Blogs: Hosted vs. Off-Site
-
What is the latest opinion on whether to have a blog hosting on your primary domain or on an outside domain (either Wordpress or just another URL).
In the past we have done the former and it's been a great source of fresh content and organic traffic. Wonder if there is good argument now for not having it on the domain. With this new site we're working on it logistically would be more challenging given their tech resources, plus they already have thousands of pages.
-
The challenge is we are speaking in general terms. It would help if you shared a lot more specifics.
Generally speaking, if the blog content was directly related to my domain, I would want the blog to be on the main domain. If I had corvettes.com and I wanted to add a blog discussing corvettes, I would choose something like corvettes.com/blog.
If I had corvettes.com and I wanted to add a blog discussing cars in general, I may wish to separate the blog from my core site by using a subdomain. There will certainly be some relevant opportunities between the blog and the main site.
If I wanted to create a blog to discuss unrelated matters, then I would pursue a different url altogether.
-
Great inputs. Turns out this client has some roadblocks with load balance systems, so it won't be easily feasible to have site.com/blog
Options are blog.site.com or a completely different domain. Since inbound links won't be worth much to the primary domain (if the blog is on a sub) I'm pondering having on an external domain and branded differently. Any more thoughts?
-
Just a additional thought. We use both, for different topics. Our on domain Blog will focus on one theme. and we can wonder around a bit on the word press hosted blog.
-
It really depends on the content of your blog. I have seen a few blogs from various companies that we have worked with that have blogs that have a lot of content that is not related the rest of their site. Because the content is not related we have seen how the blog is bringing in the wrong kind of traffic when it starts to rank for keywords that are unrelated to the main site. Also, all of this unrelated content could hurt the site by causing the search engines to miscategorize the main purpose of the site.
A added bonus of having an external blog is that you can create quality external links to your site from your blog.
All that being said, generally I suggest that companies have their site under their own domain like www.mysite.com/blog
-
For an individual who does not have a website and is a casual blogger, then using an established domain offers the advantage of a stronger domain authority. In any other case, I prefer using your primary domain.
You want to control your traffic. There are a few nightmare stories where the blog host, such as blogger, closed the URL of a user. In each case the user lost years of value they built up. This reason alone would lead me to always using my primary domain.
Additionally, a key reason for providing a blog is to generate site traffic. If you offer high quality content in your blog, then you want visitors linking to your site, and not wordpress.
-
I would suggest that it would be beneficial to have the blog on your own domain unless there is a very valid reason not to. By bringing the blog under your own roof, you're adding fresh content regularly and should the content be linked to or tweeted/ shared, you're domain will get the love.
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
-
Advice on Security Concerns for WordPress Site
My company has a WordPress site (URL is learn.automationdirect.com) It is a very simple site and is currently under utilized. I would like to make some SEO improvements to it by activating comments and installing an SEO plugin like Yoast but, I am being help back by concerns about the sites security. Is there some sort of suggestion/advice you guys can point me to that will help get the site to a place where we are confident in it's security level, and I can move forward with optimizing it?
Content Development | | ChadC0 -
What is Moz Community and Blog Commenting System Built on?
Hi, I love the Moz blog and community so I'm just curious what it is built on. Is it built on something like a bbPress or is it custom system built in-house? Thanks!
Content Development | | fbchris0 -
Embed WordPress blog into site or /blog?
Hi, Just a quick question - I assumed it would be a better to have a WordPress blog in a sub folder rather than a sub domain however I just wondered would it offer any more / less value if I just embedded the WordPress blog into my existing code? Thanks, Dan
Content Development | | Sparkstone0 -
Will a comment section on my site help with seo
I have never been a fan of comment pages such as the sun http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4783642/bruce-willis-appears-on-the-one-show-in-awkward-interview.html but i was told the other day that not only is it good for the reader but it is also good for seo and increase the number of times that google would visit the page and i would like to know if that is true. if you have added a comment section to your articles i would like to know if you have noticed any change.
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Blog Repost?
We are a coupon site & occasionally have some updates to certain coupons that we post (maybe 24-28 hours after the original post). Is there any best practices to follow for reposting content? Here are a few thoughts: Would it be ok to use the same post, but just re-schedule it again to go out with the new updates? Should we create a new post & just reference the previous post?
Content Development | | seointern0 -
Which is the best site to host photos on?
For SEO and in general, which is the best website to host photos on and why: Flickr.com or Picasa.com or Whosay.com?
Content Development | | tennisexpress0 -
Content Marketing - Guest Blogging
We're doing a guest coulmn here - http://www.securityweek.com/public-cloud-ecommerce-truths-basics-new-pci-dss-20-standards, how do we re-use/rewrite this for our blog? Whats the best practice if the column comes first?
Content Development | | FirePowered0 -
Free RSS hosting service?
I have a list of URLs of articles I have written and posted in many different article databases. But many of the URLs are not indexed by Google. How can I get them indexed? I was thinking of putting them into an RSS feed and then pinging that feed. Good idea or bad? If a good idea, can anyone recommend a free RSS hosting site? Thanks.
Content Development | | scanlin0