Is Domain Mapping better for SEO ?
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Hi
I have been using the free WordPress.com for quite a while now and I would like to contribute something back to WordPress by purchasing a .com Domain and mapping it to my http://mitaroygoahotel.wordpress.com blog.
Is http://www.mitaroygoahotel.com better for SEO than mitaroygoahotel.wordpress.com ?
Or will the Domain change only be for cosmetic value (i.e. looks more professional) ?
Cheers in advance !
Mihir Nayak
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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No, it is significantly worse. URLs on a huge domain like Whatever.Wordpress.com always outpull URLs on unique and tiny domains like Whatever.com, Sad but true; there are, however, many other reasons to get a unique domain name, and they can override this negative effect.
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The benefits of owning your own domain >
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/01/08/bloggers-get-your-own-domain/
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2008/06/26/how-and-why-to-get-your-own-domain/ -
Hey guys, thanks a lot for your replies.
Great Point ! I totally agree @timethief “A domain name tends to give your website an aura of respectability. Your customers will feel more comfortable buying whatever it is that you are selling if you have your own domain name because it makes your customers feel that they are dealing with a large, established company, rather than with some fly by night operator”
@timethief says “If your blog is a subdomain under a free hosting website, it’s hard take your page ranking to the top”
@raincoaster says “URLs on a huge domain like Whatever.Wordpress.com always outpull URLs on unique and tiny domains like Whatever.com, Sad but true”
So who is right, @timethief or @raincoaster ??? Can you both agree on one viewpoint ???
Cheers
Mihir -
I don’t see any direct contradiction between tt and rc’s replies. Each of them knows well the arguments for yours.com, and the arguments for yours.wordpress.com.
If SEO is all you’re interested in, then yours.wordpress.com is almost certainly better for you. Exception: you’re going to be the next google. If that’s the case, then grab nextgoogle.com (oops, too late), send a gift of stock to those of us who gave you advice, and make us all rich.
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@mymitaroy
I believe Staff here do an excellent job of the SEO that applies to the whole site. This is what raincoaster is referring to. Well, that PageRank belongs to the domain. It does not belong to the blogs on subdomains.I know for a fact that both the on page and off page SEO efforts each blogger undertakes on a subdomain here at wordpress.com uses here can improve their inndividual blog’s PageRank.
There are many factors that go into PageRanking. And, I know for a fact that if and only if a blogger is SEO savvy to all those factors they can achieve a higher PageRank on their own hosted own domain than they can achieve by remaining on a sub-domain. However, the vaerage blogger on a sub-dmain is not necessarily SEO savvy at all.
Frankly I believe purchasing your own domain , becoming SEO savvy and applying both on page and off-page SEO while being free hosted by wordpress.com is the best of both world’s scenario for most bloggers.
Lastly, I don’t believe that there will be many, if any, blogs bearing the .wordpress.com subdomain URL that will achieve a higher PageRank than the PageRank that the whole wordpress.com domain has. Do you?
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Thanks for both ur replies.
I guess a blog with a purchased domain hosted on wordpress.com is the way to go.
Cheers
Mihir -
This morning I published a guest post on my blog that directly relates to this issue. It’s a personal account by a regular reader of mine. > Why I switched from Godaddy (WordPress.org) to WordPress.com
http://onecoolsitebloggingtips.com/2010/04/20/why-i-switched-from-godaddy-wordpress-org-to-wordpress-com/ -
Uh, no, that is NOT what I meant at all.
In pure SEO terms, Whatever.wordpress.com will ALWAYS outrank Whatever.com, all other factors like content and theme and so on being equal. Timethief, I believe you’re simply incorrect on that point. Subdomains of WordPress.com have more power than WordPress.com blogs on their own domains; you should know this, since you’ve lived it repeatedly.
I have discussed this with a professional and well-respected SEO specialist and he cleared up many illusions I had about unique domain names.
