Should I create a microsite or will 301 be sufficient?

[lauratagdigital]

We have a client http://www.shedfinders.com/, new site and we are slowly building DA & PA for.

However they have another domain industrialpropertyscotland (one of the keywords they want to rank for)

Should we create a little microsite attached to the main site - Say

"Your guide to buying industrial property in Scotland" or should we just stick to a 301 redirect and keep working on the main Shedfinders site?

Thanks,

Laura

[TomRayner]

Hi Laura

Both options are feasible really.  301ing the domain will pass the link equity to the shed finders site, which in turn may help it to rank for that keyword.  It may warrant a bespoke landing page for the keyword, in which case creating a URL for that keyword and then redirecting the root domain to that page would be a good solution.

However, you or your client may prefer to rank for the keyword for this microsite - if they feel that site better suits the purpose of the keyword.  In this case, carrying on your link building and inbound marketing efforts for that site should inevitably help it rank for that keyword.  You would want to make the site as informative as possible, while also making it as authoritative as possible - which may include guides, articles, videos and other rich media, social media integration and so on.  Creating this 'authoritative status' could help it rank quicker, as Google does give favour to those sites that can be recognised as a brand.

If you do all of that, you would feasibly be able to link the sites to each other - but do take care if you do so.  It could very easily look like a link network or scheme if it is overdone, while the reciprocal link itself could look suspicious to Google if it looks as though it is just there to pass PageRank and not direct the user to another authoritative website.  A recent Matt Cutts video on site interlinking may be of interest to you: http://youtu.be/x0-jw_PfwtY

Hope this helps Laura!