15 replies to this topic

[Pam]

A question came up regarding the best place to put a blog:
use a free service like blogger or to setup a blog on own domain, www.mysite.com/blog

we have a blog setup on blogger right now and have been told:
“Lastly, the Blog was set up using Google's Blogger because it is another thing for Google to index. When people are searching for XXXXXXX keywords, it is another link that Google can pull to lead them to the XXXXXXX site. Google indexs their own sites, like blogs set up using Google Blogger, more often than others. So, it is beneficial to have the blog set up with Google.”

Is it true that google gives ranking points if you use their blog site? I've not heard of this before.


My understanding regarding blog url is that having blog in your own domain is better since this helps promote your primary url instead of the mysite.blogger.com url
In the end, does it make any difference at all if the blog includes links and references to information within the main website?

The other issue is control of the blog in that I"ve heard stories about blogs disappering or going off-line. I've heard of this but don't know of actual instances.

[Jill]

Always, always, always you want it on your own website. Never give all your content to someone else.

[Pam]

Thanks Jill. THat was my thought but always appreciate advice from the experts.

The "Google ranks their own blogs better" thing is not true?
I'm doing website work for this client and their SEO consultant gave them that information. I don't think it's true and they are just tossing around seo-geekspeek but the client doesn't know any better.

since they are already on blogger, is it best to leave them there or to get them to move to their own domain and redirect blogger?

[Mikl]

Pam,

There is a third option.

You can stay on Blogger, but still use your own domain name. You simply tell Blogger to point your blog to that domain. Any visitor who arrives via the blog's original URL will be automatically redirected.

This will give you the advantage of using your own domain name in terms of branding and SEO, without losing the benefit of any existing links to the blog (or RSS subscriptions, etc).

However, Jill's point remains valid. It's always better to host your own content if at all possible.

By the way, I would seriously doubt that Google gives any preference to Blogger blogs in its search results. If it did, it would raise serious doubts about the objectivity of the search engine.

[Pam]

Thanks. I had not read before that google ranked their own things higher, but wanted some feedback.

[Jill]

The "Google ranks their own blogs better" thing is not true?

Of course not. If anything, they seem to love WordPress blogs (hosted on your own site) the best. I think it's in the way they're designed and their pinging feature.

[btreloar]

There are other advantages to hosting the blog on your own domain, too. All blog directories will be linking to your domain instead of Blogger.com. Depending on your internal linkage, that may benefit other pages on your site.

Then when people tweet about posts on your blog or link to them on Facebook, LinkedIin and other social media, all those links will be pointing to your own domain, too.

[Michael Martinez]

I am in the camp of "Use Blogger and Wordpress to build audience" and then move to your own site. Both services send you a lot of traffic through their internal channels. They do make it possible to share traffic with an off-service domain but you have to use their tools.

Historically, both Blogger and Wordpress have made it easy for people to get their content. Blogger changed its methods a couple years ago but I don't feel like either service is trying to "own" the content the way many other blogging providers do.

[Jill]

But can you set up 301 redirects when you move?

[MaryKrysia]

The other issue is control of the blog in that I"ve heard stories about blogs disappering or going off-line. I've heard of this but don't know of actual instances

Worpress does not allow embedded links in Wordpress hosted blogs, such as, www.myblog.wordpress.com, and do remove, without warning, blogs that use links .

Email from Wordpress to someone I know who lost a blog this way:
"Sites designed with the intent to direct traffic to an external domain/site for commercial purposes (regardless of third or first party) are not permitted on WordPress.com."

[Michael Martinez]

But can you set up 301 redirects when you move?

Blogger allows you to redirect Websites when you move.

As Mary points out, Wordpress won't let you use its Wordpress.com service as a commercial promotion/link building resource. You can delete your blog (after exporting everything for insertion into an external blog) or simply leave it in place.

To leverage the Wordpress community from an external site you can use some "Related Posts" plugins where you share links with other blogs (both on and off Wordpress.com) that are publishing articles that the plugin (in all its instantiations) concludes are similar.

Wordpress.com is a good community for building visibility and reputation and connecting with people who share your interests. It's not a platform I would recommend for marketing a Website. You have to contribute value to what they are doing but ultimately you still control your own content.

[Davolfan]

Jill, although I agree with you that one needs to have the best content on one's site, would you not say that blogging on a Blogger platform gives you a lot more exposure and maybe faster indexing? If this content is linked to your site with an anchor text, it can be very beneficial?

[Jill]

would you not say that blogging on a Blogger platform gives you a lot more exposure and maybe faster indexing?

Yes, I would NOT say that.

[Cosita]

Worpress does not allow embedded links in Wordpress hosted blogs, such as, www.myblog.wordpress.com, and do remove, without warning, blogs that use links .

Email from Wordpress to someone I know who lost a blog this way:
"Sites designed with the intent to direct traffic to an external domain/site for commercial purposes (regardless of third or first party) are not permitted on WordPress.com."

To make sure I'm understanding correctly: I can't use Wordpress on my site (i.e. www.mywebsite.com/wordpressblog) because it's a commercial site?

Is there a free blog platform I can use on my commercial site?

ETA: The content on the blog would not be commercial, it will be advice driven, while the main site content is commercially driven. Is that a conflict with Wordpress?

Edited by Cosita, 17 January 2012 - 03:48 PM.

[Michael Martinez]

To make sure I'm understanding correctly: I can't use Wordpress on my site (i.e. www.mywebsite.com/wordpressblog) because it's a commercial site?

No, no. It's okay to use the Wordpress software that you download and install on your site for a commercial site.

Wordpress.com, where people can sign up for free sub-domains using the basic Wordpress software, will not allow you to create Websites for link building.