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Thanks for the Wisdom David! This really helped out ! I totally agree on EMD's - that said I don't believe I could swing this one on management and the developers. A lot branding already tied to the domain that would make this into more of a total re-brand project vs. just a merger. Thanks again!

Hey Stephen, Did you ever solve this?  I'm experiencing the exact same issues you've described above, so I'm curious if you ever figured it out. Thanks.

I would absolutely create individual landing pages for each location.   This should be part of your foundation, and will best allow you to promote the brick and mortar locations, both on the site and via directories. As for the 2nd part of your question, I think you are asking if you should then use the homepage title tag to go after general keywords that could lead to ecommerce sales?   If so, my gut says that you should leave the homepage as is, and create new subpages for non-local long tail words.   That said, all pages of the site should include info about all 3 cities, so you are not looking at an either/or situation.

So, do you have any content, other than the one homepage, that is the same for both offices?   I would think there will be a need for some such content - maybe a general "About The Firm" page, or other details that are going to be the same for both offices, and would also create duplicate issues beyond just the blog. If so, is it too late for you to consider a single navigation, with a top level page for both Boston and Atlanta, and then subpages for each that can be optimized for your local terms? Regarding duplicate content, you are correct that Google has stated that there isn't a penalty, you just will only get the version of a page that is most appropriate.   So if someone is searching from Atlanta, they will most likely get the Atlanta version of the blog. Will you have some blog posts that only are relevant (or are most relevant) for one location or the other?  If so, duplicating a portion of pages is probably safer than 100% duplication.

Thanks guys, you have pretty much confirmed what I thought. It looks like I have a fun weekend ahead of me redirecting and testing things out. But it will be a good notch to add to see how the traffic goes. One thing I wanted to ask about, this is not the case in my instance, but would the recommendation be the same if the subdomain had a higher PR than the naked domain?

Ok, I guess it's maily a matter of doing general domain wide seo then and being patient. Still not entirely sure why a subpage would be considered higher authority as the main page all other things being equal, but thanks for the answers!

Looks really interesting. Big brand names like Visa and LinkedIN recommending it. Keep us posted on how it goes.

Hi there, The Moz app and tool set is designed to work with languages in a UTF-8 format and best with those that use English character sets. This will unfortunately mean you'll probable run into reliability issues with data around other languages like Persion, Farsi, Mandarin, etc. There really isn't a way around this one. I'll be sure to pass it along as feedback to our Product team on your behalf.

Thank you. This is helpful insight.

Looks fine to me - http://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/?url=http%3A%2F%2F54.86.51.30%2Fsearch-space-for-rent%2FHouston%23top Great layout btw

So ideally you would do page to page redirects which would be on the .htaccess level. Meaning sitea.com/topicx redirects to siteb.com/similartopicx If you don't have that ability/don't want to do that, use the DNS 301 and point it all to siteb.com. I would also first verify both websites in GWT and tell Google the website is moving locations.

Thank you! Yeah, even if Google links to "the wrong one," either page is still relevant, or it wouldn't have the text in the first place.

A couple tips for Q&A.... Use the "Email Updates" button for any question that is interesting or that might be useful to you in the future.   That button will cause a copy of all replies to that question to be emailed to you.   That allows you to see all of the replies that occur and learn a lot from other members.   This is one of the fastest ways to improve your skills and knowledge and learn who can answer the questions where you need help.    http://moz.com/community/q/how-to-learn-a-lot-from-moz-q-a Visit Q&A even when you don't have a question.   Somebody is probably posting interesting stuff so pop in a couple times a week when you need a break.    If you see a question that you can answer, share your expertise.   If you do that regularly, people will remember that you are a helpful person.....  and when you ask for help you will probably get GOLD in return. 3) Pay attention when somebody comes into  Q&A cryin' and says... "Wah!   My traffic dropped."   That's how you learn about the trip wires that Google has set out to catch weasels and innocent people too. If you ask a question and get two replies.  The suggestion that requires the most work is probably the better one.

The end goal should be to leverage as much benefit from the pages as you can for your existing business direction without confusing or tricking your visitors. The approach to your issue might depend on what type of content this is. For example, if your content consists of well written articles that are relevant to the visitors that are still reaching these pages, you might try and leverage that traffic through some well placed call-outs or advertisements for your new service/products/blog. The visitor gets the information they searched for, and you have a small potential to get some benefit from your past work. If your content consists of eCommerce pages for outdated or discontinued products and you have similar or replacement products, 301 these pages to your newer relevant product. Consider explaining to the user why they have been sent to a page containing a different product and that the new product is the replacement for the older model. If you don't have replacement products, and your pages aren't useful content, then you have to ask yourself why you care about the pages getting a lot of traffic. You are hesitant to cut it off because hey, people are visiting the pages and that helps your site overall right? Not if it's bringing your site traffic that doesn't convert. If you're trying to optimize your site for a completely new set of terms, the old pages shouldn't hurt you too much as long as you are handling them correctly. Google doesn't like it when you try to trick it into thinking that a page/site is about subjects that it's not really about. You don't mention anything about the new business but I am curious, if it is such a different direction, why not a new website altogether?

Thanks guys. Great answers!

I feel very silly for posting this question. Looking at the Pubmed source: Doh!