Merging domains into sudomains

[JuliaG]

I know that questions about this topic have been asked before, but I didn't really find an answer that I could apply to our situation. We have several websites that now exist on separate domains, even though their topics are closely related. We are moving each of these sites into a new CMS and are considering collapsing all of the domains into a sub-domain structure around the strongest domain. Important to note: All of the current domains have existed for many years and have strong site authority, and regardless of the domain decision, in this restructuring we will be bringing them all under a global header. I know that there are SEO risks to moving a site from an established domain to a new one, even with 301 redirects in place, but the team in charge of this move wants to know how much of a hit we would take and how quickly natural search traffic might recover. Maybe and mights aren't really satisfying their questions... Does anyone have experience with collapsing domains into a sub-domain structure and feel like sharing your results? Most importantly, was it worth it???? Thanks.

[WilliamKammer]

This is really a case-by-case basis, and a lot of different factors should be taken into consideration:

• I think the first things to consider is: why? Why do you want to consolidate the sites? If they are all somewhat different, all get traffic, and are doing their jobs, why change it? Is it broken? If not, why fix it?

- Does the brand of the strongest domain make sense as an umbrella to the other websites? Don't try to force domains together that don't make sense for the visitor.

• If it is strong enough, are the sites similar enough to where you could fold them into a single domain and brand (subfolders instead of subdomains)? I would recommend subfolders to subdomains if it still makes sense for the website.

Trying to consolidate multiple established domains into one domain, or a domain and it's subdomains, is possible but risky. Ask yourself if it's worth the risk to do all this, or if this is just one person's whim to organize domains without knowing what could happen.

In my experience, 301ing one domain to another (if done properly), should take about 2-4 weeks to recover the majority of organic traffic. Rarely have I seen a domain recover 100% of their organic traffic after a 301, but you will recover the majority of your ranks. So, if you are 301ing multiple domains, that would mean you are losing a sliver a traffic on each of them, and that doesn't count the downtime during the 301 transition.

And of course, the above is assuming all 301s are done properly, which could be a pretty big undertaking from the sound of it.

[JuliaG]

Thanks, William. All valid points and questions to raise. I especially appreciate the estimated loss in traffic. That was a number I couldn't put my finger on, having only switched domains for sites that did really poorly in search to ones that had a better overall structure. (Nowhere to go but up - a situation not relate-able to this one.) I can at least give them an estimate of potential traffic loss based on your experience.

Why do any of this? Our sites are mostly ad supported, and the main reason behind consolidation is that the big domain is more valuable to advertisers than the smaller sites. Bringing them all under one global header increases the association between content, and therefore offers more value to advertisers. The main reason for collapsing all domains into subdomains is the ability to measure traffic and accurately follow activity from one site to another - 3rd party vs 1st party cookies. Unfortunately, I don't think that we'll be able to use a folder structure at this point.

Because of the reporting issues, I believe that they will eventually collapse the sites, no matter what I convince them to do right now. Moving into this new CMS requires across-the-board URL changes, even if we don't switch domains. Part of me feels as if it would be better to go ahead with the wholesale switch now instead of risking a second round of 301 redirects in the next 12-18 months. But signing off on the plan makes me really nervous.

[WilliamKammer]

If consolidating the domains into subdomains is inevitable, then 301s are going to be the way to go. Just be careful to redirect everything to where it should go in the subdomain, and do it one chunk if you can. You don't want to 301 some stuff, then re-301 or do a second round later.

Be as clear as you can to Google. once you are ready to move the site, do it all at once, so Google can clearly see that everything from the domain is now at the new domain. So yeah, wholesale switch, just make sure the client understands what he's getting himself into.

There is no exact number with regards to traffic loss, chance of recovery, risk of things not going smoothly, etc. Make sure they are aware of all the risks and how to best lower the possibility of something bad happening.