If you want to be the top blog on a domain, then whatever.wordpress.com isn’t a good idea: whatever.com IS, because you’ll be the ONLY blog on that domain. But that’s not SEO, is it? It’s semantics.
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@raincoaster
Re: more power
I don’t really think we have a difference of opinion on this -it’s just semantics, as you have said. Also you are more articulate than I am. lol :DYes, blogs being free hosted by wordpress.com do get more traffic from the wordpress.com global tag pages. That’s why I said that IMO (and based on my own experience) the best of both world’s scenario is to get your own domain and have it free hosted by wordpress.com so you can benefit from that traffic. But it doesn’t stop there you can also improve your on page and off page SEO on the blog on your domain being free hosted by wordpress.com and attract even more traffic from beyond the wordpress.com community.
The primary motivator that appears to drive most wordpress.com free hosted bloggers to purchasing a domain and hiring a web host and installing wordpress.org software is the ability to post advertising and make a minuscule amount of income from readers who will click and purchase. The secondary motivator appears to be tital control over their templates and blogs. This includes the ability to use FTP uploading for installing themes and plugins as well as using codes that we cannot use on wordpress.com blogs, and the ability to edit templates.
Extracted from comment on the most recent post on my blog which I liked to above.
In my own case, when I purchased a domain and domain mapping and moved my personal blog content into a wordpress.org install my blog lost a significant amount of traffic it had been receiving from the wordpress.com community. It has never recovered from that loss even though I worked very hard during the first year to promote my blog throughout social networks. In fact, I’m so discouraged by the loss of readers that I may choose to move my domain back to being free hosted by wordpress.com. Then I will stand to attract more traffic, and I will save myself $50. every year that I have been spending on web hosting.
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But wait: this is over and above the WP.com global tag pages effect. I’m talking about two identical blogs, both hosted here, one with a custom domain and one without.
The one without will have more SEO.
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Good discussion…
I see that the OP title is about “better for SEO.” But that’s only one aspect of “better.”
I also see that raincoaster, timetheif, and I agree that it’s better to have your own domain:
* i.e. a web address that doesn’t include wordpress.com
* e.g., raincoaster.com, onecoolsitebloggingtips.com, changingway.org
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Agreed ***boo hoo** I want all this discussion in comment boxes on my blog. :(
Off_topic but somewhat related
Another point that many bloggers simply don’t get is that when one registers their blog in a web directory with a higher PageRank than their own blog has, and when they publish the web directory will outrank their blog under tags and or categories so the web directory entry for their post, will appear higher up in the SERPs than their post will appear.I see blogs with rows of web directory links that bloggers think are a backlink worth for example 6. Well if your blog does NOT rank in the web directory at the very top of the various categories and tags pages that it’s displayed in within the directory then that PR6 backlink is diminished.
The further down the page your blog appears on any web directory page under any category or tag and the further back it appears in the pages 2, 3, 4, etc. results in a baclink that’s not worth the PR6 that bloggers think it is. Worse still the bloggers are required to pace a backlink to the web directory on their front page. On a blog that display sidebars on every page in the blog, every time that blog loadsa page all the web directories you have placed badges for in your sidebars are getting a hit.
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Subdomains generally get lower scores. But then again, nobody here (that I know of) created the Google algorithm so it’s mostly guesswork.
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Ok, now I really feel like crying.
After I posted my reply, I thought that the discussion was over.
Now, just before I went to register my domain, I check here again and I am as confused as ever.
Just to check,
do both @raincoaster and @timethief agree that I should purchase the domain mitaroygoahotel.com and map it to my current blog for better seo ?
Cheers
Mihhir Nayak
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Yes. As soon as possible, in fact.
Your original question was ONLY about the SEO ramifications. But you don’t have any SEO to speak of at the moment, so you won’t lose much by the change. And there are tons of reasons to make the change.
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You’re welcome. At least you know it was an intriguing question, with this much discussion! Now you’re an expert on the subject.
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