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1 Site ALL Niches or Multiple sites

by creat1veone
24 replies
  • SEO
    • |
(TL;DR):I want your POV on dozens of micro-sites vs. One source of traffic.

Hi warriors, I'm facing a dilemma these days and I need to make decision. I am hoping your input here will show me the basic ups and downs between these two options.

Please read the post in full to understand my:
  • point of view
  • personal character
  • goals & needs

I have 3 different micro-sites which are bringing in a small amount of traffic each, about 300 visitors/day from those 3, what I am thinking is why not do the same thing 27 more times and this will theoretically result in having 30 sites with 27 times more traffic.

I chose micro-sites because its easy and I'm so used to it that I can shoot out a perfect one in a couple of hours, with content and everything. Also this way, I can optimize main titles, tags, domain name etc to only one niche therefore resulting in higher/faster ranking just for that niche. (Site I created a week ago has 4 results on the 1st page of Google).

On the other hand, creating one site and posting on it regularly has its own SEO advantages, e.g. all social signals are from the one main site, all traffic is there, certainly a better long-term SEO...thing.

But, if Google decides to, for whatever reason punish my site's rank, I lose ALL traffic and therefore revenue, because it was all coming in from that single source.

My SEO knowledge:
  • no problem writing 1000 words per article;
  • vast knowledge with ON-page SEO techniques;
  • NO skill whatsoever -- with OFF page SEO techniques;
  • unmeasurable patience & dedication

History & Direction:

I've been into IM since 15th of September, 2011 -- The day I googled "make money online" and found a PPD website. Today I am working with a CPA network, promoting general offers. I've made a decent profit in the last 3 years, always used Youtube as a primary source of traffic. Since that is pretty much no longer possible, I'm turning to SEO/websites.

Please share your opinion with me, any input is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

EDIT: After seeing some of the replies here I realized I should have mentioned one important aspect of my niche:

Lets just say no one will ever come back to my site after converting. There will never be a need for this niche's users to look for it again, ever.
#multiple #niches #site #sites
  • Profile picture of the author khuram007
    To the point reply.
    Google never penalizes an entire website. Google is starting to like big websites. Consider this
    One small site got penalized for "SEO" related spam.
    Boom Gone.
    A huge website covering more topics, got penalized for "SEO" related spam.
    what happens? Nothing.
    One on hand you are losing everything
    On the hand you are losing just s small part of what you have.
    Think about it
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    • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
      Originally Posted by khuram007 View Post

      One on hand you are losing everything
      On the hand you are losing just s small part of what you have.
      Think about it
      How am I losing everything if one page goes into trash, I got 29 left?
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      • Profile picture of the author khuram007
        Originally Posted by creat1veone View Post

        How am I losing everything if one page goes into trash, I got 29 left?
        If your niche is lets say "dogs"
        And you get penalized for spam , do you think just one page will be targeted? No. Getting penalized for dog related spam means losing most of your dog related rankings. Makes sense?
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        • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
          Originally Posted by khuram007 View Post

          If your niche is lets say "dogs"
          And you get penalized for spam , do you think just one page will be targeted? No. Getting penalized for dog related spam means losing most of your dog related rankings. Makes sense?
          Sorry I think I didn't express myself correctly, please understand that English is not my primary language.

          By page I meant one website, so if one "dog" website gets penalized I still have 29 other "dog" sites which are in no way tied to the first one.
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          • Profile picture of the author khuram007
            Originally Posted by creat1veone View Post

            How am I losing everything if one page goes into trash, I got 29 left?
            Originally Posted by creat1veone View Post

            Sorry I think I didn't express myself correctly, please understand that English is not my primary language.

            By page I meant one website, so if one "dog" website gets penalized I still have 29 other "dog" sites which are in no way tied to the first one.
            Mine either. Let me explain it this way, if your websites ranks for dogs
            then a website having rankings for dogs, monkeys, cats etc will easily beat your 30 dog related websites.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Originally Posted by khuram007 View Post

      To the point reply.
      Google never penalizes an entire website. Google is starting to like big websites. Consider this
      One small site got penalized for "SEO" related spam.
      Boom Gone.
      A huge website covering more topics, got penalized for "SEO" related spam.
      what happens? Nothing.
      One on hand you are losing everything
      On the hand you are losing just s small part of what you have.
      Think about it
      That hurt my head trying to read that. FYI: Google does punish entire sites,
      big and little.

      For the Average Joe on the WF, more sites equals a larger internet footprint.
      Opens up more possibilities of linking, as well as other things that are
      good for SEO.

      A large (name brand) site does not need to think like that. But even big sites
      like amazon have tons of smaller sites...

