I dont currently use blogs Is a blog a sensible strategy for SEO developer? or is it still more sensible developing full fledged web sites and increasing my pages on that?
It all depends on how much effort you are willing to put in... A blog is good for SEO - But just like any site, unless you actually write the content it won't get anywhere.
well thats true and effort isnt a problem but my question is realy asking , is there an advantage using a blog for seo purposes as opposed to continuing to build a well structured site. in effect are bloggs only for people who cant code?
Yes. If you want to start playing with blogs, I guess you should start with blogger.com (Even though I think it is very limided and actually somewhat average as far as blog tools go). It's the quickest easiest to get something online. If you really want to give blogging a serious attempt, I'd buy yourself a fresh domain, and use WordPress... You really can't beat it.
Blogs are working well for me at the moment. But like every seo technique, as it becomes more popular - and the se algorithm's are 'adjusted'; then their effectiveness will decrease. If you find something that really works my rule is, "keep it to yourself" Whichs begs the question, why am I replying to this posting? ...doh!!!
I use spaces.msn.com.. these blogs get indexed and ranked extremely quick with all search engines.. Especially google. I have had better success this on google than with blogger.. I am guessing its due to the msn domain name.. I use blogs to put "press releases" out for my various sites. They seem to drive some pretty good traffic.
In all honesty - Spaces is one of the worst blog tools out there... I would not recommend someone to use it as it has hardly any of the key features of other blogs, and it is almost un-customisable.
Blogger is great.. I use my blog http://findwhatiwrite.blogspot.com/ for lots of different seo purposes. Just did a restyle from the standard templates, it's working great. But SEbasic is right when it comes to maintaining the blog, it is a lot of work but it pays off. I would reccommend using blogger.
This whole blogging as SEO technique makes me sick.. when did blogging become an SEO technique? I guess at the same time when it became "content spamming". Don't get me wrong I like to read interesting blogs even though I don't blog myself (playing with Y!360 doesn't count, I guess..). But, why would you have a blog to support your site's popularity - writing content for secondary source and not to post it on your primary site? I think posting the same useful and unique articles/content on your main site would make more difference than creating a blog and linking to your main site.. unles those articles usless and you don't want to spoil the original site. Now, posting pressreleases on news or PR sites like PRWeb etc is comletely different thing - this is strategique marketing where you can apply your SEO skills too and taking advantage of it is good - it always was, not only in SEO, but in general marketing. Convince me if I'm wrong? I guess, I can see a few reasons creating blogs as secondary source, but not as SEO technique - not at all. If you're going to write on-topic articles, really good content - I would keep it on my main site. Make sure its indaxable, syndicate it by making RSS available - link to the articles from your internal pages as reference material and from them to your products and services. There are no problems with SEs indexing content/pages if you build them simple engough and they will visit you pretty often if your content will be updating.
Have you thought that blogs can be used for SEO in their own right... I've gotta say, this statement Made me laugh... How can you criticise something you've never (By your own admission) even tried. People with closed minds make me sick... Hehe
I never said it doesn't work. The purpose of blogging to create content with solid purpose of promoting another site and not really caring for the blog itself... I'm sorry, caring for it as SEO technique.
I've build whole sites using blog engines that promote themselves... WordPress is actually a really good CMS by most people's standards, even if it is a "blogging tool" For me, all that means, is that I can more easily provide XML feeds for syndication (more backlinks), email in new pages (Much more convenient for adding content), and utilise the hundreds of scripts available for them, all the way from forums (Yes, forums) to XML aggregators (I found an AWESOME script for this if anyone is interested). By all means don't use the tools available - It gives someone like me a headstart
Here we go, healthy on topic conversation - that what we need here and not personal attacs. Sorry if I sounded that in my first message, but I think this is a great thread to discuss these kind of questions. I'm not against the tools and I am using CMS myself, I looked into WordPress and Movabletype too - the tools are great no questions asked, but here is something else I'm worring about. Wasn't the question about creating a blog (third party blog) as SEO technique directed on promotion of another site? So far, SEbasic, you said you used blogs to promote themselves - that's fine, there is sence in it, but we're talking about creating blog to promote another site. The whole idea of it is pretty similar to cloaking and doorway pages.. isn't it? I mean creating third party blog with content that is related and frequently updated linking to the main site.. unfortunately this kind of SEO technique has one purpose and I'm sure you noticed it drives people to create spamming blogs (I guess because they cant' write) or a lot of low quality content and just BS... these blogs rising content theft problem because most of them directed on fast content generation and linking to the main site to promote it.
This might be slightly off topic - I have tried using blogs to dodge the sandbox on Google but it hasn't worked, seems they dislike subdomains as much as second level domains.
OK, I think we need clarification from the first poster in this thread... Saying that, Using a blog as a tool to promote another site is good too (I do that also)... If we were talking about redirecting visitors from the blog to the site you are promoting, yet allowing search engines to see the blog, then it would be cloaking. Itherwise I simply see it as a great PR exercise. You can point people to the blog for news about your company, the industry as a whole or whatever. Like anything, the blog engine is open to abuse (In terms of plagerism and so on), but frankly, so is every other system available for publishing a site. I hear your concerns and to a certian extent agree. I do however think that having more than one site is always a good idea and a blog provides a fantastic service for those who would like a simple and effective website online and indexed within a very short period of time. If the person who owns the blog uses it to spam, then fine - better than doing it on their main site and having the risl of getting penalised, but I'm pretty sure that in this case we're talking about using a blog as a genuine resource - which in that caser makes no dirrerence if it is a blog or not... In the old company I worked for, we created mini-sites to support our main site (The mini-sites ended up being larger in page count than the original), but does that mean we were spamming? I don't think so...
Fair enough. I feel like we on the same note here or at least partially Sorry for my english, sometime s its very hard to express myself using third language I learned. There should be a simple logic in creating supporting sites or blogs and usually it is. For examole my friend created blog for his clients as local industry related news - he doesn't like it to have in his signatures (he has problems with competitors stealing it) and he doesn't promote it, but he has a separate domain name and he sends it out as newsletters to all of his clients. If you're a web master and creating wide theme blog (I mean everything you do you can blog about) it does make sense too. But too often I see web masters creating blogs for their clients and advising them to write "something" to their industry related material. I see people reposting whole articles from major newspapers and online publications... some people just look lame writing every day a post from one sentence and linking with their keywords to their site. What I'm trying to say, if I wanted to create a supporting blog to my main site, I would define it purpose first. Pure SEO purpose to concentrate on keyword reach content, drive search engines attention and theming it to my main site... not an option to me. Writing strong and interesting to your visitors articles, I would think twice before putting them on separate domain - also depending on my site's structure. Usually, I would post them on my site to create more content rich pages, gain firm status and expand my keyphrases and attract dirrect traffic. As I said, it also depends on the web site you have, but define the reasons first.
What is the difference between a blog and a normal website? None! That's right... Nothing about SEO in there, it's just a CMS. Most of them have lots and lots of code, even hidden commented tags that appear indexed and don't bring anything positive for you... As far as usability goes, a average Joe is more interested in a "normal" website instead of a blog with the same structure and lots of text. Some of those "average" Joe's call blogs "personal pages"... That's your choice, you can do a website with lots of content and keep it updated or you can blog... There are a lot of blogs out there, but there hasn't that amount of quality websites about a ninche topic... It's your choice, you can blog like everyone else or you can do something new and earn some decent bucks!