Blog SEO strategy

[AndreasD]

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

[alankoen123]

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.

[Toddfoster]

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.

2. 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