To Microsite or not, that is the question

Recent discussions around the local café espresso machine have centered on the SEO value of a microsite.  It appears to be a divisive issue amongst SEOers and online strategists, even more so than the füßball table and the perennial argument of who lives in the Real World (SEOers) vs. who lives in the clouds (online strategists). So, let’s consider some of the reasons why one may venture down this thorny path and what the SEO implications may be… 

Firstly Wikipedia describes Microsites as “a web design term referring to an individual web page or cluster of pages which are meant to function as an auxiliary supplement to a primary website. The microsite’s main landing page most likely has its own domain name or subdomain. This is also known as niche marketing.”

The main considerations with setting up a keyword rich mini-site, landing page or weblet as a microsite vs. building out your existing website are: 

1)                  When is a microsite a good commercial decision?

2)                  What are the SEO implications?

Microsites – a good commercial decision
Besides the obvious, “it depends”, in certain circumstances there are some quite compelling reasons to use a microsite strategy.

Here are 8 reasons why you might do so:

1.       It is easier to sell a product or a separate brand when they are hosted on their own domains.  SEO Benefit: Interlinking of microsites may help build link equity.

2.       Brand conflict issue; When the new product/service should be distanced from the main brand site.  Sometimes there are good commercial reasons to keep new online products or services separate from the main site where aligning your products may be detrimental to the main domain. SEO Benefit: Zero.

3.       It may be easier (and quicker) to bypass the legal and PR departments to build a small promotional site.  This is relevant when time based events dictate the immediacy and duration of opportunity, and where it is quicker to set up a new domain rather than receive formal approval from legal and PR departments. SEO Benefit: Creates opportunities to link to your main site.

4.       Content may be active or live for only a short duration ie for the life of the campaign or event. It may be easier (and quicker) to set up a microsite for specific campaigns, then redirect traffic back  to the main domain once the event is over. SEO Benefit: Keyword-rich, restricted content (niche sites) may drive traffic back to the main site.

5.       Where it is used as editorial support for a specific product. Sometimes it is not physically possible to add detailed information on the main domain. Useful for technical or in-depth descriptions of product or processes where more information may be useful for online research. SEO Benefit: Long tail keywords drive traffic back to the main site.

6.       Webmasters or bloggers may prefer to look at independent or informal sources for information gathering rather than corporate branded sites. SEO Benefit: Broader target audience with linking opportunities to send traffic to the main site.

7.       Viral sites can attract different visitors than the main branded websites. Messages will resonate with different audiences based on how they are received. SEO Benefit: Linking opportunities from different sources.

8.       They can lower your PPC cost because of the specific keyword focus which can improve the quality score and lower the CPC. SEO Benefit: Relevant keyword rich restricted content. “Owning the digital shelf” can help with organic click through rates.

However, the most obvious downfall of a microsite strategy is the increase in time and other resources it takes to manage each individual site.  This can lead to an exponential use of limited resources as the number of microsites grows.

Microsites may be frequently set up for the wrong reasons
Here are a few examples:

1.       Improved visibility or crowding out competitors on SERPs.  If there is no obvious benefit for the end-user, this tactic may be viewed as spam.

2.       When the sole or over-riding purpose is to generate self-given links back to a main site from microsites, then this practice may be viewed as spam.

3.       Creating keyword rich, limited content microsites in order to compete with broader content sites may provide a poor user experience and potentially result in a company’s web presence and branding collateral being diluted.

4.       A commonly held webmaster belief is that multiple niche sites linked together perform better than one broader content site.  This practice is not definitively true, as link equity is then spread across the microsites on multiple domains rather than passed directly to the main domain.

Ultimately, as Shakespeare might have said, if he were an SEO, implementing a microsite strategy may result in “suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”, which is a good thing, or, if poorly executed, may result in “a sea of troubles”, which is a bad thing.  Weigh the pros and cons and tread carefully.

What do you think? 

We would love to hear your comments.

Tags: Microsites, online strategy, SEO