Is a multi-domain strategy useful & how should one proceed

These days, almost every entrepreneur has a web presence on the internet. Therefore, information about desired products from potential customers is primarily sought on the internet via search engines. There are now enough optimised pages that follow SEO standards. Therefore, entrepreneurs must constantly come up with new ideas to differentiate themselves and their products from the competition. This is the only way to generate the desired revenue.

If companies want to better position their brand on the internet, a multi-domain strategy can be a useful option. What needs to be considered and whether it is always beneficial will be discussed below.

What is meant by a multi-domain strategy and for which areas is it beneficial?

Many corporations present their offerings under a single main domain on the internet. From an SEO perspective, this makes sense up to a certain bandwidth, as the company thus represents a closed online presence. Beyond a certain range of offerings, the multi-domain strategy can be helpful, where different domains are used within a single company. In practice, this means that product offerings are made available to potential customers or prospects through various web presences and domains. Companies can thus present and manage their areas more clearly.

The following list shows areas of application:

• International Presence
• Expansion of Offerings
• Better Positioning of Online Offerings
• Search Engine Optimization

Especially for international web presences, companies can better position themselves in the market with country-specific domain extensions. If a German company wants to offer its products in France, it is advantageous to use an alternative to the .de domain. In this case, the .fr domain is a good choice. This way, the national language can be used, improving customer trust and helping search engines categorise the website better. This also applies to companies operating their main site with a .com domain. Here, a country-specific domain is also a good alternative to the .com domain to drive internationalisation forward. Companies also often use Expired Domains in this context.

When a company expands its business areas, it is advisable to outsource them to a separate domain and web presence. The new offerings can be positioned in a more SEO-compliant manner and managed more effectively. In case of failure, the offering can be deactivated without significant disadvantages for the main site.

The company's online services can be better represented to both search engines and customers through a specific domain. For example, a shop can be assigned the domain extension .shop. Product news can be published under .news.

Well-designed individual presences under the umbrella of a company can promote the overall success of the business. It is quite possible that the company consistently achieves good rankings for different search queries.

The Benefits of Using Multiple Domains

There are several advantages for companies that can better position the new niche product on the internet and thus build a larger pool of potential customers.

The benefits include:

• Separation of topic areas, online services, and country-specific offers.
• Each individual web presence is easier to manage.
• Content on individual websites can be created in a more SEO-compliant manner.
• The potential customer is addressed more precisely.

The Drawbacks of Using Multiple Domains

The disadvantages of a multi-domain strategy include increased effort in:

• Management
• Technical support
• SEO measures

A multi-domain strategy only brings success to the company if each individual web presence is as unique as possible in terms of content. Each product page must be optimised for the country-specific search engine. This results in higher management effort. Higher personnel costs and higher costs for hosting the individual web presences including the domains also need to be considered.

SEO for Multi-Domain Strategy - How to Do It?

When deciding on a new niche product, follow these steps to create an SEO-relevant online presence for the new product successfully:

• Develop a niche brand name
• Create a new domain, suitable for the multi-domain strategy
• Create content
• Mention the new microsite on the main homepage
• Set up social media
• Optimise for SEO

First, a suitable niche brand name (branding) must be found so that existing and new customers recognise the new brand and become familiar with it. Ideally, the brand should be similar in style to the main brand so that a potential customer can relate it to the main brand. This could be, for example, a bicycle manufacturer who now wants to offer bicycle carriers for cars as a niche product. The new site should follow the style of the main site, but have its own logo, name, and suitable colour scheme for the details.

The new website (microsite) must now be filled with the appropriate content. This should describe the product well and not already be present on the main site. The content is important not only for website visitors but also for the search engine Google. Without text, the site will never appear in SERPs, i.e., on the results pages after a search query.
On the main site, the new brand should be mentioned via a link. Depending on where it fits best, the header or footer area is suitable, so that even the subpages refer to the new product.

To give more attention to the new brand, dedicated social media channels should be created for interested customers. Common channels include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat. It is important that the social media channels are linked to the new website and the multi-domain strategy.

When optimising the new page for SEO, special niche keywords should be optimised for the new product and integrated into the texts. This way, the new page can be better ranked by search engines and traffic will increase.

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