Pages vs Posts

[SixTwoInteractive]

What are your thoughts on pages vs posts? I am setting up a new blog for a client but not sure how to structure the content. I may just do posts or a whole bunch of page listed down the sidebar.

It seems like my pages always rank better than my posts. Has anyone else noticed this? Could it be because of the dates tied posts?

[SixTwoInteractive]

Thanks for the info! I will check out the guide.

[csmithal]

Read Yoast's "Definitive Guide to SEO" where he specifically says "pages over posts." I think you said it yourself earlier that posts tend to roll off in the SERPs over time.

And users don't know the difference. Also, you won't have to deal with the hassle of blocking the archive and category pages.

[SixTwoInteractive]

yup that make sense....

I have never run into a situation where the comments where starting to dilute the main keywords. I see how it might happen thought

With this client I am really trying to focus on long-tail traffic. In his niche the search volume is very low for any particular keyword. If my focus is going to be long-tail do you think there is a benefit of pages over posts? Would pages rank stronger for random long-tail variation than posts? Or will a few hundred blog posts pull in the long-tails just the same?

Thanks again for the help!

[csmithal]

Posts are known to be more time-sensitive by the search engines, so will not rank as well as pages.

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/setup-wordpress-for-seo-success

If you're going to allow comments, how will that affect your keywords?

Your most important pages should be pages.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

It shouldn't but remember that blog posts are date sensitive, whereas pages aren't.

Do check out the competition and see what they do - always a good indicator

Andy

[SixTwoInteractive]

hmmm....

It really doesnt seem like it should matter. pages, posts, whatever... I might test it out to see.

Thanks for the ideas!

[Andy.Drinkwater]

It all depends on your readers really. There are times (and industries) when this wouldn't be the way to go.

As for pages pulling in more traffic, it is impossible to say why without looking at so many different factors. However, if your client is in the same industry as you and you have had success with this, then it sounds like you should give it a go.

Andy

[SixTwoInteractive]

Yeah I would like to use posts because it seems like the right way to do it... Also it is common practice. But my sites with all pages seems to pull in way more traffic. I usually just make them static pages, allow comments, and add share buttons. I dont think they look any different to the reader.

I want to use the blog for news and discussion but I would like it to pull in lots of long-tail traffic as well. When I look through a lot of the SERPs I do not see blog post rankings... It seems to be static pages. Sub-pages but not many dated blog posts.

If blog posts are intended for more "dated content" such as news, etc. then would Google value them for awhile then roll them off for newer content?

Where Pages are intended for more Evergreen content that should continue to stay relevant?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Or you could do what most do, and that is to create a site with static pages and have a blog attached for news & discussions.

[DukeTanson]

I haven't come across any research that suggests any difference between post and pages.I think it boils that to the type of content you will be publishing and  what you intend to achieve. Since it's solely a blog that you are creating, i will suggest you stick with posts. That allows for visitors to comment etc. If that is not important then you can stick to pages.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Is this a site that requires a lot of fresh content or is there an element of static (evergreen) as well?

A lot depends on the site and target audience really. As for the pages vs posts, I see such a huge variation, I couldn't say that one is better than the other as there are so many factors to take into account.

Look at the competition - see what those in the top spots are doing and mimc their strategy.

Andy