: SEO for a website with a commercial and a residential versions that use the same images and mostly the same text A website I'm currently working on requires there to be both a residential
A website I'm currently working on requires there to be both a residential and commercial version of the website.
The two versions will be quite similar across the board, but the copy will have some differences, and the images used will be different. This is to make them more targeted for their particular audience. The difference in copy will generally be pretty minor, maybe a sentence or two on some pages. There will also be a couple of pages that are in the residential version and not the commercial version (and maybe vice-a-averse).
Just trying to think of the best way to do it really.
On the initial visit, the user will be on a landing page and then they choose commercial or residential. From that point on they'll have an option in the menu to change to the other version, but the landing page won't appear again.
I guess the two major issues are what's best for SEO and what's best for the user experience.
Firstly, should I be using the URL to differential the sites (eg commercial.mysite.com & residential.mysite.com or mysite.com/commercial/ & mysite.com/residential), or should I use a session variable to store the version selected. For a number of reasons it seems that using the URL would be best, but then I'm concerned about the SEO implications of this. Would there be a duplicate content penalty?
Are there any other things I should be thinking about regarding SEO specific to the fact I’ll have two versions of the website?
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It sounds like you are about to over complicate things. I certainly would not be creating two sites for this. What is the harm of a contractor seeing residential products and services and vice versa? It is very common that a site lists products and service under two separate pages for this. There is no need for duplicate content this way. Splitting your site up into two sites would be far less effective and the risk of duplicate content would be an issue.
Then you have people like me who are shopping for both residential and commercial products. For example, I maintain several properties which can include boiler repairs and work. I work on boilers for houses and boilers for apartment buildings. I need products for both residential and commercial. When I search, I want to see the parts I need in one site and not jump around to multiple sites. If it is too much trouble and I end up on different sites, I would just say, "Forget it!" and leave.
Let's say I did a search for B&G circulator pumps and Beckett Burners. Do you think two sites with fewer products is going have the same penetration in search and capture my attention the same as a single site with all of the products? No. It won't. Content rules in search. The more you can offer on a single site, the better it will perform.
Do not over complicate things. Simple works- stick with simple. Forget cookies and different sites. Just do what millions have done before, create two buttons and two pages. Simple works.
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