sub domains or new domains to expand website

[Tynan]

Hi all

I have a site I'm happy with that ranks well for what it's for, the domain name is quite generic in that it's http://www.christine-dean-public-acc...rrister.co.uk/ and is mostly written about Family Law with some generic pages

Now the lady wife wants to expand into Employment Law and I'd like the site to rank well for Employment Law, she feels her existing site is too Family Law oriented to have Employment Law bolted onto it and I'm nervous it would end up ranking fairly well for both rather than well for one, the two disciplines being quite distinct.

My first thought is to start a new domain and website with the same design etc but with copy specific to that website, ie Employment Law, would the similarity in sites bother Google (and I'd have to wait for rankings given it's a new site)

Or should I reorganise the existing domain into two sub domains, one for Family, one for Employment? The existing domain name would cover both, can i then optimise the two sub domain each for their own keywords and see them appear separately on rankings for separate searches?

Or have I misunderstood sub domains entirely? (likely)

Thanks
Tynan

[felgall]

Do you want the two sites to be seen to be associated with one another - if so then use sub-domains. If not use different domains.

[ocentide24]

I'd rather use a sub domain. To get a new site to rank high is so easy these days and since they are both going to be related, your old site has already got some authority and ranking, I'd suggest you create a subdomain from it.

[felgall]

Originally Posted by ocentide24

I'd rather use a sub domain. To get a new site to rank high is so easy these days and since they are both going to be related, your old site has already got some authority and ranking, I'd suggest you create a subdomain from it.

Each web page is ranked separately and the links between the pages will pass on the same authority regardless of whether the domain is the same or different. So a domain or sub-domain will make no difference with respect to ranking of the new pages.