Impact of Moving a High Traffic Blog to Its Own Domain

[alika]

I'm working with this organization that has a very high traffic blog. Their blog is in top 100 blogs of Technorati -- and traffic continues to grow. The main site also generates huge traffic.

The new boss wants to move the blog away from the site of the main organization into its separate domain. They have recently gotten the domain name for the blog's exact name, so instead of blog.URL.com the blog can now use its own name. The boss' main beef is that the URL is too cumbersome for him.

What are the effects of moving the high traffic blog (that gets lots of social media play and backlinks) away from the main organization blog from the search engine perspective? How will it affect the blog, as well as the main organization's site?

[FranticFish]

The main effect is that even if it links to the main site, a link to it is no longer a link to the main site.

If moving it to its own domain means that there will be less navigation from it to the main site (i.e. it won't take the 'global nav' menu but instead treat the main site like a separate site) then traffic to the main site via the blog could be affected too.

Finally, if the blog is the part of the site that updates regularly and gets new links because of this, but the main site doesn't, then its possible that the performance of the main site could be affected negatively over time. The concept is of new pages that link to old pages getting new links and the 'freshness' filtering through. There was a thread here recently that discussed this but I can't find it now.

Personally I would not do this if this were my site, but others might think differently.

[franky123]

If blog go to on a separate domain name then it will be harmful for both main site and blog. Because visitors may be well familiar with main site and blog as well but when it will convert on new domain then it will be a fresh blog for them. You also loss back links. I think it is not good idea to transfer blog on a new domain.

Thanks
Franky

[wheel]

Perhaps do a 301 of the new domain through to the current blog?

[alika]

They're doing a redirect right now from the new domain to the current blog.URL.com. But the new boss thinks that it is cumbersome and simply wants to use the new domain. My goal is to convince him that the cons outweigh the pros

[Robert Charlton]

FranticFish describes the likely negative effects to the main site very well.

But the new boss thinks that it is cumbersome and simply wants to use the new domain.

I assume that the primary purpose of the blog is to help boost rankings and traffic to the main site. I probably would have set it up as example.com/blog, which is a common setup, rather than as blog.example.com... but I wouldn't make that change to a successful high traffic site. I certainly wouldn't move it to another domain.

The question is which site is the tail and which site is the dog?

[HuskyPup]

I wouldn't be so sure that this is not a bad idea.

Firstly so long as it is linked to the main site Google will associate it as the same corporate owner and a huge amount of credibility will immediately pass along.

Secondly, any strong blog/forum/site that has a lot of regular followers do search out where it has moved to if something has gone wrong or seemingly disappeared.

Who remembers a few years ago when WebmasterWorld had a massive problem and we all found ourselves on another site somewhere else before the issue was resolved?

There is loyalty out there...I assume that you will be re-creating the existing blog on example.com precisely as it exists now and re-directing blog.example.com urls to the new site so that all existing links are retained?

And, I hate starting a sentence with a conjunction, let's take probably the most famous move of all del.icio.us

That worked...:-)

Probably your biggest problem will be of timing and moving everything and letting Google do its own bit in removal and re-spidering. They did WebmasterWorld pretty quickly and if it's as popular as you say I have no doubt that there will only be a minimal delay in updating to the new site.

Obviously I seem to be the only one who thinks this way...nothing new then? :-)

[tedster]

Your not alone, HuskyPup. If there are good reasons for the move (because after all, it does take work), and if the site is very popular, then you're probably not looking at a major traffic disruption. A short term traffic dip, yes, most likely - assuming the move is technically sound and the links are all changed accurately.

This would not be my view for a site that is just beginning to build a following. But when you're already on top of your game, then it's the kind of site that Google really wants to show in the results. In that case, the spidering and re-indexing can be pretty efficient.

[alika]

This is great. Huskypup and Tedster made me see it differently :o)

If we move the blog, what will the steps we need to take from an SEO perspective?

Thanks guys ... this is really great.

[ecmedia]

Not all blogs need SEO. Technically speaking, indeed, moving to a new domain is going to be bad, but not all websites and blogs rely on search engines for their traffic and popularity. If a blog is as popular as Perez Hilton or Matt Cutts the fans will still find it and keep coming back and even add new links. This issue needs to be seen from a branding perspective also and that is what your boss is thinking about.

[HuskyPup]

If we move the blog, what will the steps we need to take from an SEO perspective?

Which blogging programme are you currently using or is it custom-made?

[alika]

Wordpress.

Yes, one factor we're looking at is the fact that search engines is not the dominant source of traffic for the site. We'd like to increase search engine traffic, but the main drivers of traffic right now are referrals, email newsletter, direct and social media. Search engines only account for about 25-30% of the blog's traffic.

