To split or not to split! Please help

[alextj]

Hi all,
Thanks for your help in the past.

I've noticed that Google seems a little confused about our website (checking on the related sites search). I think I've figured out the reason, but now I need to take a pretty tough decision - at least for me; I'm not an absolute beginner but certainly not near the pros on here.

We have 3 parts to our website - main part about language training courses, a translator and language tools section with dictionaries etc, and a training info and news section which are all obviously related and on the same domain.

I'm thinking about splitting the 2 related sections off into subdomains to keep the main focus of the site, but they also have a lot of overlapping keywords (English, language, and training) and a few hundred backlinks, so I don't want to lose any linking benefits.

However, with the subdomains I would also be able to submit them separately to some good directories that don't accept internal page submissions. The problem is related to this post http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=65093 but this site's already established and it's not for presentation purposes only. I thought about having subdomains that re-direct to the internal pages, but the directory guys probably won't like that, and I'm back to the same problem as before.

Essentially, what do you guys think I should do - split and keep it all narrowly focussed, or keep it all together for the backlinks?

Thanks, take care.

[advancedmerchant]

Alex,

As the former Director of marketing for LanguageForce, a translation software company, I can tell you that people who have an interest in language training ALSO are very interested in translation software and tools. I think what is MOST important is that you become a RESOURCE for those who click onto your site, so that they come back again and again. You need a home page that makes it apparent you have ALL of these services, tools, and software packages, and give them easy navigation between them. One company that ties together even more with a HUGE array of products is www (dot) WorldLanguage (dot) com. They could have dozens of seperated sites, but as a integrated site they become a resource that keeps the customers coming back over and over again.

You can direct Pay per Click keywords to any internal landing page you want, directing the translation keywords to your translation page, and your language learning keywords to another. Remember, content is king for not only the search engines, but your customers!

[Duncan Pollock]

advancedmerchant: Well put. My sentiments exactly.
alextj: You can't be all things to all people, but you can certainly mean a great deal to a whole host of them. Thus, don't dilute your web presence. Just organize it with a home page that gives visitors an overview and then provides links to the different parts.

Ducnan

[ron angel]

Originally Posted by alextj

Hi all,
Thanks for your help in the past.

I've noticed that Google seems a little confused about our website (checking on the related sites search). I think I've figured out the reason, but now I need to take a pretty tough decision - at least for me; I'm not an absolute beginner but certainly not near the pros on here.

We have 3 parts to our website - main part about language training courses, a translator and language tools section with dictionaries etc, and a training info and news section which are all obviously related and on the same domain.

I'm thinking about splitting the 2 related sections off into subdomains to keep the main focus of the site, but they also have a lot of overlapping keywords (English, language, and training) and a few hundred backlinks, so I don't want to lose any linking benefits.

However, with the subdomains I would also be able to submit them separately to some good directories that don't accept internal page submissions. The problem is related to this post http://www.webproworld.com/viewtopic.php?t=65093 but this site's already established and it's not for presentation purposes only. I thought about having subdomains that re-direct to the internal pages, but the directory guys probably won't like that, and I'm back to the same problem as before.

Essentially, what do you guys think I should do - split and keep it all narrowly focussed, or keep it all together for the backlinks?

Thanks, take care.

I have said this before dont change a working site or
you will lose your search engine positions add new pages content links but leave it alone.
There is another way you can go register a new site same name but say .net instead of .com put all your new stuff and layout on it then link to it from old site also put links back to different pages on old site. simple new content no loss of seo!
www.ssrichardmontgomery.com (.net .co.uk .co.nz .tk!) (try em!)

[edhan]

I think it will be unwise to split them up as you already have search engine ranking.

Just re-organise your main page to highlight the 3 main topics.