Moving Blog from www.topic.domain.com to www.domain.com/blog
-
Hi Fellow Mozzers,
Just started off here on seomoz.org and am super happy to have joined the community! I've recently started a new job as web optimization manager for an education company. There is a lot to do and one of my first tasks is to figure a better strategy for our current blog.
I've convinced our management to move our blog from topic.domain.com to domain.com/blog. My research has shown that this is a better strategy so that our blog can receive the DA of our root domain, get more people to click through our site, and even receive more natural searches (PLEASE, someone correct me if I'm wrong on this).
Anyway, our blog is currently hosted as a Wordpress blog and we're wondering if it's more worthwhile to build a blog platform ourselves or continue using Wordpress. I am not a technical guy and don't know the backend stuff to make it happen, but my concern is primarily for the optimum search capacity. Also, our bloggers frequently put links to different portions of our website - does this hold any negative SEO value in terms of too much internal linking? I personally wouldn't assume so, but then again I could be wrong. Finally, we also track our main website using Google Analytics- currently, the only tracking we have installed on our blogs is the default provided by Wordpress (yes yes I know, but that's why i'm here -- to fix these weaknesses). I'm assuming we will be able to better track using GA when the switch is made.
So, I guess my questions are:
(1) Is my research correct in that it's better to have our blog hosted as domain.com/blog over topic.domain.com
(2) Are there any best practices in making this switch and/or any negative implications with continuing to use Wordpress or should we build our own platform (we have the internal resources to do so, but would prefer to take the easiest and best route in terms of SEO and community building).
(3) Will it still be just as easy to track using GA.
Thank you!!
Pedram
-
Thank you!
-
It is usually a good thing to do some natural internal linking from your editorial content to your main site or product/service pages. Be careful not to "over-optimize" the anchor text when you link internally or you stand a high risk of an over optimization penalty.
-
Along these lines, we do a lot of internal linking from our blogs to other content on our website. Can this serve to hurt us in anyway?
-
Thank you both!
-
1. Yes you are correct about moving the blog to /blog so you can get the DA value from the root domain. It also will help your root domain more to have the content at /blog b/c any links you generate to your content will go back to the root domain DA.
2. I wouldn't recommend switching from wordpress. There is just no business case (SEO-wise) for switching away from Wordpress. The Yoast SEO plugin makes on page optimization and technical seo for wordpress a no-brainer and the WP community support will more than make up for any advantages you might think of on a propreitary system.
3. Yes tracking on GA will be suffice. You may want to setup a custom profile to track just the blog content in google analytics if you have someone who you want to be able to view blog analytics but not the entire site analytics. Just a suggestion!
Sounds like you are on the right path, hope this helps!
-
Hi Pedram. Complex looking questions, but I think that the answers are fairly straight forward.
1. Short version, yes. As you say, this will allow your blog to benefit from the authority of your main site. I say short answer, as it is a little dependent on what you want to achieve, but presumably you want to rank the blog posts, so "Yes".
2. I'm not personally a bit wordpress fan. I am also a big fan of bespoke build. Despite those 2 facts I would struggle to find any justification of bespoke over wordpress other in some very specific circumstances.
Best practice would mostly revolve around updating inbound links and 301ing from the old address.
3. Yes. Possibly even easier, as there are plugins that will set it all up in the right places for you.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
YouTube transcript being used for junk blog?
Should I be concerned about youtube transcripts with our brand name being used to populate junk blogs? I just noticed this with freshweb this morning: http://www.sharehomevalue.com/blogs/11567. There are about 4 pages of results like this... mostly Korean websites.
Branding | | SSRMarketing0 -
Advising clients on Blogs, twitter and social
I am looking to put a crib/cheat sheet together for clients about writing content, blogs and twitter and other social. I want this to be SHORT - SHARP and to the point. Any advise is appreciate. This is what I have so far.... Blogs - Tell the world what your company is doing, whats new, also link it to the news - BE INTERESTING - Educate don't just say "we offer this services its great" - make it relevant BUT do not be obvious - ask yourself would you read this blog find it interesting - read it again - what did you learn? Twitter - Treat like a micro blog with a personality - use it to great a company personality do not just link to your site when you do a blog post - comment on news events - BE INTERESTING - BE FUN - Make people want to engage with you - we recently tweeted this:- eg:- Something pointless for the weekend - See fun video link. Social - Again use it to create a company personality - be fun but do not just copy and paste the same content - judge your audience. Feel free to help.... watch?v=isZNJjPsaMI
Branding | | JohnW-UK0 -
High authority brand expanding product line, domain question
Hi MOZers, I've been given a handy little domain puzzle to deal with and would love insight from the community. Here's the situation: We're retailers of one specific, big, nationally known product. Let's pretend it's the Snuggee (IT'S NOT). People search for it and buy it from our site, or from Amazon or other retailers that we distribute it to. We're about to expand to carry a bunch of related, but different products - so from a one-product brand to 5 or 6 different items, relating to different keyword searches. Imagine Snuggee people want to start selling a whole bunch of products that solve the same needs of warming the front of your body and making you look silly. The owners want to change the main domain from [specific product] to [name similar to specific product, but is more general]. What concerns me is how to handle the fame of the branded product in terms of domain names. Current domain, based on that product, has a ton of links and a decent age. Owners are thinking to redirect everything to fresh new unestablished domain. While I know 301s will pass most link value, it will also be a home page that will be about a bunch of products - not just that main known one. In fact, we're considering making a URL for each product as landing page, of which old famous product would be one of 5 or 6 pages. Two main options we're considering right now: Keep old domain as a doorway page featuring just old product, with same look and feel, and from which any links would point to the new domain. Try to keep this as ranking for top result for this search, which should be easy. Unify everything under new domain, with old product being featured on a separate page / subdirectory. Hope that new home page still can rank pretty well for our old product, even though it will be talking about other products now as well. What we'd stand to lose would be the SERP for old products featuring too many big box retailers that sell our stuff and take a chunk out of our margins. The goal is to help us become known for many things, while still being always the best search result for what we're already known for. Which of those two options seem best, or is there another I'm missing altogether? Thank you!
