Which website is the real one?
It happened gradually. There is the main company site. Then a separate site for the training arm, built by a different agency. A microsite for a product launch that never got taken down. An old domain from before the rebrand that still shows the old logo. A landing page site someone set up for ads.
Customers find different ones depending on what they search. Some have different phone numbers. One still lists a service you stopped. Prospects ask whether the training company and the consultancy are the same business.
Why businesses end up here
Each site made sense on the day it was created. A new division wanted its own identity. A campaign needed to move fast without waiting for the main site. An acquisition came with its own domain. Nobody ever went back to decide whether they should all still exist.
Underneath that, the main site was often too hard to extend. Building a separate site felt quicker than adding a section, so the problem compounded.
What the sprawl is costing
| Problem | What it means |
|---|---|
| Split search strength | Links and rankings are spread across several weak sites instead of one strong one |
| Mixed messages | Different descriptions, prices and contact details for the same business |
| Enquiries in several places | Forms on each site send to different inboxes, some unwatched |
| Several things to maintain | Each site needs hosting, updates, security and renewals |
| Forgotten sites | Old microsites go unpatched and become a security and reputation risk |
The forgotten ones are the worry. An abandoned campaign site that gets hacked still carries your name.
There is a reporting cost too. With traffic and enquiries spread across several analytics accounts, or none, nobody can answer a simple question like which part of the business the website actually generates work for. Decisions about marketing spend get made on instinct because the numbers live in five places.
How we consolidate
- List everything. We find every domain you own or have used, with its registrar, hosting, renewal date and what it currently shows.
- Check what each site earns: search traffic, links from other sites, enquiries and any ads pointing at it.
- Decide what stays separate. Occasionally there is a real reason, such as a genuinely distinct brand or audience. Everything else is a candidate for merging.
- Design one structure for the main site, with a clear section for each division or product, so the content from the other sites has a home.
- Move and rewrite the content that is worth keeping, and bring every form into one enquiry route.
- Redirect every page on the retired sites to its new equivalent, keep the old domains registered so the redirects keep working, and update Google Business Profile, directory listings and ads.
The order matters. We build and test the merged sections before switching anything off, then move one site at a time, checking Search Console and the enquiry route after each. If a retired site had links from trade bodies or suppliers, we ask them to update the link as well, because a direct link is better than a redirected one.
After consolidation
Customers find one site that describes the whole business consistently. Enquiries from every part of it arrive in one place. Search strength builds on one domain instead of several. There is one site to update, secure and pay hosting for, and a list of every domain you own and why.
Signs you have too many sites
- You are not sure how many domains the business owns
- Customers ask whether two of your brands are the same company
- Different sites show different phone numbers or prices
- An old campaign site is still live
- Some of the sites have not been updated in years
- Enquiries arrive in inboxes nobody checks