Do I need to move my blog?

Discussions
#1

So I started a blog, mainly to write about Python (PySkool.com). I wrote a few Python tutorials, but got less than 5 visitors a day, and 0 on many days.

Then I started writing about career growth and soft skills, and the number of people ballooned. I am now writing a book about growing your career (which I’m no longer going to target at just programmers).

And that’s got me wondering: Do I need to move my blog to a new website, one not focussed on programming (and get rid of programming blogs- though they do get a few organic visitors now)?

The only advantage I can see is that the message will be more targeted. But the disadvantages are I lose all my SEO benefit, not to mention any links/bookmarks.

Has anyone does this, or do you have any thoughts?

1 Like
#2

Any reason you couldn’t redirect old URLs to preserve most of the SEO benefit and all existing links/bookmarks?

#3

I’m a bit worried I’ll lose my SEO ranking.

I guess it doesn’t matter that much- I don’t think most people care about the url name anyway. I’ll focus on putting content out instead.

#4

Hey there @shantnu, I’ve actually moved certain posts from one domain to another and kept the SEO rankings just fine by doing a 301 redirect in the .htaccess file of the old domain to the new one.

That being said, I would keep the Python-related articles on PySkool.com, and move the others over to a domain where the content will be focused on the soft skills.

#5

Thanks @ryanbattles . I wanted to know if someone had practically done it, and if they had faced any problems. I since found out that startupchat.co has also moved to wpcurve.com, and they seem to be doing ok as well.

That said, I can’t find any compelling reason to move. As long as I start writing blogs for the new audience, does it matter that much what the actual url is (as most people will come from email list, other links)?

#6

If you need to move, move. Your rankings will probably (but not definitely) take a hit, but should recover eventually. And there are steps that you can take to minimise the damage.

Make sure you have a full sitemap for the “old” domain, setup the 301s for each individual page, register the switch in your Google Webmaster Tools account/s, create a new sitemap (for the new domain) and submit it to Google.

Good luck!

#7

From a SEO perspective, 301 redirect is what you want to do for the content you move.

From a branding perspective, I would move towards whatever brand you are going to move to quickly and decisively. The sooner you move, the less legacy stuff you are dealing with and the more valuable your new brand becomes as time goes on.

I am not sure I would keep two brands. I would pick the one that has the traction and go as far as you care to go with it. Dividing your time and marketing energy in two places doesn’t usually work well for one person.