1000+ links from domain to subdomain - impacting?
-
Hi there!
I'm wondering if anyone could kindly help me with this question.
I have a domain let's say: thisdomain.com - and I also have a subdomain called widgets.thisdomain.com
thisdomain.com has approx 2000 pages on it. There are site wide links in the top nav, side nav and footer pointing to widgets.thisdomain.com (all with the same anchor text - not branded - it's a money term).
My question is, do you think this would be causing some kind of algorithmic penalty (over optimisation / penguin)?
Or, do you think Google realises these links are pointing to a subdomain and says, "hey, OK we understand these two domains could be related" or given subdomains are seen as essentially standalone websites, the algo is saying "hang on a minute, pal, this looks fishy, why are you linking to this subdomain 1000+ times with sitewide links on the same anchor text"?
Should I nofollow these sitewide links? Do you think that will help?
I would really appreciate any help on this one.
Cheers!
-
If you do that and those links have supported rankings then there could be a traffic loss.
Yes, traffic/rankings have gone down so I've been investigating possible over optimisation especially on money terms.
If this was client site, I would be tempted to describe Door A, Door B and Door C.
Yes, you are not wrong. I like the analogy!
Really appreciate your help, EGOL.
-
I believe they've been advised a few years ago about the subdomain being the best approach.
That was probably good advice at the time. But times Google has changed.
however the client won't want that
You guys who have clients must have a lot of patience.
hence my thinking at least by adding the nofollow attribute, I can tell Google's algo I'm not trying to pass any juice across.
If you do that and those links have supported rankings then there could be a traffic loss.
FROM INITIAL QUESTION: do you think this would be causing some kind of algorithmic penalty
From this I think you are saying that the site suffered a rankings loss. If that is the case then taking action might be helpful. If that is not the case, I would be inclined to do nothing....
... well, honestly, I would be redirecting that subdomain to a folder if this was my site.
If this was client site, I would be tempted to describe Door A, Door B and Door C. And tell them that my best judgement says that there is shit behind A and B but safety, possible rankings increase behind Door C. If it was my site or my mother's site I would be using Door C. Then they have been given your best advice and choose the shit if they like it.
-
Thanks EGOL, I really appreciate your thoughts
Yes, I would love to get the client to move this content into a folder on the main site. I believe they've been advised a few years ago about the subdomain being the best approach. I'm glad you're getting terrific results from the move.
The reason for the links... The product on the subdomain is a separate business entity however it is still closely related to what the main company does. So they want people to be able to find these links easily. I agree, the footer link could be removed entirely, however the client won't want that, hence my thinking at least by adding the nofollow attribute, I can tell Google's algo I'm not trying to pass any juice across.
The situation is, they have three money term sitewide links from the main domain pointing at two separate pages on the subdomain. This means there are 1000+ links pointing at two distinct pages on the subdomain using a money term.
-
My question is, do you think this would be causing some kind of algorithmic penalty (over optimisation / penguin)?
Personal opinion... Probably not. But, if those three links each have different anchor text with money terms and are hitting different pages on the subdomain then I might be wrong.
Or, do you think Google realises these links are pointing to a subdomain and says, "hey, OK we understand these two domains could be related" or given subdomains are seen as essentially standalone websites, the algo is saying "hang on a minute, pal, this looks fishy, why are you linking to this subdomain 1000+ times with sitewide links on the same anchor text"?
Maybe.
Should I nofollow these sitewide links? Do you think that will help?
You could. That would be a good conservative response.
Why do you have all of these links? Does anybody click those footer links? I bet nobody is clicking them.
I know that the answers that I gave above were less than satisfying. I responded to this question to suggest that the content on your subdomain could be moved into a folder on the root domain. I did this on a site and the results have been kickass. Kickass.
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
-
Can I use a 301 redirect to pass 'back link' juice to a different domain?
