Google’s John Mueller answered whether having two sites could negatively affect search rankings. His answer is surprisingly applicable to different ways of interpreting the question.
Can having two sites affect rankings?
One person sent a question to Google wanting to know if having two sites could negatively affect their rankings. The question as reproduced on Google is concise and also somewhat vague, leading to the result that the question can be answered in a different way than Mueller answered it.
This is the question:
“My ranking has dropped because Google found out that I have two websites. Is this correct?”
Google’s John Mueller responded:
“No. That’s not likely. Lots of people have multiple websites. Separate websites aren’t a problem.
The problem is often more indirect: if you work on a lot of websites, you won’t have much time to create really great websites everywhere. And, if you’re building websites that aren’t awesome, that might be something our algorithms pick up when it comes to recommending your site to others.”
A different way to answer the question
John Mueller answered the question by assuming that the two sites in the question were about different topics. He prefaced his answer by saying that many “people have multiple websites,” which is true.
But many people don’t have multiple websites on the same topic. The person who asked the question was vague about whether the sites were also about different topics.
It’s quite possible that the sites are about the same topic, in which case it makes sense why they’re worried about Google finding out about both sites because it could be seen as trying to game Google. After all, who cares about having multiple sites on different topics?
If the sites were about the same topic, the answer to the question is a little different.
One of the important considerations when a person monitors multiple sites on the same topic is that they are doing so for ranking purposes, which is not a good starting point for any website.
I’m not saying there’s anything corrupt in practice, but I’m saying it’s not really the best starting point for creating quality signals. It’s not a matter of anyone thinking that they will create several high-quality sites for users, is it?
Another reason people create multiple sites for ranking (and not for quality) is because people believe that if they break a topic into subsidiary subtopics they can create stronger sites on those related subtopics instead of one site. with several related subtopics.
But what almost inevitably happens is that they end up running several related sites that could be stronger together as an authoritative website.
I asked Bill Hartzer of Hartzer Consulting (Facebook profile) if he believed that multiple sites on the same topic could affect rankings.
Bill agreed with me and shared:
“Many people, after creating a website that ranks well, will think that they can simply create another website on the same topic and ‘make double the money’ or get ‘double the traffic’ and that’s simply not true.
Businesses will also have a main website, but create a separate website with a separate domain name for each of their products or services. For the last 10 years or so, this has not been a good strategy. While it’s good to register domain names for your products or services, it’s better to combine all of these websites into one main, more authoritative website.
Usually, if they talk about the same topic, a website, the original site, will continue to rank well. But the second website doesn’t rank as well. In most cases, it’s always better to combine the websites into one place.”
Multiple sites and classifications
John Mueller is right that posting from multiple sites (on different topics) could compromise a person’s ability to focus on one site to make it prominent, noting that there is an indirect negative effect on rankings. He’s also right that it’s unlikely to have a direct negative effect on rankings.
If we change the question to whether there is an effect on ranking if multiple sites are on the same topic, the answer becomes more nuanced, but it follows a similar trajectory to Mueller’s original answer that prevents you from being able to create a featured site and can lead to a person who creates multiple intermediate sites.
But that’s not necessarily a foregone conclusion when a person is creating multiple sites on different topics. It is absolutely possible to create multiple sites on different topics and be successful. It might be difficult for a single person to achieve this, but it is not difficult to do when several people are working on the websites creating content and focusing on promotion.
Watch/listen to the Google SEO office schedule at the 33-second mark:
Featured image by Shutterstock/Asier Romero