      I cannot believe you are afraid of google. Google does not run your business.
      If your business is based on google and google alone, you don't have a real
      business and should get offline. There is no reason for anybody to be
      afraid of google.

      If you have the time and money to do multiple sites, do it. If not,
      make one site. Simple.

      Paul
      Signature

      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        That hurt my head trying to read that. FYI: Google does punish entire sites,
        big and little.

        For the Average Joe on the WF, more sites equals a larger internet footprint.
        Opens up more possibilities of linking, as well as other things that are
        good for SEO.

        A large (name brand) site does not need to think like that. But even big sites
        like amazon have tons of smaller sites...

        I cannot believe you are afraid of google. Google does not run your business.
        If your business is based on google and google alone, you don't have a real
        business and should get offline. There is no reason for anybody to be
        afraid of google.

        If you have the time and money to do multiple sites, do it. If not,
        make one site. Simple.

        Paul
        I have all the time in the world, I also got money but I'm just using it to purchase domains whenever a traffic source shows its worthy of it. I'm currently working on a new site, will see how it works out, hopefully it'll start bringing in nice traffic after a few days.

        Oh and I'm not afraid of Google. Lel
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  • Profile picture of the author karlene
    I would say have multiple sites, however, what you can do is have one main site and then have sub-domains, this is also cheaper as you won't need to buy multiple domain names.
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    • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
      Originally Posted by karlene View Post

      I would say have multiple sites, however, what you can do is have one main site and then have sub-domains, this is also cheaper as you won't need to buy multiple domain names.
      This actually looks like a sweet compromise but now I am wondering what if the main site gets penalized, will the sub-sites get a hand of it too?
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  • Profile picture of the author LABEShops
    I do a combination of both. I have a master site that lists almost all of my products as well as multiple targeted sites that concentrate on products fitting that target audience. I get traffic and sales to all of them, some rank higher than others (mainly as I've focused more on them), but all get sales.
    Signature

    Owner of LABEShops.com & 20+ Niche Online Stores as well as Scifispace.com and other sites. Recommended Host: Evolve

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    • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
      Originally Posted by LABEShops View Post

      I do a combination of both. I have a master site that lists almost all of my products as well as multiple targeted sites that concentrate on products fitting that target audience. I get traffic and sales to all of them, some rank higher than others (mainly as I've focused more on them), but all get sales.
      Its nice you got that going for you, congrats! This reminded me of a question I forgot to mention.

      How do you handle text content on your micro-sites. Like I said I have no problem writing large, unique, niche-related content and post it but the problem is these sites don't offer much space for large content, they ARE micro-sites after all.

      What is your text content/site code size ratio on these sites?
      (SEO check-up tools are warning me that my text to code ratio is too small!)
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      • Profile picture of the author LABEShops
        Originally Posted by creat1veone View Post

        Its nice you got that going for you, congrats! This reminded me of a question I forgot to mention.

        How do you handle text content on your micro-sites. Like I said I have no problem writing large, unique, niche-related content and post it but the problem is these sites don't offer much space for large content, they ARE micro-sites after all.

        What is your text content/site code size ratio on these sites?
        (SEO check-up tools are warning me that my text to code ratio is too small!)
        Depends on what sort of sites you are building. Mine are ecommerce stores, so content is mainly in product descriptions though I do have blogs on each and other informational pages.

        You didn't say if your sites are blog based or ecommerce. I'm assuming blog based since thats the norm in these forums it seems. Micro sites doesn't mean it cannot have content - it just should be very carefully targeted content.
        Signature

        Owner of LABEShops.com & 20+ Niche Online Stores as well as Scifispace.com and other sites. Recommended Host: Evolve

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        • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
          Originally Posted by LABEShops View Post

          Depends on what sort of sites you are building. Mine are ecommerce stores, so content is mainly in product descriptions though I do have blogs on each and other informational pages.

          You didn't say if your sites are blog based or ecommerce. I'm assuming blog based since thats the norm in these forums it seems. Micro sites doesn't mean it cannot have content - it just should be very carefully targeted content.
          My sites are blog based, I have a static front page where the main "download" button is and I have 4 other pages with tutorials, info etc and now I'm planning to add a News page where I will post regularly to keep the site alive.
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  • Profile picture of the author EvcRo
    Broad topic sites are usually harder to rank. If you are not a big company with big budget , imo, its better to start with smaller focused sites.

    Nobody says you can't make a big site on a more focused topic...
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    • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
      Originally Posted by EvcRo View Post

      Broad topic sites are usually harder to rank. If you are not a big company with big budget , imo, its better to start with smaller focused sites.

      Nobody says you can't make a big site on a more focused topic...
      Like khuram007 made an example, lets say my niche topic is about training dogs, what I work with is the main "dogs" topic, now I make different sites for training different dogs.

