Keep multiple domains or combine them?

[Rocket.Fuel]

I need some help figuring out if I should combine multiple domains or if I should let them be separate?

I have domain1.com, domain2.com, and domain3.com. Well, domain1.com owns domain2.com and domain3.com. And currently domain1.com points to domain2.com and domain3.com from the homepage. They are going through some changes at their business, and now the option is on the table to combine the domains or still let them be separate as long as they link to each other.

What is the best way to handle this and are there more things I should go through before making a decision? None of them have a ton of links to them, and they aren't super robust, but would just to have some advice.

Thanks a lot

[OlegKorneitchouk]

Are they all related? SEO aside, would it make sense to combine them all?

If they are all similar and target similar keywords, it may make sense to combine them all and consolidate the authority. Tough to judge without knowing more info.

If you like, you can PM me the links and I can take a look and give a better suggestion.

Cheers,
Oleg

[Rocket.Fuel]

I don't want to give the links just because this is for a proposal, but yes, they have the same keywords.

It's almost like the three domains are market based. Dallasredcars.com, ftworthredcars.com, and austinredcars.com, so regional for the same products.

[OlegKorneitchouk]

Ah, in that case the main factor is: how are all ranking currently? If they each receive traffic for their respective local keywords, it would make sense to just keep them as is (don't fix what ain't broken).

However, if you feel they aren't getting the rankings they deserve, you should combine all the sites into 1 and consolidate the authority. As long as you set up 301 redirects correctly, you should be able to transfer your rankings and even improve them (if you set up your internal linking structure correctly). Just know you will most likely lose rankings for around 2 weeks.

Something to keep in mind: it's much easier to maintain and improve one website over three. If you plan on generating new content (as you should), having 1 blog with kickass content is far better than 3 mediocre ones.

Best,
Oleg