Purchased biz with good URL, not sure what to do with it...

[scottcundy]

First, thanks in advance for any help I can get with this one. My company leads guided hiking tours in national parks all over the West. We purchased a company with a fantastic URL that focuses on our our top revenue-producing park, and they've been in business for more than 14 years, and have had that URL the whole time. Their site is horribly designed and optimized, but they do well anyways. We are absorbing his business into ours for other reasons, but keeping the name as a DBA.

I was originally planning on redesigning and optimizing the site, so we'd have 2 websites out there directing people to us. But I'm beginning to learn that's maybe not smart, even if the content is original.

So should I

1. continue with a redesign of his site and have 2 sites out there. If so, what's the minimum % of duplicate content I should shoot for?

2. do a 301 redirect to my main website - would that even help or would it nullify the benefits completely?

Again, thanks for any input!

[EGOL]

continue with a redesign of his site and have 2 sites out there.

I would take this route.  Fantastic URL.... long reputation.... ranks pretty well... you are doing a DBA.... No brainer to me.... allow it to stand with upgraded design, better optimization.

If so, what's the minimum % of duplicate content I should shoot for?

huh?  minimum?

Both of these sites should be absolutely 100% unique.

[scottcundy]

Thanks so much EGOL - I appreciate the input! The reason I asked about the duplicate content is that the hikes we offer in this park will be on both sites, so there will inherently be some overlap of content. I've actually already created the new site and wrote the content from scratch. Even so, a duplicate content reader is saying there's 30% duplicate. Thought? Thanks!

[EGOL]

....and wrote the content from scratch.

Nice work!

Even so, a duplicate content reader is saying there's 30% duplicate.

I would not worry about that at all.

Good luck with the site and the new biz.

[scottcundy]

Thanks again for the input! Hugely helpful!