Using posts to make static pages - A best practice or a bad idea?
-
I have started working with a few law firms this year. They already have websites and I am doing various marketing tasks such as copywriting, redesigns, and, of course, SEO.
In a couple of cases I was surprised to find that they had made the pages describing their various practice areas post content. I'm not sure why. But I suspect that the idea might have been to have the phrase: /practice-areas/ as a part of their URL.
I didn't really like the idea of treating pages like posts. It seems a bit like working the system. But apart from that, wouldn't pages have a higher value as "permanent" content? As posts - their publish date has more weight, right? And they'd get old? But maybe the previous developers were on to something and the category/post approach to listing practice areas is the way to go?
I am starting a new site for a new firm and I'd like to feel more confident about the right structure to choose for this kind of website before I start.
Does anybody know the right answer?
Thanks!
-
Yes - that is the gist of my concerns. But I don't know...I think "cornerstone content" is an SEO strategy term, not something that Google defines and associates with only pages. Because there are lots of bloggers who have hundreds of posts and only a few pages and who plan for certain pages or categories to be their cornerstone content.
-
I do,
Pages are static and have detailed information posts are dynamic, time based and run chronologically within a blog.
If you make your main information a post it looses some value as these pages are cornerstone content that the rest of the site builds off of. It more of a user experience situation.Thanks,
-
Thanks Miriam!
No - the post pages are pretty seamless as far as the user is concerned. I didn't realize they were posts myself until I had admin access and started looking for the pages to edit. I have a little duplicate content to deal with re the top level page (category page) but it's not a big issue.
I think then, unless someone new posts with compelling reasons to change them, that I will leave them as they are in my existing site, and make them pages in my new sites.
-
Hey Dandelion,
I honestly don't think Google is going to care whether a strong piece of content is labeled a page or a post, if you're taking care to permanently link to these core assets from the top level navigation menu of the site, and are internally linking to them wherever relevant.
What could matter is user experience. Does the formatting/design of these articles change in some way, making them look like they aren't consistent with the core pages of the website? Is the experience startling for the human user? If so, you might want to look into Donald's idea, but otherwise, it's not likely something I'd worry about too much.
-
Thanks for your input Don!
Do you have an SEO reason to recommend the change? Or are you like me, and just like pages to be pages and posts to be posts? I mean, I could just leave it like it is. I am mostly trying to figure out if there are any good reasons to leave it like it is.
-
Dandelion,
This would be my suggestion, Turn those posts into pages. 301 Redirect the posts into the new pages you have created. This way the link juice loss will be at a minimum.
Then put together a content marketing strategy to compliment the pages you have created.
Thanks,
Don Silvernail
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
-
What are SEO best practices for Java Language Redirections?
We would like to get some insight on what is the best practice of setting up canonical URLs in the below scenario. CMS used: Liferay – we believe they are using java. The URL structure at this stage can not be changed to best practices (/en/ and /ar/). Currently the language redirections works like this: English: https://www.website.com/page1?AF_language=en Arabic: https://www.website.com/page1?AF_language=ar Depending how you entered the website last time the root URL will show English or Arabic content without the ‘sufix’: https://www.website.com/page1 All 3 different URL’s are being indexed on Google - which is causing duplication and confusion. We have a few ideas: Have 2 main URLS: https://www.website.com/page1?AF_language=en and have the canonical set to https://www.website.com/page1?AF_language=en https://www.website.com/page1?AF_language=ar and have canonical set to https://www.website.com/page1?AF_language=ar However, how would you handle the root page which does not have a specific language attached. If we need to make a choice we would go with Arabic, as mainly Arabic pages are indexed on Google with the root domain. This way we would (hopefully) retain the rankings for this. Question: did anybody had to deal with a similar situation? What would you do in a similar situation and why? Thanks for all your input.
Local Website Optimization | | skrauss0 -
More pages on website better for SEO?
Hi all, Is creating more pages better for SEO? Of course the pages being valuable content. Is this because you want the user to spend as much time as possible on your site. A lot of my competitors websites seem to have more pages than mine and their domain authorities are higher, for example the services we provide are all on one page and for my competitors each services as its own page. Kind Regards, Aqib
Local Website Optimization | | SMCCoachHire0 -
Service Location links in footer and on the service page - spamming or good practice?
