Biz with a product specific domain - should they have two sites?

[HoosierBuff]

I have a law firm that has an interesting dilemma:

they have had a longstanding, high ranking domain for workes comp/employment law - lets assume it's something like: make-employers-pay.com (this has been fictionalized as to not reveal the client). When you go to this domain it has the name of the law firm prominent on the page "Spud, tater, Fry and peele Law firm" (again, fictionalized).

They are very succesful with this URL, and it has been around forever. Pretty strong backlinkink profile, etc. However, they want to do more than just workers comp, and want to do things like personal injury, etc.. However, it would be weird to search "personal injury lawyer - Idaho" and then click on a domain that is that descriptive.

So, they created a new website at Spud-tater-fry-peele.com and have that covering everything else they do - the two websites look a like (same logo, same color palette, but, have different content and different WP themes).

I think the new website was the right call but, I wanted to consider the ramifications.

1. They are able to maintain two seperate GMB's for the two businesses
2. While it stinks to not leverage the strength of the old site, I think the concerns about the URL are valid-ish
3. There should be no duplicate content issues
4. They should be able to bleed some of the rank from the one site to the new site.

What do you think - was this the right call? At first, I was unsure about it, especially because the website looked so similar, but now, I think I'm ok with it.

 

[Yan Gilbert]

I think this is fairly common with lawyers. I've seen many firms with multiple sites targeting specific topics. Depending on the competition in the area it may take a while before the new site gets any traction though.

Creating a page on the old site about the new target topic and linking from within the content to the new site is a good idea. I assume that is what you mean by point #4.

Do they really have two separate businesses (for the two GMB listings)?

 

[HoosierBuff]

Thanks Yan - yeah, they have been pretty active with creating satellite offices for the focused business, so they have many GMB's, including two in one location for the different businesses (which is a surprise to me - and I have warned them of risks).