Will hosting blog on wordpress or blogger have a higher rating in search engines?

kelp · 09-05-2006, 06:21 PM

Hey,
Would hosting a blog on Wordpress or Blogger on a subdomain give the webmaster an advantage over buying a domain and hosting it on your own server?

If it does, could I use this advantage by hosting my blog on one of two of those sites to establish it, port it to my own server, and redirect the blog to my domain?

Julie · 09-05-2006, 07:01 PM

No advantage.

RedruM* · 09-05-2006, 10:44 PM

hmm I thought it was a advantage because it is already pr.

Julie · 09-06-2006, 09:07 AM

Nope. Your individual blog doesn't have PR when you start it new. You still have to earn it.

RedruM* · 09-06-2006, 09:14 AM

dang.

Marketing Guy · 09-08-2006, 05:57 AM

Your blog is on a subdomain which for all intents and purposes a unique site, hence no PR and no special weight.

quicklode · 09-15-2006, 02:34 AM

There is another disadvantage with subdomains, eg on Blogger. You are prevented from properly using tools like Google Sitemap (that help Google discover your site content effectively), because you cannot place the .xml file in your domain root.

About the idea of using a domain redirection, I think the general wisdom is that search-engines don't like that...

Cheers
quicklode

kelp · 09-15-2006, 06:58 PM

Which of the following choices would you pick if you had a content website, and you were going to create a blog for it?:
1) Blog on Wordpress
2) Blog on Blogger
3) Blog on domain, blog.domain.com

My plan is to create a blog for my content site and create little summaries with links to the full articles on the content page. I would ping from my blog to the major pinging sites. Is this fine?

quicklode · 09-16-2006, 12:13 AM

I think this is possibly two separate questions (i) Blogger vs Wordpress, and (ii) Hosted vs Own Domain...

My view is that if you just want a straightforward easy to use blog, Blogger wins. Wordpress does have more functionality but much of it comes from plug-ins, and managing a database is scary for some.

Whether or not to use your own domain might depend on the nature of your content. For example, I deliberately choose to host Blogger Templates Directory on Blogger/Blogspot as a way to say 'anyone can do it'. On the other hand my actual blog proper ...still not active yet :-( ....is Blogger but on my own domain. Kind of the reverse of what you are discussing...!

quicklode

PuneetJvw · 09-16-2006, 02:01 AM

Advantage : You will get indexed very fast.

I would prefer Wordpress on my own domain then Wordpress.com then Blogger.com

Regards/Puneet M.

kelp · 09-16-2006, 12:12 PM

I'm going to host my blog on the same domain as the content website using Wordpress.

Buskerdoo · 09-16-2006, 12:27 PM

Wordpress on it's own domain.

I don't currently like subdomains for a number of reasons. But, I know some people say that subdomains on a strong main domain do get indexed more, etc. I have no proof of that and question it's validity.

Lynn Terry · 09-17-2006, 02:17 PM

A few things to consider...

You should always start out with your own domain name, regardless of what you are developing or where you are hosting it. That way all of the acquired backlinks and pagerank are *yours* - no matter what changes you might make in the future.

Blogger has been known to 'drop' accounts, meaning entire blogs just disappear. Sometimes for good reason, sometimes unknown. To be safe, it's better to control the content and database and control your backups.

You wont have detailed stats with a Blogger account. Your best bet is a third party solution. If you host your own Wordpress blog on your own domain name, you will generally have cpanel and awstats - which helps you to track your progress, see when your pages were spidered, and find out what search terms people are using to find your pages. Stats are invaluable to site growth.

Wordpress automatically notifies you anytime someone links to you or blogrolls you - and anytime someone blogs about one of your blog posts. Blogger doesnt. This is a VERY handy tool. There might be plugins and utilities (I'm assuming) to help those on Blogger to do tagging, trackbacks, pinging, etc... but it's all automatic with Wordpress.

It is a well known fact that frequently updated blogs stand to rank better and get more traffic. With Wordpress you can sit down once a week and write 7-20 posts, and then schedule them to automatically publish at certain times and on certain days. With Blogger you have to be in front of your computer to publish a post.

Here's what I do:

I get hosting for under $10/month that allows me to host up to 50 domains. Using Cpanel (included) I can install Wordpress with a couple of clicks. So for under 20 bucks and $10/mo... I'm in business - and in full control.

For each blog that you set up on Wordpress, you can also set up an associated account at Blogger.com. Use a related username and create an introductory post that tells who you are, where you blog (link to your wordpress blog) and what your objective is (or a compelling description of your blog and its purpose).

You'll need this blogger account to post comments on other blogs that use blogger (those that require you to log in before you can comment). Since you will be using Social Networking to grow your own blog, this is a great way to send people from blogger to your "real blog"

Angelus · 09-18-2006, 04:04 AM

Lynn, great post. All I can say is: WOW

p.l.u.r.

sitetutor · 09-18-2006, 04:09 AM

wordpress subdomain blogs may have some advantage to a brandnew domain name if you are not that experienced of a marketer. But when you build your blog on a free wordpress subdomain name, you won't be able to benefit from the link building efforts should you decide to add a website around the blog.