Do Off-Topic Posts Affect Page Rank?
I have a blog which, up until now, has always focused on taxes. I have great page rankings when using tax terms. Taxes are my bread-and-butter of my business and therefore it’s crucial I stay highly ranked in that ares. I would like to start posting about some general business topics, but I’m afraid the search engines may see my keywords move away from taxes and ding my page rankings for tax searches. Is this a valid concern?
One Response
carsten c
30 Sep 2009
1. PageRank is independent from keywords, so no, it won’t be affected
2. If it is off-topic, but at least somewhat related, it can actually help you to attract traffic from new keywords
3. If it is completely off-topic and you have a significant portion of such posts, then it can delude your web sites "theme" (most search engines categorize sites internally).
If you post frequently off-topic stuff, you might want to consider starting a new blog on a different domain. This is not only good for search engine optimization, but your readers as well. You can refer people via a link to your other blog, if they are interested in your off-topic writing.
Also consider to weave in the off-topic stuff into on-topic posts or on-topic stuff into the off-topic posts. This can also help, allows you to include some personal stuff in your on-topic posts and making them more authentic and believable. It also helps people to connect with you on a more personal level.