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ginaday84
Joined: Jan 16, 2008
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 01/16/2008 06:58 am
Hi, I am a graphic designer that sadly has been also deemed the web designer. I hate to admit it, but yes I am using tables to design my sites, because that is how I was taught in design school.
I have some questions about SEO and CSS and if someone can answer all or some, it would be greatly appreciated.
First I will tell you who we are and what we are aiming for. We are a surveillance manufacturer and we want to have websites set up that are industry specific. Say you are a retail facility, then you would go to our retail facility website or you are a self storage facility then you would go to our self storage site.
1. We need to have a CSS template setup where each website is practically the same - just some different images and some different text. The websites need to be able to go up fast and be modified fast. Does anyone know how I can find someone to take my graphics and turn it into a CSS template for me? I have enough knowledge to edit the CSS, but not enough yet to design from the bottom up.
2. Since our sites will all be from the same company, will they all eventually be indexed together? How do we keep them as separate entities? We want the search engines to see them as not related. The company names at the top will be industry specific but it will say division of "our main company" also. Would it be best to keep the logos, names and phone number in graphics so they aren't put together?
3. If we have one website with several domains pointing to it, does that affect us negatively with search engines? Do the search engines see each domain as their own website or will they eventually be seen as just one?
4. Do search engines like dashes in the domain names? Do they see them as “and”? Will they help us or hurt us?
5. Do search engines look at the registration of the domain names? Can search engines tie all of our websites together by looking at the registration?
6. Last but not least - If we have all of our websites up, lets say it is 40 sites, and we link them all together....will that help us or hurt us?
Thank you for your help in advance!
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g1smd
Moderator
Joined: Jul 28, 2002
# Posts: 10183
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Posted: 01/16/2008 07:42 am
In no particular order.
Multiple interlinked websites might be seen as an attempt to spam the search engines and could hurt you. Check out the Webmaster Guidelines that Google, Yahoo, and others have published.
There is no problem with one hyphen in the domain name. More than two looks spammy to users who might not bother clicking on your URL as it looks "low quality".
Unless you are IBM, Ford, Walmart, or somesuch, I wouldn't try to have multiple separate websites. Put all your content on the one site.
Pointing multiple domain names at one site is fine as long as only one name returns the website content and all of the other names return a 301 response pointing to that canonical domain.
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ginaday84
Joined: Jan 16, 2008
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 01/16/2008 07:50 am
Why do you say not to have multiple separate websites? The content will be different. There are going to be examples of how to use the equipment for that particular environment.
Why do you think it would be better on one website?
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Quadrille
Joined: Nov 15, 2000
# Posts: 1064
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Posted: 01/16/2008 08:31 am
Don't forget Quadrille's Oft-Quoted Seventh Law
Divide your site and be conquered.
There's a myth going around that starting multiple sites on one topic is somehow a good SEO 'trick'. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you have one topic, much better to have one site, removing all risk, halving your marketing / seo effort, and concentrating your ranking strength.
Plus incoming links will be divided between domains, rather than all coming to one - further damaging your ability to do well in search engine rankings.
And there is zero doubt that duplicating your own pages increases marketing effort, reduces ranking, and often confuses customers. There really is no good reason for dividing your efforts.
It has been suggested that the 'one site rule' could be damaging; "All eggs in one basket and all that." I think that's a matter of conscience. I never heard of a sound and safe site having anything to fear; it's the naughty boys who stand to lose by this rule! The single caveat is to keep an eye on Google; search engine advice does change.
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ginaday84
Joined: Jan 16, 2008
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 01/16/2008 09:25 am
This is not being used as a "trick". We want our customers to come to a website that was designed for them and their needs.
We will have our main website - that is our main company with all of our products.
Then we will have different domains for the other websites.
The main company name will be visible at the top, in a graphic. Each individual website will have some of the same information and it will also have industry specific information.
Is that bad?
We are not trying to "hide" anything or trick anyone. We just want people to come to a website that was designed around their business.
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Quadrille
Joined: Nov 15, 2000
# Posts: 1064
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Posted: 01/16/2008 09:59 am
No-one's suggesting it's a trick; but you could achieve a better result using folders and sticking to one site.
It's up to you what you do; the advice is purely to help you do better in searches, and less likely to be damaged by duplicate pages, as you'll not have any need for duplication.
What you propose is not 'bad', just not likely to be as successful.
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ginaday84
Joined: Jan 16, 2008
# Posts: 6
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Posted: 01/16/2008 11:16 am
Okay - I just talked to my boss and he wants me to make sure I am explaining myself correctly.
We have a main website. At the present time we have two other 'divisions' of that website. They are on separate IP addresses and domains. They are industry specific. The websites are all designed completely different, and have industry specific products. There is some content and product names that are the same. We have had all three of these websites for a LONG time and we have never been blacklisted.
We want to have other 'divisions' of our main company, ie. retail shops, daycare, marine cams, etc. It might be up to 40 sites by the time we are done.
So I am going to repeat my questions hoping that I made better sense in explaining what we have:
1. Since our sites will all be from the same company, will they all eventually be indexed together? How do we keep them as separate entities? We want the search engines to see them as not related. The company names at the top will be industry specific but it will say division of "our main company" also. Would it be best to keep the logos, names and phone number in graphics so they aren't put together?
2. Do search engines look at the registration of the domain names? Can search engines tie all of our websites together by looking at the registration?
[ Message was edited by: ginaday84 01/16/2008 11:40 am ]
[ Message was edited by: ginaday84 01/16/2008 11:41 am ]
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g1smd
Moderator
Joined: Jul 28, 2002
# Posts: 10183
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Posted: 01/16/2008 03:37 pm
By asking about registrations you are already hinting to us that you already know, or are inclined to believe, that Google would frown on your plan and maybe not index some of the sites. Indeed, you might get away with one or two sites, but I really don't think you'll get away with forty for very long.
Google has already seen people try this one on, many thousands of times before, and they now warn against doing that sort of thing in their Guidelines for Webmasters.
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Quadrille
Joined: Nov 15, 2000
# Posts: 1064
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Posted: 01/16/2008 04:21 pm
It all sounds ultra-suicidal to me, but that's your choice.
If you want to keep them separate, then don't link them together. And don't duplicate content.
Google is highly sophisticated. If I can spot two related sites in a search result - and I often can - then Google can spot such things at 3,678 miles.
And it's nothing to do with domain registration, it's about content - which Google's spiders read avidly. That's how Google works. Take it or leave it - and remember that Google has the same rights; they can take or leave your sites.
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