When Content is Different, Yet the Same

Posted by JohnCarcutt
July 25, 2006

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At what point does new content deserve its own domain? All too often I see or hear of sites which are “similar” in theme or content, but “different”. An old boss of mine used to love retail examples when talking about these types of questions and one comes to mind. I spent literally years combating his desire to build out many, many sites on every topic that even came close to our market. His description was the “shotgun approach”. Here’s his reasoning and the retail foundation for his approach; “Toothpaste”. Yes, I said Toothpaste.

Actually, in the retail world, his reasoning is quite sound. However it does not translate to the web very well at all. Here’s as close as I can come to his specific example. When you go to the grocery store and look for toothpaste, you find an entire section dedicated to the product. There are tons of varieties and versions that might entice any number of different customer profiles. From superhero themed toothpaste for the kids to the super sensitive brand for seniors who might need some extra care. The interesting part is that almost all of these shelves are filled with products from one 2 or 3 companies. Each one creates a variety of products to meet the various needs of the consumer.

His reasoning was if they can do this for toothpaste in a store, why can’t he do it online using a number of different websites? Technically he could. The problem and the reason this does not translate well to the web is the fact that most online retail website traffic these days comes from search engines. And the search engines are geared to make this type of multiple site strategy a very difficult proposition. If the grocery chain decided it wanted only one product from each manufacturer the two scenarios would be much more parallel.

This is not an impossible task, but to try and make multiple sites covering various portions of your market is a very labor intensive endeavor. Each site must be entirely unique and managed as a separate site including unique content and off site marketing efforts. All too often when traveling this path webmasters use one site as a template for another. This includes layout and in many case content. They incorrectly believe that changing a few keywords or pictures will distinguish the new site as an individual product ready for the search engine spiders. They are wrong.

In most cases it is much more beneficial to add new unique content to an existing site covering the various areas of your market. Not only is this more efficient from a management and labor standpoint, it increases the search viability of the primary site and will bring you more business quicker in the long run. Why? Again, because of the way the search engines are geared. The more content you have on your site, the more chances you have to get that content indexed and found by searchers. It is much easier to get new content indexed when placed on an existing site than it is from a new site. Additionally growing your current site buy adding new fresh content will please the search engines and you may find your site being indexed more frequently or even someday given the fabled “Authority” or Hub” status.

As a general rule, it will be more beneficial for you in the long run to spend your precious time expanding and fine tuning your primary web site. The engines want to list the best sites first. Think like a surfer sometimes too, would you rather find a bunch of mediocre sites or one great one. To answer the initial question here, “At what point does new content deserve its own domain?”. The answer is simple, when it’s hairspray and not toothpaste.