What is the optimal approach for a new site that has geo-targeted content available via 2 domains?

[bennyt]

OK, so I am helping a client with a new site build. It is a lifestyle/news publication that traditionally has focused on delivering content for one region. For ease of explanation, let's pretend the brand/domain is 'people-on-the-coast.com'. Now they are now looking to expand their reach to another region using the domain 'people-in-the-city.com'.

Whilst on-the-coast is their current core business and already has some search clout, they are very keen on the city market and the in-the-city domain.

They would like to be able to manage the content through one CMS (joomla) and the site will deliver articles and the logo based on the location of the user (city or coast). There will also be cases where the content is duplicated for both regions. The design/layout etc. will all remain identical.

So what I am really wanting to know is the pros, cons and ultimately the best approach to handle the setup and ongoing management from an SEO (and UX) perspective. All I see is problems!

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Confused O.o

[RyanPurkey]

Hi Benny. I don't know if the small scale geotargeting is the best way to handle user intent. It'd probably be best to keep content tied to location as defined by the domain. For example, if I'm on the coast, researching a trip to the city, and get to a site about the city, but the logo is about the coast, I'm just confused.

[EricaMcGillivray]

It would be super helpful if you could share your current domain.

[bennyt]

Thanks Ryan.

Yes, this is the quandary.

Their intention is to target by ip address and the much of the content is events, event reviews, things to do etc targeting locals.

Whilst I guess it dilutes the juice, 2 separate domains/sites is the option I keep coming back to. But then it is a matter of dealing with duplicate content as there will be feature articles, major events and other content that will be served on both sites. So how to avoid duplicate content issues and at the same time avoid the brand confusion you mentioned? And how to do this from a technical perspective in set up that avoids ongoing pain?

[bennyt]

Hi Erica

No problems (I wasn't sure it was allowed):

http://www.kidsonthecoast.com.au/

Thanks,

Ben

[RyanPurkey]

Hi Ben. Thanks for the link. After looking through the site I'd stick with my above rec and just make them both as branded as possible for their respective locations.  With some color coding and visuals you could incorporate both pretty well. You can also advertise the city site internally via linking, the addition of related articles, and so on. Basically the stuff you see done on other sites with systems like Outbrain could be done internally with these two sites as well.

[bennyt]

Thanks for your help Ryan - much appreciated.

So from a technical perspective, how would you deal with duplicate content served on both sites? Simply no-index dupe content on one site? There will be lots of this (feature articles, major events etc.) posted daily-weekly.