[TheMadScientist]

I'd factor in cross-linking before making the decision personally... I think there may be more leeway in cross-linking subdomain.example.com and www.example.com than there might be cross-linking blog-example.com and example.com.

Personally, IMO, if it's not broken, don't fix it. You might explain to the new person most traffic is not type in and make it easier to bookmark the blog right where it is... It's really not at all cumbersome to click a bookmark regardless of the domain name. Personally, I think I would not move it, because if for some reason, any reason, it doesn't work, it will end up being your fault, even if you advised against it...

Think of it this way:
If you move the blog and traffic drops to either site or doesn't recover to the blog as fast as it's thought it should, it's your job lost... Google could even make a change during the transition and traffic to the main site might drop, but it's still your job lost, even if moving the blog was not the cause of the drop. You're dealing with 'knowns' right now, so if traffic to one or the other drops you know you're not the cause, but as soon as you throw an 'unknown' or 'difference' in any loss is going to be seen as you causing it, even if you didn't, or advised against the cause...

Do you really want to fix it if it's not broken?
Personally, I wouldn't.

[buckworks]

assuming the move is technically sound and the links are all changed accurately

Yes. It CAN be done.

Your primary SEO concern will be setting up 301 redirects so that old URLs are accurately redirected to their nearest possible new equivalents.

Vital point: each redirect needs to be one step, no chains of redirects, please. Spell that out clearly to whoever will be doing that work.

Take advantage of the move as an opportunity to improve how the blog is optimized ... better semantic structure in the templates, savvier crosslinking within the site, and so on. If you do things right you could end up with a significantly stronger long tail, enough to make any turmoil from the move more than worthwhile.

---------

Sometimes bosses have big-picture reasons for decisions that make their staff shudder, so don't be too quick to assume that the move would have negative results overall.

[alika]

Just wondering - if you move the blog to its new domain, at what point should we delete the blog from the current domain? Should we delete the old blog the moment the blog at the new domain goes live?

[buckworks]

You can take your time about deleting the old pages, but DO make sure that all the 301 redirects are ready to activate the moment the new blog goes live.

[Robert Charlton]

My question about "which site is the tail and which site is the dog" still applies. I should have added: "or are there two dogs?"

If main site is, eg, WidgetVillage.tld, and new domain is WidgetVillageBlog.tld, I wouldn't do the move; I'd keep the subdomain.

If the new domain is WorldOfWidgets.tld and it is an independent "brand", not just a feeder to WidgetVillage.tld, then the move makes sense.

Before making the move, I would do a check of existing external backlinks into the blog, using either Yahoo Site Explorer or an independently available backlink database, and make sure you redirect those links in particular. Otherwise, I wouldn't redirect every single page.

After the move, you should try to get some of the most important links changed to the new pages, whether you've redirected them or not. I think such a change would confirm some trust issues for Google, and could also protect you from future vicissitudes of how 301s might be treated.

[TheMadScientist]

Just wondering - if you move the blog to its new domain, at what point should we delete the blog from the current domain? Should we delete the old blog the moment the blog at the new domain goes live?

If you redirect all pages you are 'essentially deleting' the old version with the 301 redirects, because the old pages are no longer accessible, so if you redirect correctly, then there is no need to ever delete it, or you could delete it as soon as the redirects are in place... The content is no longer accessible at the old location when you redirect properly.

[alika]

My question about "which site is the tail and which site is the dog" still applies. I should have added: "or are there two dogs?"

There are two dogs.

The blog was given its own name, not just as an Organization's Blog. The blog has grown so much that it has developed into its own brand, and is more known by its name rather than the fact that it is the organization's blog.

They were able to finally purchase the domain of the blog's specific name. They are currently doing redirects from the blog's specific domain name to the current blog.URL.com - and now the boss simply wants to use the current domain name.

In terms of freshness of content, the main site produces a number of studies everyday and their folks are always in the news (CNN, Washington Post, etc) so there's no shortage of content and links for the main site.

Funny thing -- the boss was more concerned about the Tweetmeme counters going back to zero if and when they move!

My other concern is getting again in Google News. The main site - and the blog - get in Google News. If the blog is moved to a new domain, am I correct to assume that it will be considered a new site and they will have to apply again to Google News?

[tedster]

The move does sound like a good decision from a branding point of view. Just get the redirects right and you should be OK.

Here's the Google News Help page on changing the address for an already established Google News site: [google.com...]

[Robert Charlton]

There are two dogs.

Whoof. Whoof. ;)

Go for it!