We get asked a lot of questions about website design and search engine optimization. One question that keeps coming up is the issue of creating a new domain or keeping the same domain when adding a blog to your business’s website. We are here to put this question to rest and help future businesses make the right decisions for their websites.
Unfortunately, there is not a one answer fits all with this question. Different types of blogs will have varying answers. To make it simple we have broken it down so it’s easy to determine what you should do with your future blog.
Same Domain…
If the topics discussed on your blog relate to your business and follow with the same general branding of your company than you should keep it under one domain. From an SEO standpoint, your blog can benefit from the current standing of your website and branding; and your website will benefit from the blog’s consistent and newly added content. This is the cheapest option, because you will not have to pay for an extra domain. It will also take less time to optimize and maintain, because it is an extension of your existing website. If you have made the decision to keep your blog with your website, you should keep in mind, you are representing your company as much as you are yourself. This means it should be less personal and focus only on general topics that relate to your business.
Blog Types: FAQ’s about your business, general industry news and tips, information about all company products or services.
Separate Domain…
If your blog is going to be about only one specific part of your business, it should be separate. For example, if you are focusing on one product, or target audience you should use a separate domain. This will allow you to target with very specific set of keywords instead of the more general keywords you would use for your business as a whole.
Another reason to separate a blog from your website would be if you don’t want the opinions/comments expressed on the blog to negatively affect people’s impression of your company.
Lastly, if you want a blog that is a trusted, un-biased source of industry knowledge, use a separate domain. This separation, will give the impression you are not out to benefit any particular company over another.
There are a few disadvantages to consider before taking the separate domain leap. First, you will have to start from square one when it comes to SEO and ranking in search engines. You will not be able to feed off the success of your current site rankings. This will equate to spending more time to build up and manage 2 separate domains. However, if your blog covers different topics from what your business site is about, then you will want to target a different audience altogether. It is also important to remember that creating a separate domain also means accruing the cost of another domain. Creating a subdomain or staying with your business’s domain are both cheaper options.
Blog Types: Opinion based, unbiased product reviews, blog about a specific product (when your company has many)
Subdomains…
This solution is often a compromise between the first 2 options. Even though you do not receive the same amount of separation from a separate domain, you do not have as many disadvantages. Subdomains will get some SEO benefit because they are connected with your main business site. They are less expensive to maintain. Make sure to examine how imperative separation of your website and blog is to the long-term success of your company. This will help determine if a subdomain is right for you.
Even though subdomains have their advantages over a separate domain, they come with their own problems. Currently, search engines see subdomains as less important than regular domains. This is due to the fact they have been abused in the past for SEO benefit. However, we believe this will change now that there are rules in place to prevent people from this type of black-hat SEO. As a result of these rules, any linking between a subdomain and your main domain will not count as a link factor. Therefore, you will not receive the same amount of SEO benefits than if you were to keep your blog under then main domain.
Blog Types: Opinion based blogs, blog about a specific product (when your company has many)
If you are still unsure about what you should do, explain your dilemma below in the comments, and our SEO specialist will help you determine what is right for you.