We are are a managed IT services business so we try and target people searching for IT support in a number of key areas. We have created individual location pages (11) to localise our service in these specific areas. We put these location links in the footer which went to the specified IT support pages respectively. Now we have created a general 'managed IT services' page and are thinking of linking to these specific pages on there as well as it makes sense to do it. Would having these 11 links in the footer as well as on the 'managed IT services' page be spamming? or would it be good practice? If this is spamming, which linking location should hold preference. Would appreciate the feedback
Local Website Optimization | | AndyL93
Thanks
Andy0 -
Best Sources for Advertising Commercial Real Estate?
After spending over $50,000 and 3 years on web site development and SEO I realized that advertising on such commercial real estate sites as Loopnet and Cityfeet were more cost effective for developing leads for identifying businesses seeking commercial space in New York City. My firm is a tenant rep brokerage assisting tenants in the acquisition of office, showroom and commercial lofts space in Manhattan. When my firmswitched to Loopnet I was astounded that this site generated leads at a lower cost and a greater quantity than my private branded website (www.metro-manhattan.com). I would have thought that a private branded site would be more effective. Now 2 years later I am having issued with Loopnet and can no longer advertise there. Does any one have any suggestions concerning business websites where we can advertise commercial tenant representation services in Manhattan? Sites like www.officespace.com look like they have potential. LinkedIn sounds like a good demographic but I am concerned that advertising would only generate requests for links rather than generating bona fide leads. Thoughts??? Thanks, Alan
Local Website Optimization | | Kingalan10 -
HTML Page in PHP Website
Does having an HTML page in a PHP website affect SEO? I have a PHP website but one of my targeted pages have an HTML page. Will it cause any harm to the website or is it fine to have a html page in a PHP website?
Local Website Optimization | | plinggtre670 -
Is my competitor doing something blackhat? - Cannot only access pages via serps , not from website navigation /search
Hi Mozzers, One of my competitors uses a trick whereby they have a number of different sitemaps containing location specific urls for their most popular categories on their eCommerce store. It's quite obvious that they are trying to rank for keyword <location>and from what I am see, you cant to any of these pages from their website navigation or search , so it's like these pages are separated from the main site in terms of accessing them but you can access the main website pages/navigation the other way round (i.e if you select one of the pages from finding it in serps) </location> I know that google doesn't really like anything you can't access from the main website but would you class this as blackhat ? / cheating etc ... They do tend to rank quite well for these alot of the pages and it hasn't seem to have affected pages on their main website in terms of rankings. I am just wondering , if it's worth us doing similar as google hasn't penalised them by the looks of things.. thanks Pete
Local Website Optimization | | PeteC120 -
How to improve optimization of this page
http://www.atomicx.com/cincinnati-web-design.php I am trying to get this page to rank for "cincinnati web design" and related phrases. I redid the landing page with all new content, images, url, etc about 3 months ago. Since then the site is still not showing up in the top 50 results. I see no reason that the page would not be. Our seo and compute repair phrases have all gone up but our web design phrases are being very stubborn. Thoughts?
Local Website Optimization | | Atomicx0 -
Location pages for Landing pages
So i have a client for carpet cleaning in Seattle, but he doesn't just want to rank up for "Carpet Cleaning Seattle" he wants to rank up for sub locations such as Lynnwood Carpet Cleaning
Local Website Optimization | | tonyr7
Kirkland Carpet Cleaning
Kenmore Carpet Cleaning
Issaquah Carpet Cleaning
Everett Carpet Cleaning
Edmonds Carpet Cleaning
Bothell Carpet Cleaning
Bellevue Carpet Cleaning
Auburn Carpet Cleaning
Orting Carpet Cleaning
Monroe Carpet Cleaning
Milton Carpet Cleaning
Marysville Carpet Cleaning
Lacey Carpet Cleaning Right now the designer he hired to develop the website has created a separate web page for each of these location pages. the reason being he services all these areas and wants to rank up for all of these areas with basically the same keyword... SEO is fairly simple to me when it comes to straight forward small sized projects or targeting specific services in one set location. But with all these algorithmic changes I worry that this is not something Google may want to see.. What is my best bet with this project, and what SEO methods would you recommend for a site that has 40 total landing pages all with similar keywords just different locations?0