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Is it worth setting up a micro site with a high keyword density which features lots of information on a particular topic, which has links directing customers to a bigger / proper website?
The way that our business has evolved is from a smaller focused website which spurned a larger more corporate site. The smaller site still appears much more favourably in the search engines than the newer larger site after two years.
So my boss wants to know whether we should set up a few keyword density micro sites. I would prefer to expand our newer larger site with new areas and content. But I have a feeling that this will not produce as favourable result.
Personally I don't think that there is an easy answer to your question. My guess is that in today's environment, many would tell you that the larger corporate site should be the new center of focus, and the smaller one(s) should be folded in. (If that's done, there are numerous ways to go about it). The reason you might hear this advice revolves around the fact that several years ago, having smaller satellite sites feeding into one larger site was a pretty decent SEO strategy. But that approach, so some extent, as become associated with spam, and now carries some negative baggage. Basically, if a SE rep were to encounter your sites, if s/he felt that the smaller sites are just 'feeder' sites mainly for SEO reasons, then they might be discounted.
However, there can be many good reasons to keep smaller satellite sites around a larger corporate site. Some of the car companies have numerous sites for country operations and at times for specific car lines. A big industrial company we've all heard of - one that sells consumer items - has many, many sites for various reasons, even down to branded sites for sublines of larger brands.
So, in my view at least, it really depends a lot on the industry, on the specifics of your company and it's offerings, and whether there are logical (not SEO) reasons for keeping the smaller sites in place. In short, it's a combination SEO/marketing/business decision.
I will also say that if your various sites are deployed in a way that is, or appears to be, mainly for SEO reasons, that may be a somewhat high risk strategy.
