Q: We merged two of our sites into one domain — did combining them actually help?

Q: We merged two of our sites into one domain — did combining them actually help?

Big move, and people always want real numbers before trying it.

Short answer: it worked, but only because content was mapped, not just redirected.

Long answer: a company ran two overlapping sites competing for the same terms. We consolidated the smaller (~400 pages) into the main domain: 1:1 301s where a true equivalent existed, and where two pages covered the same topic we merged the content into one strong page and redirected both. About 120 thin duplicates were intentionally pruned and redirected to the merged version.

First 6 weeks dipped 11%. By month 4, combined organic was up 28% versus the two sites' prior total — one authoritative page beats two competing ones.

Next step: when merging domains, decide page-by-page whether to map, merge, or prune. Don't just bulk-redirect — consolidate the content too.