Hello. I've been asked to design a website for a company. The website will be for a specific service they provide. On their current website they have a little info (one page) on this service. The reason they want a second domain is that the service is a complex, detailed niche in their industry and they don't want their main service to be overshadowed. My feeling is that the service info should just be expanded on the current domain by adding pages. From a usability standpoint it would be better for users and less confusing to have all services on the current domain. I know that if they do a second domain there wouldn't be duplicate content issues as the content they propose does not exist on the current company site. What is the common wisdom? Is there any value to a second domain in this scenario. Does G frown upon companies having two websites if no content is duplicated? Thanks in advance.
I would be a company decision. Some companies want everything under a single domain, others do not. Take a company like 37 signals. They have a main website, which talks about their products, but they have also given each product its own website. http://37signals.com/ http://basecamp.com/ http://highrisehq.com/ Then you look at Apple, where they talk about all their products on the same website. It is really a matter of style and there is no right or wrong way. It does not really impact SEO as long as the sites are done correctly. As you can see from the example I gave, G does not frown upon it. All their sites are highly regarded by Google.
Thanks for the reply and examples. Very good points. This is a marketing decision as you suggested. I just want to be certain they aren't getting into any hot water. I didn't think they'd get in trouble with G for doing it as long as content was unique. I like getting second opinions. As I said, they do mention the service on one page / one paragraph of the current site. If they insist on a separate domain, I'd just have to ensure that this content is not duplicated. Thanks again.