SEO downside for a blog on the homepage?

[oconnor1]

Hey Guys,


If you have a site that's going to focus heavily on daily news, what is the downside to having your blog on the homepage vs. having a static homepage and a separate blog/news section? I know the main benefit to a static page is you can have your keyword dense text and can be easier to rank for those terms vs. having ever changing content.

One other though, would you ever have your news page on the homepage for a period of time to build up links and then change the homepage to a static page and move the news section leaving a lot of links pointing to the homepage?

[parttimepoker]

If you have a news site, your front page should be your "blog" (assuming by blog you mean the thing you use to report news), or at least selections of it.

This is a false choice; you can have both your latest posts and lots of keyword text on your front page.

[Michael Martinez]

I would just stay with one design decision. Your objectives should include building up a substantial audience, who will come to expect the site to look a certain way.

Frankly, I agree with parttimepoker -- if it's a "news" site then give people news where they can find it.

[pokeraussie]

Usability > SEO. It would be pointless only considering SEO aspects of the site if users will hit the back button straight away.