Hi, I have a backlink from a high DA/PA Government Website pointing to www.domainA.com which I own and can setup 301 redirects on if necessary. However my www.domainA.com is not used and has no active website (but has hosting available which can 301 redirect). www.domainA.com is also contextually irrelevant to the backlink. I want the Government Website link to go to www.domainB.com - which is both the relevant site and which also should be benefiting from from the seo juice from the backlink. So far I have had no luck to get the Government Website's administrators to change the URL on the link to point to www.domainB.com. Q1: If i use a 301 redirect on www.domainA.com to redirect to www.domainB.com will most of the backlink's SEO juice still be passed on to www.domainB.com? Q2: If the answer to the above is yes - would there be benefit to taking this a step further and redirect www.domainA.com to a deeper directory on www.domianB.com which is even more relevant?
Technical SEO | | DGAU
ie. redirect www.domainA.com to www.domainB.com/categoryB - passing the link juice deeper.0 -
How can you promote a sub-domain ahead of a domain on the SERPs?
I have a new client that wants to promote their subdomain uk.imagemcs.com and have their main domain imagemcs.com fall off the SERPs. Objective? Get uk.imagemcs.com to rank first for UK 'brand' searches. Do a search for 'imagem creative services' and you should see the issue (it looks like rules have been applied to the robots.txt on the main domain to exclude any bots from crawling - but since they've been indexed previously I need to take action as it doesn't look great!). I think I can do this by applying a permanent redirect from the main domain to the subdomain at domain level and then no-indexing the site - and then resubmit the sitemap. My slight concern is that this no-indexing of the main domain may impact on the visibility of the subdomains (I'm dealing with uk.imagemcs.com, but there is us.imagemcs.com and de.imagemcs.com) and was looking for some assurance that this would not be the case. My understanding is that subdomains are completely distinct from domains and as such this action should have no impact on the subdomains. I asked the question on the Webmasters Forum but haven't really got anywhere
Technical SEO | | nathangdavidson2
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!msg/webmasters/1Avupy3Uw_o/hu6oLQntCAAJ Can anyone suggest a course of action? many thanks, Nathan0 -
How should we handle re-directory links? Should we remove these links?
We are currently cleaning up bad links that were purchased by a previous SEO agency. We have found links on anonym.to pages that redirect traffic to our site automatically. How should this be handled? Should we remove these links?
Technical SEO | | Lorne_Marr0 -
Google Links
I am assuming that the list presented by Google Webmaster tools (TRAFFIC | Links To Your Site) is the one that will actually be used by Google for indexing ? There seem to be quite a few links that there that should not be there. ie Assumed NOFOLLOW links. Am I working under an incorrect assumption that all links in webmaster tools are actually followed ?
Technical SEO | | blinkybill0 -
302 multiple domains...
Hello, I have a few domain names with orthographic variations that I'd like to redirect to my main site. The problem is my registrar (OVH) does only 302 redirects, so what are my options ? Can I keep a dozen 302's ? Do I have to change all their DNS (it's a load on my server...) ? Thanks for any ideas Johann.
Technical SEO | | JohannCR0 -
Different links to to the same page
Hi, Based on the user's actions we post activity into users Facebook timeline. And each activity has link back to our particular page on our website. For example if original page was: www.Domain.com from Facebook timeline it would be like this: www.Domain.com?Ffb_action_ids=101508953168 Do you think this will have a negative effect on our page rankings as we will eded up having a lot of different URL's to the same page? www.Domain.com?Ffb_action_ids=101508953168 www.Domain.com?Ffb_action_ids=456788765609 etc.. Thank you, Karen Bdoyan
Technical SEO | | showme0 -
Competitive Domain Analysis & Subdomain Metrics
I have a web site that shows with all zeroes in the Competitive Domain Analysis and subdomain Metrics screen. I don't think this is possible because I have a ton of links out there to this web site from a forum that I visit. Can someone help me understand how this might be. I am hoping it's not some dreaded www vs non www issue because I think I solved that issue for this site. The site is www.nationalcurrencyvalues.com
Technical SEO | | Banknotes0 -
SEO LINKS
New to S.E.O. so excuse my naivety. I have made lots of new links some of them paid for e.g. Best of the Web but I don’t see any change in the latest competitive link analysis. Some of the links we have been accepted for just do not show. Also the keywords we are trying to promote the most have disappeared off the radar for over 2 weeks now. I think we have followed the optimization suggestions correctly. Please could you enlighten me. Regards Paul www.curtainpolesemporium.co.uk
Technical SEO | | CPE0