When to add a new location to the existing website and when to start a second website

[Noelle Leahy]

Hi all, A dental practice is setting up new practices in 2 new cities. The current website has a heavy focus on search terms for the original/current city. Is it advisable therefore to have new websites for each of the 2 new cities? What factors do I need to take into consideration? Thanks in advance.

 

[Rich Owings]

You'll generally end up with more backlinks with a single website. Having multiple sites typically dilutes you ranking power because of that. Plus there's the added cost of maintaining multiple sites.

 

[Noelle Leahy]

Thanks Rich, that makes sense, but the homepage ranks very well for location search terms for the orginal city, it would be a shame to lose that.

 

[Rich Owings]

Valid point. If you can you minimize home page changes and loss of original city terms there, that might help.

 

[djbaxter]

Keep one website. Link from the home page to two new pages for the two new locations.

 

[StephanieNewton]

Hey Noelle,

In a case like this it might be worth setting up "content silos" within your main website so you can keep your high-ranking local homepage and start building relevant local content for the new practices too. Search Engine Land has a good article that explains the purpose of and how to do this (it's from 2015 but still seems to hold true).

 

[Noelle Leahy]

Thanks guys for all your replies. I will be implementing all your suggestions. Thanks Stephanie for the link to the article, it gives great info!

 

[StephanieNewton]

Thanks guys for all your replies. I will be implementing all your suggestions. Thanks Stephanie for the link to the article, it gives great info!

Glad to hear it was of use!