness.com The only things I can find so far that I think will fit are: Spiritual Awakening Bentinho Massaro The reason for #2 is that he is getting more and more famous. Any help you can come with to give him 4 options would be great. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | BobGW0 -
How many keywords should I target per page / per site?
Hi, I am doing some keywords research and I just wanted to check my understanding of keyword theory. Is it best to select 1-2 keywords per page of the site? Or should you target the whole site towards a few keywords? Thanks, Barney.
Keyword Research | | barnst0 -
Site Wide Keyword Extractor
I need a tool or a method that will let me know what a search engine thinks the overall theme of the site is about. Sort of like the keyword extractor, but on a site-wide basis. Does anyone have any sugestions?
Keyword Research | | waynekolenchuk0