Should I Do The Splits?

[ServicePros]

Hi Everybody,

I have another question that I'm hoping some of you would be kind enough to help me figure out....

As mentioned before, I have a small cleaning business focusing on carpet cleaning and janitorial services. While I do rank for carpet cleaning and most related services (tile and grout, upholstery care, etc.) the commercial services really don't do well at all (janitorial services, office cleaning). I'm thinking there is probably a ceiling as to how many categories you can target with one website?

Am I better off creating a whole other website to focus on the commercial business?

I have separate dba's, etc. but I only have one address which is being used for the current website. Can a local business rank without an address (I'm assuming less citations/directories to post to without an address?)?

Or is the better bet to keep working at developing all categories on the site I have now?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Do you have specific pages on your site targeting the commercial-based keywords? How about blog posts highlighting certain topics like that? If you're ranking for the residential terms, then without looking at the site i'll assume you have good content surrounding those keywords. I would say make new pages on your site and start getting content out on the internet about the commercial services you offer.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Agree with Eric.

One strong site with menu and subdirectories focusing on the 2 aspects of the business will work in your favor more than a divide and conquer strategy.

In Google Local "United We Stand" is typically a better strategy.

 

[ServicePros]

Thanks for the replies!

Yes, I have pages on the website for all aspects of residential carpet cleaning, tile and grout cleaning, etc. but also for commercial services like office cleaning, restroom cleaning, etc.

I had always assumed (I know, a dangerous thing to do) that a site could only rank for a few keywords related to a specific category?

Like say for example a pool cleaning business that also offered gutter cleaning or window washing.

So you're saying it is possible to have one website rank for two very broad categories (carpet cleaning and janitorial)?

Thank you again.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Technically, yes a site could rank for those two categories since they're not all that different. It's not like you wanted to rank on carpet cleaning and dental services (which would be completely ridiculous ).

A couple of big things you should be doing:

• Have specific service pages
• Create unique title/descriptions/h1 for each page
• Get unique content about specific services/categories you want to rank for - Blog posts, articles, etc... etc..

The authority is from your domain, so splitting off into a new site would put you back at square one (not ideal, especially for the industry you're in). I'm sure others will chime in and offer expertise, but if you wanted to share a link to the site I'm sure we can give more specific suggestions on how to optimize.