Is it a Bad Idea to aggregate sites into one big site from SEO view?

12 replies
  • SEO
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Hi all,

I am associated with a couple of not-for-profit websites -- iBioSeminars.org and iBioMagazine.org -- that are currently separate sites. They both feature free videos from some of the world's best biologists (including Nobel prize winners), but one of them features more hard core science talks while though other is lighter, with shorter videos on the human side of these scientists.

One site, the more hard core one, does a lot better in traffic than the other, and since they are so similar in nature, we are considering bringing them under one URL -- iBiology.org. The home page would be a portal that sends folks to either iBioSeminars or iBioMagazine (or, in fact, to a third section that we are developing called iBioEducation).

An SEO person on another forum said unequivocably that this would be a "very bad idea" from an SEO standpoint, but does not offer any reason. We really don't want to screw this up on the ground floor, and don't have money to pay for consulting, and I'm wondering if anyone could give his or her very general thoughts about whether it is okay SEO-wise to combine them, or indeed a very bad idea, and if it's bad, then in a sentence or two why.

In the redesign for the new site, fyi, we will:
  • move to Wordpress (from Joomla)
  • add a prominent opt in
  • add Sharebar
  • add "related" and "recent" posts widgets to cross promote the different sections of the site.
Thank you for any help!
Yolanda
#aggregate #bad #big #idea #seo #site #sites #view
  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    From an SEO point of view, it can actually work out better for you so long as you put in 301 redirects from the old sites & structure to the new site structure (could potentially be a big job).

    You will have a larger site with related content, which as an authority site is step in the right direction.
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  • Profile picture of the author cheapstuff
    He is right and it proves his knowledge of SEO. A 301 redirect would not be as beneficial as links from the old domains pages to the new one and starting fresh. It could potentially kill the old sites SEO benefits of not done properly but no matter what will not pass off as much benefit as a linked page.

    If you need an explanation you figure that a page that is ranking in the SERPs and has links to it would count as a good source of backlinks. Whereas a page that is 301 redirect may pass some juice but will overall hurt the user experience and may get your old backlinks removed.

    Can't knock real SEO knowledge...
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  • Profile picture of the author UMS
    Going to have to disagree with you cheapstuff.

    If you create a new site where the vast majority of the content is a duplicate of existing sites, then having links from the existing sites to the new site isn't going to pass on much benefit and certainly isn't a good user experience.
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  • Profile picture of the author cheapstuff
    Seem as though you are reading into their post a bit. Are they going to post duplicate content? Guess a rule of thumb either way for me would be to only 301 redirect static pages that have moved because that is what 301s are intended for.
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  • Profile picture of the author YoWangdu
    Since we are going to reuse 95% of the old site on the new site, it would indeed be duplicate content. Though they are currently pages and will become posts on the new site, they are core content and need to be on the new site. So if I understand correctly, the consensus is that we should consolidate the sites, and use 301's, right? However, we like the idea of getting at least one significant backlink, and since we are changing the domain name too, out of necessity, as we aggregate the sites, we will retain the home pages of the old sites and link to the new sites, with a message to users that we have moved. Truly appreciate you guys' help. Not sure why the guy on the other forum was saying it was such a Bad Idea to consolidate the sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author Masterminding
    Honestly? I think you're making it incredibly difficult for yourself to do SEO right now. YoWangDu, dude, what you need to do is this:

    1) Combine all the sites into one super site, with each site being a separate section of the super site

    2) Have the homepage be the portal to the different sections. Creating a portal site is a losing game, as it'll be a thin content site which will never rank well. Don't do the portal site, but DO make that homepage to be a portal.

    3) Redirect both domains to the super site using Google Webmastertools = let Google know that the domains will move

    4) Redirect (301) each individual page to its new location

    5) Done

    See? Don't make SEO so hard for yourself man.
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    • Profile picture of the author YoWangdu
      Thanks so much, Mastermind, and this sounds intriguing, but let me be sure I understand you. Please see my questions below.

      Originally Posted by Masterminding View Post

      Honestly? I think you're making it incredibly difficult for yourself to do SEO right now. YoWangDu, dude, what you need to do is this:

      1) Combine all the sites into one super site, with each site being a separate section of the super site

      THIS IS EXACTLY OUR PLAN. NOW THE DOMAINS ARE:
      1. IBIOSEMINARS.ORG
      2. IBIOMAGAZINE.ORG

      WE WERE PLANNING TO MAKE THE NEW SITE HOMEPAGE/PORTAL BE:

      IBIOLOGY.ORG

      AND THEN PUT THE OTHER SITES INSIDE, LIKE THIS:

      IBIOLOGY.ORG/IBIOSEMINARS/
      IBIOLOGY.ORG/IBIOMAGAZINE/
      (PLUS THE NEW ONE WE ARE MAKING: IBIOLOGY.ORG/IBIOEDUCATION/

      IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN, TOO , OR ARE YOU SAYING SOMETHING ELSE?

      2) Have the homepage be the portal to the different sections. Creating a portal site is a losing game, as it'll be a thin content site which will never rank well. Don't do the portal site, but DO make that homepage to be a portal.

      I'M NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY A 'PORTAL SITE'. I ONLY MEANT TO HAVE ONE PORTAL, WHICH WOULD BE THE HOME PAGE, AND THAT WOULD ALLOW PEOPLE TO ENTER EITHER IBIOSEMINARS, IBIOMAGAZINE OR IBIOEDUCATION, AT THE URLS MENTIONED ABOVE.

      3) Redirect both domains to the super site using Google Webmastertools = let Google know that the domains will move

      NOW YOU'VE LOST ME. I KNOW HOW TO USE 301'S BUT HAVE NOT REDIRECTED A WHOLE SITE. I USE WEBMASTERTOOLS SO WILL CHECK THIS OUT. ASSUMING THE URL STRUCTURE I DESCRIBED ABOVE IS CORRECT, WOULD I TELL GOOGLE TO REDIRECT, FOR EXAMPLE, FROM IBIOSEMINARS.ORG TO IBIOLOGY.ORG/IBIOSEMINARS/ ?

      4) Redirect (301) each individual page to its new location

      YES WILL DO

      5) Done

      See? Don't make SEO so hard for yourself man.
      I'M A WOMAN ;-) WELL, THERE ARE TWO OF US WORKING ON THIS, YOLANDA AND LOBSANG. YOLANDA HERE, AND TOGETHER WE ARE YOWANGDU :-)
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