Add an online shop to a blog already ranked

[hallen77]

Hi,

 

I've a blog well ranked in his niche and I'd like to use its traffic for my new prestashop online shop, which is in the same niche.

 

Because my blog is ranked but not my online shop, from a SEO point of view what would be the best solution :

 

1) my-blog.com/shop

2) my-shop.com/blog

3) host on 2 different domains the online shop and the blog (but there will be many links from the blog to the shop)

 

 

 

Thanks

Edited July 28, 2014 by Doly77 (see edit history)

[Kimss]

I'd say the first option is the best one out of the three.

As I understand it, the second option would negate any SEO you've done on your blog and you'd basically be starting from scratch. You might even run into issues with duplicate content and be even worse off than if you started from scratch.

The third option is problematic because something that really gets Google's panties in a bunch is massive linking between two sites owned by the same person/company. And no, you probably can't hide the overlapping interests from Google

 

Also, don't do shop.my-blog.com. As I understand it, Google will view this as a separate domain and this could easily mean you'd be facing the same issue as with option 3.

[hallen77]

I'd say the first option is the best one out of the three.

As I understand it, the second option would negate any SEO you've done on your blog and you'd basically be starting from scratch. You might even run into issues with duplicate content and be even worse off than if you started from scratch.

The third option is problematic because something that really gets Google's panties in a bunch is massive linking between two sites owned by the same person/company. And no, you probably can't hide the overlapping interests from Google

 

Also, don't do shop.my-blog.com. As I understand it, Google will view this as a separate domain and this could easily mean you'd be facing the same issue as with option 3.

 

Thanks for your answer. Actually, I propose 3 options but if there is another one and better one, feel free to write it.

[Kimss]

It's difficult to say without knowing what your long term plans are, what your niche is, what the competition's like and so on.

 

All things being equal, I think the first option is the best

[El Patron]

surprised this not a mentioned candidate, use store.yourdomain.com

 

i.e. subdomain

 

install in subdomain, then add button to blog for shopping

 

of course there may be considerations of running a heavier ecommerce hosting package that is designed for blog

[Kimss]

surprised this not a mentioned candidate, use store.yourdomain.com

 

i.e. subdomain

 

 

I actually did mention that and there are things to consider, before choosing to go with a subdomain. I might've jumped the gun a bit, in claiming that Google will view subdomains as separate domains. Apparently, the official position of Google (at the moment) is "whatever floats your boat". But this doesn't mean you can do whatever with a subdomain - for example, heavy or exclusive linking from your-blog.com to shop.your-blog.com is something Google probably will view as link spamming.

In other words, while it's not excactly a matter of Google viewing subdomains as separate domains by definition, there are situations where they do and with regards to outfitting a blog with a shop, this is something worth taking into consideration.

 

In my opinion subdomains are best suited to be used as separate domains. For instance, local sites of a brand (i.e. uk.yourbrand.com, de.yourbrand.com and so on) or different, not closely related, activities of your business (i.e. pirelli.your-wholesale-b2b-business.com, mondaviwines.your-wholesale-b2b-business.com and so on).

[El Patron]

1) my-blog.com/shop

2) my-shop.com/blog

3) host on 2 different domains the online shop and the blog (but there will be many links from the blog to the shop)

 

sorry don't see the sub-domain but my reading comprehension degrades as the day gets longer.

 

using store.somedomain is used by many, and I don't think with SEO issues, you are correct about using a ccTLD type subdomain, i.e. fr/de etc. they are treated as seperate domains.

 

and actually there is famous moderator nemo1 that have ps blog and store subdomain, you may want to pm him to review.

 

I don't think there is issue with seo using subdomain unless you have duplicate content, that is the big no no.

[Dh42]

Using a sub domain will negate all of the positive effects of having shop on a domain with an established blog. 

 

"Since search engines keep different metrics for domains than they do subdomains, it is recommended that webmasters place link-worthy content like blogs in subfolders rather than subdomains. (i.e. www.example.com/blog/ rather than blog.example.com) The notable exceptions to this are language-specific websites. (i.e., en.example.com for the English version of the website)."

 

Taken from http://moz.com/learn/seo/domain

 

This post also talks about it as well as a hindsight move, http://moz.com/community/q/moz-s-official-stance-on-subdomain-vs-subfolder-does-it-need-updating

[Kimss]

using store.somedomain is used by many, and I don't think with SEO issues

 

I'm not saying it can't be done or there's no good reason to do it. Looking at usability and aesthetics there are some advantages to using subdomains. I'm just saying that at the end of the day, there are drawbacks and limitations you have to take into consideration, before choosing to use a subdomain.

 

A lot of people used to use subdomains for link building to their primary site and spamming the SERP by ranking the site and subdomain on the same keywords. Google has obviously closed those "loopholes" and this means that while Google is recognizing subdomains as having valid uses, they probably will interpret certain types of behavior as malicious intent and will enforce some form of punishment or ban if they come across it. It also means that there are advantages to using subfolders instead of subdomains, with regards to leveraging existing page-rank.

[El Patron]

I don't have any particular preference nor do we need to defend any one opinion.  As for SEO, one can search the internet and find pros and cons, pick their side and post them. I personally find single content SEO rather boring.

[hallen77]

Thanks everyone for your answers.

[hallen77]

I'd say the first option is the best one out of the three.

As I understand it, the second option would negate any SEO you've done on your blog and you'd basically be starting from scratch. You might even run into issues with duplicate content and be even worse off than if you started from scratch.

The third option is problematic because something that really gets Google's panties in a bunch is massive linking between two sites owned by the same person/company. And no, you probably can't hide the overlapping interests from Google

 

Also, don't do shop.my-blog.com. As I understand it, Google will view this as a separate domain and this could easily mean you'd be facing the same issue as with option 3.

 

I heard that 2 different domains can work if the shop is incorporated in the blog top bar. In this case, Google will recognize the shop as a part of the blog (the main domain), and SEO juice will be transfered blog -> shop as well as shop -> blog

 

What do you think ?

[Dh42]

I personally would not do it that way. It is hard enough getting one domain to rank, much less getting 2 domains to rank. It would be twice as much trouble, cost twice as much, and take twice the time.