Setting up a Blog for more inbound links

[CLTMichael]

Site A is my Main Site.
Site B is my Blog.

Is using site B to link back to site A a good idea or should site A have it's own blog going after keywords?

[jws8118]

In most cases it's probably best for site A to have its' own blog on sitea.com/blog or something to that effect.  This ensures any links coming to the blog get attributed to the root domains' domain authority.

If Site B, the blog, is sort of a standalone brand on it's own, then you could make an argument for making a separate site for the blog.  Most of the time this isn't the case though b/c if you are simply writing articles on another site and linking back to site a repeatedly this isn't a good strategy.

In this case site B would represent a "micro-site" and I have been advising clients away from those since 2009.

[CLTMichael]

I have always done the site B method and it really has worked well till recently.  Now I'm thinking of being more broad with site B keywords and go with the plan A route.  The problem is getting good quality back links

So what should I do now for damage control?  Leave site B up and go after more general terms and only link back once per article??

I really am looking for solid advice!

[Chris.Menke]

James' advise was solid.  Put the blog on your main site and focus your limited resources on producing quality content and on outreach to promote that content.  You've got to get good links to at least one of the sites, and with that being as hard as it is, you might as get them to your main site--which means the content needs to be there.  Once site A is overflowing with content people are clamoring to link to, then you can think about doing something with site B.

[EGOL]

You got solid advice from jamesscaggs.

Build the blog on the primary domain.  Building a blog on another domain to "manufacture links" is something that has not worked with Google for several years - if it even worked well then.

[jws8118]

As for damage control I would just focus all efforts on Site A unless there is a clear differentiation in content.  If you have useful content to publish do so on the blog of Site A and focus on social promotion and outreach.  It's a much better use of time if you can get a few links from outreach than another one from a microsite.

[CLTMichael]

My plan is to move the blogs and automated content to site A.  I will be changing the design of site B.  Hopefully google will reward me moving forward.