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
-
"Get price" vs "Request a Quote"
I've read somewhere that "Request a Quote" can sometimes put people off a little bit and that Ill be better having "Get Price". Were an installation service company. I cna have a PRicing page were the customer can fill some information and be provided with a price on the website. Would this be a better option than having a request a quote page? Has anyone had any positive or negative experience with this strategy?
Content Development | | paulfoz16090 -
Blog.website.com or website.com/blog
Hello, I have a question, in some moz guidelines you can read website.com/blog is better/more recommended than blog.website.com. But when you look at the domain authority you see no difference. blog.website.com gets exact the same domain authority as website.com. So can somebody explain why website.com/blog is really better than blog.website.com? Or is there no difference? Thank you verry much
Content Development | | mystorenl0 -
Starting a brand new blog today - Is it still Wordpress?
Hi I started a blog in 2006 on Blogspot, then everyone moved onto Tumblr and Wordpress, but in August (just) 2013, what should I be starting my brand new blog on? I dont want to have to migrate in a matter on months.
Content Development | | xoffie0 -
Would adding a news page hurt my site ranking ?
Hi Mozers I was thinking about adding an industry news page where we would post articles written by others but give proper citation and linking. Would a page like this hurt my SEO ? Thank You
Content Development | | Pzabarko1 -
Lost in the blog world
I want to start a blog, but honestly I have no idea where to start as I've got so many questions so I hope someone can help me out. I have a Magento e-commerce website so I've got the possibility to integrate the WP extension. Would that be a good idea or is it better to have a separate blog and separate server? Which blog platform is considered to be the best and what are the main differences between the big blog platforms? Should I use my business (domain) name for my blog or have a separate (domain) name? How often are you 'supposed' to blog per week/month to build a strong blog? Many thanks in advance!
Content Development | | BridalHotspot0 -
This article on making money with your site has to be out of date, doesnt it
Came across this article on making money with your site but surely it must be out of date as a number of the recommendations breaks google guidelines. Here is the link to read the full article but below is a breakdown http://bloggerspassion.com/make-money-online-websites/ 1. Paid Blogging with Sponsored Reviews Publishers are able to make money selling paid reviews on their blogs and advertisers are able to create buzz, traffic and backlinks with SponsoredReviews website. My total earnings with this paid review website are $1631.95. You need to have 3 months old blog with 10 quality posts published to get accepted. 2. Make Money Selling Text Link Ads Bloggers are able to make good earnings selling text links and advertisers are able to get lots of high quality backlinks and traffic for their websites. This helps them earn a lot of money from the services and products they are selling on their websites. I’m so far I have been able to earn $7,711 with this website. You need PR 3 plus blogs to get accepted. would be interested in your thoughts on this
Content Development | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Duplicate page issue all from my website blog. How to i fix?
Crawl diagnosis indicates duplicate page content all from the blog on my website. What can i do to fix this?
Content Development | | skinbiz0 -
Blog at blogspot
Hi My website provider doesnt yet have the function to integrate blog under my domain name so the blog is at blogspot. Inevitably there will be quite some links going from blog to differnet pages on my site. I havent yet incorporated a clickable link from my homepage to blog. I am not sure wether to do this or not. Will this just reduce the value of the links going from the blog ? Thanks
Content Development | | danlae0