Subdomains vs Subfolders
-
I've had a good read on this one and just wondered whether the info on the below link is still valid 3 years on:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites
My main site is a forum but I want to add further content in the form of a blog. It seems logical to me that domain.com/blog/ would make more sense than blog.domain.com as the the content and inbound links to the blog would also help the forum where it's on the same subdomain, however I just wanted to make sure that was still the case as I've also read that Google now see a subdomain and subfolder in the same way if set up correctly in webmaster tools and this solution would look neater if that was the case.
Thanks all.
-
Rand,
Do you still stick by this, or have you noticed a shift in the metrics given the update from Matt Cutts on this very subject.
Should I structure my site using subdomains or subdirectories? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MswMYk05tk
-
I just mean the uniquely named portion of the subdomain, e.g. the "xyz" in xyz.domainname.com
-
Thanks for clearing that up Rand, I'll stick to the one subdomain.
-
What is subdomian extension? I cant find it in Wiki or Google. When would one use it?
-
All the testing, research and examples I've seen in the past few years (and even the past few months) strongly suggest that the same principles still hold true.
Subdomains SOMETIMES inherit and pass link/trust/quality/ranking metrics between one another
Subfolders ALWAYS inherit and pass link/trust/quality/ranking metrics across the same subdomain
Thus, having a single subdomain (even just domainname.tld with no subdomain extension) with all of your content is absolutely ideal from an SEO perspective. It's also more usable and brandable, too IMO.
-
These links are the one's that got me thinking.
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4339166.htm
Also, I was under the impression that sub forums on one domain were viewed as different sites in the SERPs but try searching for 'bodybuilding'. You'll see www.bodybuilding.com at the top and a list of pages from that site and 2 further subdirectories are included (forum.bodybuilding.com and bodyspace.bodybuilding.com).
Although a personal preference only, I prefer subdomains and think forum.domain.com and blog.domain.com look much better than domain.com/forum and I would do it this way IF the rankings were unaffected.
-
I've read tens, possibly hundreds of articles on subdomains vs folders.
I still prefer the folder approach (it makes more sense to me) but I'd be interested in seeing the article you refer to that says Google now views SD the same as folders. Much appreciated!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Internal Linking - Post links vs Side Bar Links behaving differently
Hi, I have a question regarding the internal linking behavior. My website is www.hindimeaning.com which is approx 3 years old. I have approx 450 posts. Now i have a widget on right sidebar "Popular posts". A widget below my posts "Related Posts". And a simple html CSS menu above the posts (I removed menu around 6 month before so currently it will not show.) I crawled my site with moz crawler (same are the result from google crawler as well) and it shows menus links as internal links. While sidebar widget "Popular posts" and "Related Posts" are not showing as internal links. If we talk theoretically what i learn till now is "every link on a page behaves as internal link". Then why the widget links are not showing as internal links. Thanks, Mahesh Kumar
Link Building | | chaudhary04890 -
DA vs PA when building links
When building links to your site from other sites, what is more important or what weights more heavily? Say a site has a DA of 20 and PA of 34 for that page I want a link from. Say another site has the revese, a DA of 34 and a PA of 20. All things being equal, which site's link to me would be better? The one with a higher DA or the one with a higher PA for the on the specific page I would get a link?
Link Building | | studio35design0 -
Yandex vs. Google
I own an e-commerce website and my primary keyword ranks on page one of Yandex, but page 12 of Google. I have had some (likely less than optimal) links built to my website over the years. Considering Yandex doesn't take links into account, which is more likely? a. My high ranking on Yandex is indicative of where I COULD be ranking on Google if the unnatural links weren't being held against me. b. My page 12 ranking on Google is indicative that because links are still of value in Google, all of the sites above me have more and/or better quality of them. For example, A LOT more big name sites rank highly in Google as opposed to Yandex... presumably because they have a ton of good links that I (and other smaller sites) can't naturally get. Thoughts?
Link Building | | riahc0 -
Dofollow vs nofollow for place listings?
Our travel website has thousands of places, each with an individual page, that users can interact with via our site. The info includes a link back to the place's main web presence if available (homepage, Facebook page, hosted listing elsewhere, etc.). We have no problem passing along PageRank to these sites and setting the link as dofollow. However, due to the sheer number (50k+) of these place pages that have the same anchor text of "Visit Website" in the same location on every page, I fear Google will see us as spammy and ding us. That said, would it be better to set these external links as dofollow or nofollow (or leave them as part of the Javascript as they are now)? Thank you in advance!
Link Building | | brandonRT0 -
Inbound links vs. internal links
Which scenario does more to help SEO - A) An inbound link from a low traffic/low page rank site to my site B) An internal link where one page of my site links to another page on my site
Link Building | | DVanSchepen0 -
Do subdomains (eg .blogspot.com) carry the same link juice as a .com or .co.uk?
Hi guys. Just wondered what people's thoughts were on the value of a link from a subdomain vs a .com or .co.uk - I have several clients operating within the UK crafts sector, and there are a huge number of blogspot blogs with decent PR etc. Given that anyone can start one of these for free (and therefore theoretically get themselves hundreds of bogus links), I wonder whether they carry the same value as an independent site. I'll look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts 🙂
Link Building | | Aceville. 00 -
Links per Site vs. Domain Authority
Here's a quaint one: 1. Posting follow links on another site helps increase one's domain authority. 2. If I post to the same site/forum with followed links each week, would my domain authority reap a domain authority increase benefit? In short, is there any domain authority benefit to continually post links to a site to which I've already posted a follow link?
Link Building | | GreenCupboards0 -
Link Acquisition - PA vs PR
I am wondering if someone can please advise on link acquisition. I have the opportunity to acquire a few good backlinks that will bring both traffic and some potential link juice. All things aside, if we are strictly comparing Page Authority with Google PageRank which will provide the most benefit to my SERP ranking? 1. Google PageRank 4 and Page Authority of 25 or 2. Google PageRank 2 and Page Authority of 35 We are strictly talking about SERPs!
Link Building | | initialeffort1