Branding | | advancedSemiotics0 -
Domain name with a hyphen
I am looking at starting a brand new website and purchasing a domain to see my hair product. My question is that domain i am wanting to purchase if a 2 word .com domain but it is not being currently used and it is up for auction for 10K. I am looking a purchasing a domain name that is the same 2 words but a has a hyphen between the 2 works. My assumption is that if I start building content, concentrating on seo (keywords, link building, etc) and brand building that I should not have any problems with my hyphen in the domain. I am looking for feedback and insight from the SEO professionals! Thank you guys in advance. UPDATED 1-29-13 Here is the scenario and I am looking on how you would handle it. **name = my brand name I am looking to purchase a domain within the year: namehair.com I currently am using: namehairbrand.com I have purchased: name-hair.com My concern is if I began my SEO efforts and the brand grows extensively then the person who owns "namehair.com" will raise the price even more than the current price of 10k. I plan on purchasing that domain name within the next 18 months or so and then direct the traffic to the domain "namehair.com". If I put all my efforts into "namehairbrand.com" and then submit to Google that I have changed domains - will I get my butt kicked by Google? Thank you guys - you are really helpful!
Branding | | dsmolinski0 -
Tips for promoting the blog section of our eCommerce site
Hi, With the recent Google updates we're thinking that unique content is more important than ever in order to gain high quality, natural links from genuine users. As such we're thinking that our blog (http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/igloo/) might be more important than ever. Don't be put off by the lack of Page Authority or Google Page Rank; we've only just moved to this address from the subdomain igloo.refreshcartridges.co.uk. The content is certainly rather niche; an article like http://www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/igloo/how-to-the-reset-purge-counter-on-a-brother-printer-with-a-numerical-pad/ will be helpful to thousands of users who own this particular range of printer but it's debatable as to whether it is sufficiently mainstream to be openly shared and linked to. We ping to sites such as Technorati, produce videos to accompany much of the content (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dxmm4-blN8&list=UUH93Kwax4CcEIAOsXWb6CiA&index=1&feature=plcp for example) and provide easy sharing buttons. I do however think that we could be doing more to actively ‘push’ this content on to potential customers. I'm not naive enough to think that niche articles like this will be enough to get hundreds of links and tens of thousands of reads but printer news, reviews and support is pretty much the only thing we can write about while being relevant to our core business. I would however like to get the best exposure that we can for these articles which is why I’m asking for your advice today. I would really appreciate any ideas you may have as to how else we could gain the best value from these unique articles and videos. I apologise for this being such an open ended question but any and all advice on how to maximise this resource would be appreciated. Many thanks!
Branding | | ChrisHolgate0 -
Is it a good idea to participate in review / giveaway bloggers
Hi, I sell Gift Baskets for children and the best customers are Moms. Is it a good idea to participate in review / giveaway mom bloggers? The way it works I give the blogger a product to review. They write their true experience with the Gift Basket and they link to my site Then we do a few product giveaway to moms / (bloggers subscriber) once a month. Then moms will review the winning products. To participate in drawing moms will visit my site, follow my tweeter. Like or dislike me on Facebook……. For each action they do they will get one extra chance on drawing. In here I will get few links to different page of the site. Are these links are good links? I am not paying cash to buy the link. But I give them product to review and they get to keep it. Simply Sassy Media at http://simplysassymedia.com/ is a good example. they manage and connect me to a lot of the blogger sites.
Branding | | giftbasket4kids0 -
Yahoo Directory, BOTW, BBB and Business.com for local SEO?
I've heard conflicting reports about using these paid directories for SEO purposes. I am a local Realtor with a website and blog. My site is on page one but near the bottom since the national sites dominate the top. Would these directories help me for local seo purposes? Does Google consider these paid links and therefore devalues them? How difficult is it to get into these directories since they can decline a submission and there goes my money? Are these directories worth the money? In total it would be like $1200 do get on all. I've already done what I believe to be a lot of good seo practices. Emphasis on I believe since I'm no expert. Just learning as I go. Now I'm up against the big brands in real estate and meet to compete. Any tips if these directories are worth it and anything else I should look to do?
Branding | | bronxpad0 -
Where is the best location for your blog?
This is one querstion I've been thinking about for a while: where is the best location for a blog on your website for SEO purposes? In this case I'm thinking the blog as part of a commerical website. Sub domain: You could put it on a subdomain such as blog.mydomain.com which seems quite popular (blog.kissmetrics for example) but surely this is giving the blog.mydomain sub domain the SEO value and not the www.mydomain sub domain. The one value I see here is that you could host this on another server and so any links to my main website would be from a different IP address. You could also point the sub domain to a WordPress.com blog. Internal: There are two ways the blog could be run internal to the website: 1) if the website is a WordPress.org installation you could just use one category as the blog or 2) a fresh WordPress.org installation in a sub folder such as www.mydomain.com/blog. The benefits I see with #2 is that any guest posters would only have access to the blog and not the main company website and you could make the look and feel of the blog to be more "bloggy" than the main commerical website. External: TBH I don't think there is any benefit to running a blog completely external to the commerical website (such as a WordPress.com blog) unless the company provides online services so that if the main website goes down, the blog will still be running. So, from the above, which is the best way to run a commerical site blog? Or have I missed some other options?
Branding | | Essjay0