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[TheBatesMillStore]

I'm in the process of launching two new websites (redesign / rebrand) - one website represents the manufacturer while a second website represents the retail side of the manufacturer (same company essentially but two different brands).

The sites have co-existed historically without worry of canibalizing the other's traffic, but I want to make sure in this redesign that we're all set. I'm curious if anyone has any recommendations on how to handle two sites with different branding but VERY similar content (product descriptions are essentially the same). I was thinking it could be smart to just no follow the content on the manufacturers site since we're just trying to drive traffic to the consumer-facing retail side mostly anyway but would love to hear from the experts!

Thank you.

[FedeEinhorn]

Why a different brand name? Couldn't just the manufacturer offer the products for sale on its site?

I can understand it if the retail store sells not only from one manufacturer, but if all the products are from the same manufacturer then why don't just use 1 site? That should be simpler to maintain, market, etc.

[TheBatesMillStore]

If only it were that easy! Both brands are strong in their individual respects. One has been around for 60+ years while the other has been around for 10+ years with a name connecting the two that has been around for 150+ years. The history and what's been built on that history forces us to keep both - real world meets the web!

[FedeEinhorn]

Oh well, as you mentioned "rebrand" I guessed you were able to also merge the two, by using one site to cover all, like most manufacturers do (apple, samsung, sony, etc).

Anyway, in this case, I would suggest you build different content for both sites. In the manufacturer site, you can have technical specifications, let's say it builds computers, then in the manufacturer page you list technical aspects of the chips, motherboards, manufacturing process, etc. While in the sales front you "SELL" the end product, show how it works, you can probably add videos of the product in action, etc.

By following that process you will end up with "similar" pages, but sites that actually read totally different; and you won't need to nofollow or noindex anything...