Single Product Website or Multiple?

[wildcat]

I'd like to get some opinions regarding website seo. If a current website is seeing good traffic with a primary product of Medicare Supplement Plans for several years, then a new product is introduced, for example; auto insurance (different demographic) with plenty of content over a 9 month period, with virtually no traffic.

Should the new topic have it's own website or blog, or can it be incorporated with the original website?

Thanks.

 

[lrixford]

There are two camps of thought.

Market Considerations

1. Since Medicare and P&C have two very distinct sales styles and demographic spread ... keep them separate.
2. Do Medicare purchasers drive? Vice versa? Then having them as one increases the ability to cross sell.

SEO Concerns

1. As you noticed, separate forces you to SEO two different sites.
2. Combined you can focus your efforts on one site. You get the combined benefit of your Medicare website's longevity bringing up your P&C pages.

You really need to decided on the marketing aspects if your clients will be distracted by having other options. I would venture to guess as capable web surfers they can manage multiple calls to action for different lines.

I would recommend that you merge sites. There are lots of resources to guide you through making this happen without losing the work you have done.

Should you decide to keep them separate link the two together through a content strategy where you share links to the other site on blogs to help bolster each other. Unfortunately, this method requires you to still fully SEO the two sites. It just gives you a glimmer of help through the linking to the more powerful site.

Hope this helps.

 

[ltcadviser]

I would keep websites separate strictly to the inherent advantages of being perceived as a specialist rather than a generalist. Whether true or not.

 

[wildcat]

Do you think by adding a second product with a different demographic, does the new product content weaken the original products seo value?

 

[mplsmm]

In my opinion, I like real estate. As much as I can get. I would keep them separate but have links and guest content between the two.

 

[lrixford]

Do you think by adding a second product with a different demographic, does the new product content weaken the original products seo value?

No it does not weaken it. It is just consumer engagement that is affected. If you create a good site with positive navigation then you will overcome that.

Good article on HubSpot on this subject.

4 Reasons Why Having Multiple Websites Is Killing Your Business

 

[mplsmm]

Its a good article but an old one and I see the point he is making. The article talks about mirror sites. My best analogy is that if i sell tables, I want 6 websites. I want a warehouse outlet type site, a fancy designer one, a simple no frills wood one etc. Even if its the same tables with different names. If I have to expect a consumer has a limited time to spend, i want to eat it up on my sites. Then if I decide couches are a good idea, I don't merge couches. I maybe feature an article on couches to link back or a blog or something that gets people to my couches. Then I would have a couch table outlet etc. Backlinks are dead. Link farms are dead. Good relateable content is king. I personally own 30 domains.

 

[lrixford]

I can tell you from insurance website industry experience that merging sites and maintaining one site versus multiple is easier to manage, less SEO work, etc.

Here is a more recent article discussing the same benefits and detractions I mentioned above. (If you notice that the ones that have multiple sites have multiples of dollars to SEO them all)

Single Vs Multiple Websites - Which Is Better For SEO? [Infograph]

Also backlinks are not dead. Just backlinks with only anchor text is dead. As long as the sites both have relatable content to each other then it will be a positive content strategy.

Here is a more recent articles on that...

https://www.agencynation.com/local-seo-for-insurance-agents/#backlinks

https://blog.monitorbacklinks.com/seo/how-content-marketing-redefines-link-building-practices/

https://marketinginsidergroup.com/c...power-of-backlinks-for-content-marketing-seo/

 

[Bevo]

Backlinks are dead. Link farms are dead. Good relateable content is king. I personally own 30 domains.

I don't care how many domains you own (I own over 300 so piss piss), backlinks are NOT dead!

Now to contribute to the OP, I would absolutely run two sites. Far easier to SEO while targeting all the keywords (long tail and otherwise), far easier to track all the metrics. Just the SILO structure alone would be far better off with it's own site.

 

[CALTCAgent]

I can tell you from insurance website industry experience that merging sites and maintaining one site versus multiple is easier to manage, less SEO work, etc.

Are your monthly recurring fees for 1 website ?

In other words each site has separate recurring fees ?

Seems to be different schools of thought on this subject making it difficult to know which is best.