Separate Domains for Different Locations (in Different Cities)

[McFaddenGavender]

We are in the process of building a new website for a client with locations in Tucson and Phoenix. Currently, they have one website that encompasses all locations, however, we are going to build them location specific websites (as many of the services are different between locations).

Now my question is, as far as SEO goes, which one of these options would be the best?

Option 1: Have separate domain names for each location. For example, StevesPetTucson.com and StevesPetPhoenix.com.

_Pros: Easy to target specific, local keywords. Better looking domains. _

_Cons: Splits backlinks between two domains. _

Option 2: Setup StevesPet.com/Phoenix and StevesPet.com/Tucson.

Pros: Keeps all backlinks pointing to one root domain.

Note: We are going to use seperate WordPress installs for both websites, regardless of how we setup the domains. As we will be using different templates, menus and so on, we found this to be the best option.

Thanks for any advice!

[billhartzer]

Jeremy, a while back there was a time when having two separate websites was preferred. However, that's not the case anymore. It's more important now to build your site's Domain Authority and Trust, and then let that DA and Trust pass throughout the site to help all of your site's pages rank well.

If you were to have separate websites, then you would have double the work to build the same Domain Authority and Trust. If you had one site, it's not as much work.

Let's say, for example, you get mentioned in the media and they link to your Phoenix location page. Well, that Domain Authority and Trust will pass throughout the site--and will actually help your other locations rank, well.

So I would definitely NOT set up separate websites. But, you might consider registering those domains and 301 redirecting them to your location pages on your main domain name.

I would, though, set up separate Google Plus Local pages for each location, and make sure each is verified. They should also link directly to the location page, as well.

[McFaddenGavender]

Bill, thanks for the great advice!