One broad website or several smaller ones?

[pcjc1999]

Hi,

I am new here and have been looking through previous posts. This will probably sound like such a newbie question, but I am wondering about how to set up my website(s).

Should I set up several websites, or blogs targeting each of my related keywords?

Or do I set up one site, which is broad, but still a niche, and optimize each page for my keywords?


Appreciate any thoughts as I just have no idea which way to go.

Thanks!

 

[djbaxter]

If it's just a matter of optimizing for specific keywords, do it with one site, perhaps or perhaps not requiring separate pages depending on the keywords and how similar they are.

If you want to target different unrelated products, you have a choice of different domains or using subdomains. Go for subdomains if you want to aim at branding your "company" with different products; go for different domains if you don't want one linked to another.

 

[pcjc1999]

another question on relating websites

Thank you so much for replying minstrel!

Appreciate the advice - I was typing another message here when I had an ah-ha moment.

If I can just clarify something - let's say I do set up an actual website, not just a blog, All about dogs.com.

Now, if I have a page that I am marketing a dog leash - if I optimize effectively, will that page come up for my keywords or will the main home page?

Is that what you mean with subdomains?

Thank you.

 

[djbaxter]

No. If you devote a page to dog leashes on your main site dog.com, that page should be optimized for the search terms "dog leash" and "dog leashes", with some variations in the content and title, and in anchor text for links to that page (including your internal navigation links). You might also add separate pages for training leashes, choke collars, muzzles, or whatever.

Or, if you had a lot of different products under the category of dog leashes and wanted to highlight the category with additiona pages for various subtypes of leashes, you might want to set it up as a subdomain like leashes.dogs.com - that would have some SEO advantages if there were enough pages to justify having a subdomain.

 

[victorm]

mistrel is spot on, but alternatively you can try categories as folders as well with more or less the same SEO impact as long as you have an independent category page. I mean dogs.com/leashes as category independent page, and you can build dogs.com/leashes/training-leashes.html to host the optimized page for the longtail "training leashes".
taxonomy can be very different depending on what your longtails and related terms are (longtails are always related terms, but related terms are not always longtails).

 

[pcjc1999]

Awesome advice - thanks!

Now what are the differences of using a blog vs. a website?

I actually do have both a site and a blog set up right now for another topic, I use the blog just to discuss and point back to my site.

I had not actually thought of just setting up a blog with categories and all -

What do you do? Blog, Site, Both???

 

[aditd5]

Can't you do them both?
If only one: I would go with a big site.

 

[kbldshmn]

Some CMS like Wordpress, Joomla, and Drupal allow you to combine websites with blogs. The goal is to continuously keep the site content fresh through the use of blog posts. From what I've read, with all things being equal, Google and other major search engines favor fresh content over stagnant ones.

 

[James S.]

Hello,

In reguards to needing a website or a blog, you really do need both, a website that you own and control, which will allow you the ability to build your own online asset.

And a blog or blogs (wordpress.com, blogger.com, etc...) that you can use to promote your website with, which will also help you get more backlinks and targeted traffic.

Hope that helps : - )

 

[EmilyParkinson]

It really depends on what your competition is for your KWs, but Google seems to favor larger, authority sites more and more.

 

[ritta]

In my experience, sites with larger footprint are easier to position on Google.