Microsites – Are they legit?

Today, we had a client try to call us out for violating Google’s quality guidelines siting this video:

Just in case anyone else wonders about this video or topic, here are some points:

The video is addressing the concept of multiple microsites on the same topic all cross linking with each other; which does actually look questionable because that would constitute a “link network” which Google frowns upon. Our microsites cover niche topics (like having a microsite based on each model of a lineup or model/geolocation). The micro sites are build to host micro content and make the search and viewership of it easier for the customer.

Our microsites also do not link to one another, they typically only link to your main website, which is the idea to heighten the main site’s visibility/authority. So, Google should not register this as a link network (the main site does not typically point back to the microsite, as the microsite exists to act as a sort of gateway.)

It’s true that the blog of each microsite is pulled from the blog from your main site, but while this is considered “duplicate content,” it’s not the kind of duplicate content that Google penalizes. When each site containing the content is owned by the same entity, it is not penalized. This is a common misconception regarding “duplicate content.” At worst, it just means your main site is prioritized in search results over the microsite, which you want anyways.

Finally, is the issue of quality. One thing Google hates is low quality content. The articles on your blog, that get fed to the microsites, are written by professional writers who specialize in SEO content for the automotive industry and they are unique.

If you are interested in having fresh unique content on the microsites, we offer a Microsite Content service with the purpose of getting the most out of every microsite.