Blog SEO strategy
-
Hi Moz community,
we are looking for some advice on our blog/SEO strategy. I hope to find some people who faced similar challenges in the past.
Wishlist currently has one blog (http://blog.enjoywishlist.com/), which has two main focus points. One main focus is to portray and encourage a lifestyle that is conducive with our product offering. The main driver behind the content we post is for SEO optimization for our B2C clients. The other focus for our blog is to target current and potential clients on the B2B side of things. That content is much more driven by a target audience and different topics. It is hard to address two audience in one blog and we are working with the idea of separating the blog into two different host domains. Along with the blogs we will also move the landing pages for B2C and B2B into different domains and link these as appropriate.
The challenge we face is understanding if it would benefit us to host these two blogs on different domains. We are also wondering if it would help our hurt our SEO to take the content related to our corporate blog and move it to the new domain? Advice appreciated!
Thanks
Andreas
-
Hello Andreas,
alankoan123 made some good points in terms of creating an efficient blog structure. I will address your questions directly:
1) Would it benefit us to host these two blogs on different domains?
From a marketing perspective, yes. Having separate domains that are equally accessible and memorable increases your chances of customer involvement and therefore increases your chances of completing an objective, whether it is traffic, conversions or market penetration. This will require dedication, time and resources, but 2 blogs which speak directly to separate clientele is a good idea if you can't bring them together reasonably easily. As for SEO, this is a tool you would use to help your blogs get found (along with content marketing, among other things). Having 2 blogs will not help your SEO directly. Having a good SEO approach will help your 2 blogs.
- We are also wondering if it would help our hurt our SEO to take the content related to our corporate blog and move it to the new domain?
Depending on who you talk to, it might not help or hurt you. Moving content simply requires a 301 redirect which effectively moves all "link juice" from one domain to another. There are arguments (and some evidence) that shows that small levels of link strength are lost during this process, but it isn't sufficient for you to be concerned about it. A redirect can help you if it makes your brand more visible, enhances customer experience, or otherwise improves your sites trust metrics according to Google.
Long story short, your needs and strategy should determine your next move. If you have the resources to create 2 blogs and move your current blog to them using 301 redirects with minimal cost and effort to yourselves, then it is probably worthwhile. If you are short on resources, perhaps another approach is necessary. Either way, your SEO will not be heavily impacted as long as you follow best practices regarding your 301's and in putting up your blogs.
Cheers and feel free to pick my brain further if you have questions.
Best regards,
Rob
-
Great questions and not uncommon for a growing company that matches, in your case, service oriented businesses with consumers seeking specific services. Couple thoughts and tips: 1) Make sure your vision and focus are clear -- let those be the drivers of your online marketing decisions -- then use your online strategies and metrics to measure and refine -- for more on this contact me -- I can give you a concrete example and refer you to outstanding people should they be lacking at all; 2) the audience for the blog may be skewed toward consumers vs. business. Check your links and your analytics for clues (if you've done this ad-nauseum disregard); 3) if you have the time/staff/$$ to support a split into B2B and B2C focused content go for it. Just keep in mind that the business drivers need to be clear first. The SEO benefit over time can be significant but is less important than an improved user experience and user interface. Finally, whatever step you take measure your conversion rate. Set up some intermediate conversions and define what each one is and what value it brings.
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
-
International SEO - Domains or Folders?
Hi, We have been approached by a potential client. They are a UK company whose website is hosted on a .com domain (the .co.uk forwards to the .com). They also have a German website hosted on a .de domain. Both the .com and the .de are hosted in the UK. We believe that the .de website should be hosted in Germany. You agree? Anyway, they now need to target the US market. They are planning on duplicating the UK (.com) website and creating a US version of the site on a .us domain. They would rewrite the content for the US site to avoid duplications, and add Href Lang attributes etc. They are also debating whether the new US site should be hosted in the US or the UK. We don't think this is the best strategy. Would it not be better to host both the UK and US website on the .com domain. using reginal folders? i.e. example.com/uk, and example.com/us. Obviously we would setup Href Lang accordingly and change the Google Search Console geo targeting options for each of the sub-sites (/uk and /us). Or we could suggest hosting the UK site on the .co.uk domain, and the US on the .com domain. So, what is the best strategy to target the US audience, whilst maintaining UK rankings? Many thanks for your time, hope to hear from you soon 🙂 Lee.
