Why You Should Re-Use Your Old Domain Name for Your New Brighter Vision Website
Did you know that if you already own a domain name for your current website, you have a serious advantage over other websites who are getting started on a brand new domain?
Well, you do!
While the most important factor used to determine your ranking on a search results page is the content on your site, a close runner-up is the number of high-quality links you have from other trusted websites back to your own.
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Let’s break things down a little further…
Google uses more than 200 factors to determine how it’s going to rank a web page in their search results and when someone performs a search for one of your services, Google then uses that all of that information to decide if they’re going to show your website above your local competition.
If your website’s content is better equipped to answer the searcher’s query – i.e. longer, well-formatted, and including more relevant information – your website will likely be ranked higher up on that search results page than your competition.
But what happens when your website and your competitor’s website can both provide equally relevant solutions to the query?
That’s when Google takes the reigns and uses other factors to decide which website is likely going to provide that user with the exact information they’re looking for. Backlinks, or links from other trusted websites, are one of the next things Google looks at in cases such as this.
The longer you’ve had a domain name, the more backlinks you’ve likely built up over time – whether you know about them or not.
Hot Tip: Don’t Keep Your Old Website
If you’re considering keeping your old website up after your new one has gone live, we’ve got one word for you – don’t!
There are many reasons why you should re-use a domain name you’ve already been using for your last therapist website, but there are even more reasons why you shouldn’t try to have multiple websites for the same practice.
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Reason #1
Google May Flag Your New Website as Having Thin Content Or, Even Worse, Duplicate Content
Their bots are constantly crawling the web looking for new content to add to their index, and websites that contain content that’s already found in their index aren’t considered to be worth recommending in their search results.
You can’t really blame them though. They don’t know that the website where that content was originally posted is also yours, so technically you’re doing nothing wrong. All they know is that they’re already showing searchers one website in their results pages with the same content so they’re not going to add another link with the same content.
If every link you clicked on from your search results gave you the same information, and none of those pages really had the information you were looking for anyway, you’d likely try a different search engine.
Google has become the #1 search engine in the world by weeding through all of the pages on the Internet and only giving the best recommendations to its users.
Reason #2
It’s a Huge Drain on Your Resources
If the first reason wasn’t enough to convince you to only keep one website, this one should. As a therapist, your time is extremely valuable. Every minute you’re spending on your website is a minute taken away from valuable sessions with your clients.
Having two live websites means you’ll be doubling the time you’ll need to spend on website maintenance and content creation.
Plus, you’ll be splitting your SEO efforts in half, giving your competitors the chance to rise up above you in the rankings.
Reason #3
Multiple Domain Names Will Confuse Google
This comes back around to SEO and how multiple websites will negatively affect your rankings.
In order for Google to validate your location so that they know to show your website in local searches for your services, they need consistent NAP information (name, address, and phone).
Unless you have multiple office locations with their own unique street address and phone number for each of your websites, having more than one website for your practice will only send Google mixed signals over which domain to use in their results.
More importantly, it can be extremely confusing for potential clients as well and you definitely don’t want to do anything that will reduce the chances of them contacting you.
Still unsure whether you should re-use an old domain name or try to find one that’s better suited for your private practice?
At Brighter Vision, your domain renewal fee is included with any of our website packages. So, if you’re just starting out, we can build you a beautiful website for your new practice and help you choose the perfect domain. Heck, we’ll even buy your domain name for you!
Fill out the form below to learn more about our team of professionals who can’t wait to help your practice grow like never before 🙂
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