Update on the PPC "mini-me" site article
Well, it's interesting how different SEO experts can disagree. After my article, "Why You Should Steer Clear of PPC "Mini-Me" sites, I read this blurb by Brent Winters in the MarketPosition™ Monthly.
"... You may wish to consider logically dividing your content across more than one domain name and then cross-linking the sites using keywords in each hyper-link.
Make sure each domain name has its own IP address and preferably is in a completely separate IP address range... You must also make sure that each domain has multiple pages on it, preferably no fewer than five pages. Search engines do not like to see Web sites with very little content."
When I read this, I thought, "Hmmm." After all, a large part of our business comes from domain management issues (where people have multiple URLs and find themselves being penalized in the engines for it). Not to mention, these clients find themselves promoting multiple URLs, which drains the marketing efforts for their main site.
I still maintain that "mini-me" sites split a company's SEO efforts. Imagine an "on-hold" voicemail message saying, "If you want centrifuges, please visit us at centrifuge.com. If you want rock crushers, please visit our site at rockcrusher.com. Or, if you prefer equipment appraisal services, please visit our site at... ." It seems like an extreme example, but how many companies have a different URL for each and every profit center?
And why spend all that time and effort creating multiple sites? After all, site design is expensive and time consuming. What's really the benefit? Sure, I can see it if you must have separate sites (like a pharmaceutical company with different product sites for PPC campaigns) and you robots.txt out the "mini-me" sites. But why promote a host of different URLs? One URL is just fine for most companies.
But you tell me. Has a bad SEO ever suggested that you build separate sites - and you're still dealing with the fallout? Or, am I just being overly cranky about the "mini-me" issue? Let me know what you think about the "mini-me" site issue by emailing us.
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