Branding | | Webpresence1 -
Blogging/content strategy
While personal blogging & branding is pretty typical for those in a service/b2b industry, when it comes to CEOs/owners of retail businesses - not so much. We have a company blog right now that is heavy on company news and updates - and will be working towards being more informational/educational. But, in the meantime, it's difficult getting the ok to contribute to contributor based article/resource sites - such as http://smallbiztrends.com, since the business blog, by nature, is promotional. (our clients are both business & consumer) Assuming, we can generate enough content, my suggestion is to have the owner create a personal blog which will be purely information and educational, and use that blog to account for the owner's expertise and use those articles as means to get accepted as a contributor at highly prized sites. At the same time, we would still have a business blog that combines educations & company news/promotional. Does this seem like a sound strategy? or is it better to just build up the company blog as an educational resource. Will reputable sites be ok with an educational company blog?
Branding | | S.S.N0 -
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 -
One writer, multiple brands - optimizing rel=author across several blogs
Our company has a few different brands, each with their own domain and site. These are not microsites intended to drive traffic to a main site; they all have independent e-commerce functions, full product lines, etc. Imagine we run Plumbing Widgets Inc, Kitchen Remodeling Company, and Springfield Countertops. It's not immediately obvious to surfers that one parent company operates all of these brands, and we're fine with that. Considering that it enables us to own a lot of SERP real estate for some money KWs, we're more than fine with it. We'd like to create a blog for each of these sites/brands. Here's where it gets tricky. After doing some reading, I am persuaded that using rel=author will help us with SERP CTR and possibly rankings themselves. I am going to be writing all of the blog content, at least to start. I don't think I want to rel=author myself on all of these discrete blogs, do I? And surface the fact that one person is the head writer for the blogs of all these brands? Creating blogging pseudonyms doesn't seem like a good idea, since part of the value of rel=author is genuine social engagement, and creating social personas that seem genuine is probably more trouble than it's worth. (Not to mention icky and dishonest.) Should I choose a customer service rep or manager for each brand and use their names and social identities (with their permission, obviously)? It seems like that would involve challenges of its own. I've ghostwritten for one business owner before, but this is on a larger, more complex scale. Any insights are appreciated!
Branding | | CMC-SD0 -
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 -
Should I host my blog on-site or off-site?
I'm working on a personal project at the moment...basically the blog will be active before the website - it's one of those things where the blog is the journey to the finished website kinda thing (picture it sort of like an adventure traveller who plans to write a book about his travels, and also blogs about his experiences as they happen - eventually leading up to the launch of the book). Ideally the blog would be a part of the website, so all the links the blog gets help your website to rank (and it's the website I'm interested in ranking obviously, not the blog). But there are two problems: 1. I don't really want people using my website before it's completed. 2. I'd kinda like to have a different design and theme to the blog, and for it to have it's own domain and branding. I also don't want to clog up my website with random blog posts - and I'd like the freedom of an independent platform to do things that my website is not designed for. Any suggestions on how to solve this problem? Is there a way to let Google know that the blog is a part of my site even though it's on a different domain? How would I funnel all of the link-juice from the blog most effectively?
Branding | | makeshiftyy0 -
Law Practice SEO with Multiple Lawyers
I am working with a friend of mine who is a lawyer. He has one partner and a couple of other lawyers at the firm. The attorneys each have their own Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin ,Youtube and other social media accounts. I am trying to create one brand, which is the name of the law firm. Question 1: It would make sense to me to create all social media accounts under the law firm name. Would you agree on this? I'm worried that users wouldn't use the company facebook page if they are used to communicating to the attorney through their personal accounts. Maybe I should put the social media links for the firm on the home page only and then put the individual social media links next to the attorney profile page? Question 2: The firm has been posting Youtube videos but under one of the attorney's names. I have 16 new videos they want posted and they asked me if they should be posted to a new company name channel (yet to be created) or post them under one of the attorneys accounts? I think that most attorneys might look out for themselves ahead of the Firm. If they ever change jobs, they don't have a built up social profile if everything is listed under the firm name. Maybe the way to go would be to help optimize both the attorneys personal profiles and then the firm? Thoughts?
Branding | | Czubmeister0 -
Any ideas on how to leverage celebrity spottings for SEO?
Recently, a Hollywood celebrity was seen wearing a product manufactured by one of my clients. Any out of the box ideas on how to leverage this for SEO?
Branding | | Czarto0