Getting one’s own domain and SEO

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  ritournelleblog · Member · Dec 26, 2010 at 9:56 pm

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  I’m considering getting my own domain for my blog http://ritournelleblog.wordpress.com
  However, I get most of my traffic from search engines. I’m wondering if getting a domain and therefore changing all the adresses of my blog might compromise that and dramatically decrease traffic on my blog.

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  timethief · Member · Dec 26, 2010 at 10:32 pm

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  Id you purchase domain mapping and your blog remains free hosted by wordpress.com you will see no appreciable changes. Your visitors will be seamlessly redirected and there will be no SEO impact. But If you move to hiring a web host and self hosting a wordpress.ORG install even if your purchase domain mapping, then it’s my experience that the search engine traffic and in fact all traffic will drop off. http://en.support.wordpress.com/domain-mapping/

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  ritournelleblog · Member · Dec 26, 2010 at 11:08 pm

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  Thanks for your prompt answer timethief!

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  timethief · Member · Dec 26, 2010 at 11:52 pm

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  You are welcome. :)

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  raincoaster · Member · Dec 28, 2010 at 8:32 am

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  Actually, I am living proof that is not quite correct.

  It will not dramatically decrease the visits on that blog, but a subdomain of a HUGE domain, like wordpress.com, always has more SEO than a unique domain name. If you have an existing readership, the effect won’t be huge, but you will notice a difference if you start a new blog with a unique domain name vs the growth you’d get on a new blog with a wordpress.com subdomain. In that case, it can be quite substantial.