Does it make sense to combine multiple news sites under one domain?

[AlecD]

My company operates multiple news site brands across several markets and typically operates one website per market/brand.

We've been advised that in the case of one of the newer markets, where each brand might only be publishing 3 articles a week, that combining all that market's brands under one domain will drive higher traffic from search because Google values higher article flow.

Getting this done will be a lot of work.  Is the juice worth the squeeze?

And assuming we get the UX right and execute 301 redirects correctly, are there major risks to search traffic?

[OrionGroup]

In my opinion, with only one site, you'd have only one chance to rank in the search engines. With 3 sites, you could potentially have more opportunity to rank.

Who is making that recommendation? Is it a company that has something to gain by advising you to redo your site(s)?

Scott

[AlecD]

Scott, thanks for your quick response.

Do you really think number of sites equates with visibility?

As for the source, the recommendation came from an SEO consultant.

[OrionGroup]

I wouldn't say "equal". But I do believe each site would provide additional opportunity.

3 articles per week per site isn't a bad frequency to be posting.

Also, as it is now you have the chance to interlink one site to another if there is a related topic.

Handling all those 301's if you were to combine all the sites into one would be quite the ordeal.