      All these niches are actually pretty much the same audience and the same main topic but different people have different dogs.
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  • Profile picture of the author khuram007
    Just an afterthought.
    The easiest formula for success is to follow the proven success formula
    Do you think google does not have enough money to buy separate domains for adwords, adsense, webmasters, forums etc?
    How about Yahoo? Yahoo is poor?
    The point here is, a single domain having rankings for different keywords will always beat a niche site.
    Have you ever wondered why wikipedia appears on the first page? Because that domain has massive authority. Think about why.
    Why do you see almost all internet joints replying on one domain?
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  • Profile picture of the author SEO-Dave
    It's a difficult one because it's easier to optimize content if it's on a tightly niched site (one niche), but it's harder to rank multiple domains vs one domain.

    Everytime you build a new site with a new domain (or sub-domain, no difference) you have to build up backlinks over time so it will rank, this takes a minimum of a year and takes a lot of effort.

    If you already own a domain which has aged backlinks and ranks for semi-competitive SERPs new content added will rank a LOT faster than the same content on a new domain with the same backlinks.

    Multiple domains means more work on backlinks, longer time frame to rank high, lower rankings overall.

    One domain with a variety of niches requires less off-site SEO, but harder to optimize the content, you have to think hard about siloing parts of the site, so though they are on the same domain, they are separate entities. Also if you go blackhat you risk the entire domain.

    Although I own a network of over 100 domains, moving towards less domains with more content over multiple niches (less work, easier to rank).

    David
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    Freelance SEO Consultant
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    • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
      Originally Posted by Stalliontheme View Post

      It's a difficult one because it's easier to optimize content if it's on a tightly niched site (one niche), but it's harder to rank multiple domains vs one domain.

      Everytime you build a new site with a new domain (or sub-domain, no difference) you have to build up backlinks over time so it will rank, this takes a minimum of a year and takes a lot of effort.

      If you already own a domain which has aged backlinks and ranks for semi-competitive SERPs new content added will rank a LOT faster than the same content on a new domain with the same backlinks.

      Multiple domains means more work on backlinks, longer time frame to rank high, lower rankings overall.

      One domain with a variety of niches requires less off-site SEO, but harder to optimize the content, you have to think hard about siloing parts of the site, so though they are on the same domain, they are separate entities. Also if you go blackhat you risk the entire domain.

      Although I own a network of over 100 domains, moving towards less domains with more content over multiple niches (less work, easier to rank).

      David
      Thank you for posting.

      After seeing some of the replies here I realized I should have mentioned one important aspect of my niche:

      Lets just say no one will ever come back to my site after converting. There will never be a need for this niche's users to look for it again, ever. This means I absolutely have no need or wish to build authority, brand name etc. I solely depend on new-first time users, that kind of traffic.

      I will also add that I do not own any other websites apart from the 3 micro-ones I mentioned already.
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      • Profile picture of the author PBMax
        One BIG monster site for the win!

        SEO the homepage with the overall gist of your site and keep adding solid content.
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      • Profile picture of the author nik0
        Banned
        I rank sites using private blog networks so that from that point of view I prefer to rank smaller sites, using different strategies to prevent future updates taking the whole bunch down.

        If someone decides to launch a negative SEO campaign towards your site you might also be toast when you have just 1 site, while it's very unlikely they would attack let's say 5 or 10 sites at the same time.

        But as said the prime reason is the way of building links, you can also experiment a little more with multiple sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author creat1veone
    One more thing, what do you think about having the main "landing page" as a static front page on Wordpress?

    I'd put it in a different page but I'm worried this will decrease my conversions if for example people don't feel like searching trough the website for the download link etc.. What do you think?
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    • Profile picture of the author khuram007
      Originally Posted by creat1veone View Post

      One more thing, what do you think about having the main "landing page" as a static front page on Wordpress?

      I'd put it in a different page but I'm worried this will decrease my conversions if for example people don't feel like searching trough the website for the download link etc.. What do you think?
      You can always add a download link in the the header menu or sidebar
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOWizard417
    As far as rankings go, I think bigger authority sites will be easier to rank going forward. Something that provides a complete resource in your niche will be easier to promote and seems to be favored as of late.

    However, I would still recommend building out multiple authority sites. Maybe not in the same niche, but you don't want to rely on just one source of income, spread your eggs around and use multiple traffic sources.
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  • Profile picture of the author Papaly
    Personally, I would make a new site per niche that way you'll be able to stuff more relevant content within that webpage. Additionally, you'll be able to generated relevant keywords for that niche to your page instead of having hundreds of keywords with other onsite niches.
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