Hi all we are a small plumbing firm with a nice website based in a specific location, we are opening another location over 50miles from our existing location. Talking to our website developer about adding a second location on our website they suggested cloning the website with a new domain. I am worried this will impact our SEO as we list quite high in searches now, is this the best idea, as I want both locations to list well in searches. They want to charge a fair bit for cloning so not sure if they are offering the best advice or just trying to make some money. Greatly appreciate your help and opinion!

Agree with all of that. If they are charging a fair bit for cloning then they are charging too much. Which means they may well be overcharging for other services.

Google is looking for local content and validation. This means it expects to see an address and telephone number for the new location. It will then want to see testimonials and case studies for the new location.

Which means coning the site isn't the right way to go. You can do as @NOCK suggests and reuse the theme/template for the new site but that's about it.

However a better solution may be to rework the current site to show that you have two locations. This will need some careful updating but it's not difficult. I wouldn't let your website developer do this for you.

 

Thank you so much. As the content will likely be the same it sounds like a reasonable idea to set up an additional location on our existing website. I’m comfortable enough to get that set up myself. 

I have the impression that our web developer is not necessarily acting in our best interest. But I’m not completely surprised as I was talking to a sales/account manager and not a web designer. Thanks again.

If the content is the same on both sites you are doing it wrong.

Adding a second location to the existing site may be the best solution but it needs careful incorporation. Do not build a copy of your existing site with just the locations changed. Google will penalise you for doing this.

I'd steer clear of cloning the site, as @NOCK and @fisicx say it's easliy "done" but it's not worth the effort. I had a client ask a very similar question and this thread, albeit a little old, the answer from Miriam Ellis hits the nail on the head.

I've seen it work once well, and that was an airport parking company, one site targeted at the easy jet clientele with a Vauxhall, the other at the business class Bentley owners. In this case though both sites had completely different addresses, business names, contact details and site structure. But 99% of the time, like multiple restaurants on Pizza Hut, there's no need.