Forum Moderators: buckworks
anyway onto my first post and first question. with an ecomerce site does it damage anything like organic search engine results or even customer confidence to have your site spread over two different domains? for example my company has a primary domain that we have used for years, last year we went to a new webdesign company and becuase of some reason they gave about database issues with our current host they said they needed to host our configurator on a different domain in order to better manage said database.
so basicaly when you browse our site you start at one domain and then when you go to our configurator you end up on a new domain name wich is basicaly our original domain name plus one extra word. for example if you had webmasterworld.com and then when you went to the forums it was on webmasterworldonline.com is there any issue with that?
>> two different domains
Short answer is it depends. :) While there are many different factors in play, the general line of thinking with regards to search engines is why split up the value you have in content and catalog on one domain? Using two, you effectively, cut your authority with the SEs. That being said, it could also help you if you understand links, build a link strategy, and are sharp with your keywords and content. If you don't feel confident in this and you don't have the cash to hire a professional to assist you, then I suggest you stay away from split sites.
With respect to the user, most users would probably be fine with the split if the domain names are similar enough - e.g. have the company name in them.
