After purchasing our competitor, should we keep both sites or redirect one to the other?

• I have a "tours" client who just bought out a competitor's tour company which specializes in the same niche tours. We're wondering if it would be better to redirect the newly purchased site to my client's main tours site? ...or would it be better to keep the two sites separate and cross-link them back and forth.

  We plan to have all the tours listed on both sites even though some of the links would point to URLs on the other website. In addition, both sites would be using the same 'Book Now' buttons and also the same reservation system.

  Another consideration is that it appears we can't really consolidate TripAdvisor reviews, so the sites would appear to be separate on TripAdvisor anyway. And, by keeping both domains, it appears that we'd be doubling our web presence on both TripAdvisor and Google which we see as a good thing.

  So the question is, should we 301-redirect the purchased site to the main site or should we keep them as separate sites that compliment each other?

Answer:

Since both sites are established and, as you said, you can cross-link them, we'd suggest you keep them both active provided that you have the resources to maintain and market them both. Seems like a simple answer but it's really all about what you can handle in regards to site management. Right now you have two sites that have solid web presences and the only reason to consolidate them is to save time and energy. Business isn't bad when you are your own competition!

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