Mobile subdomain?
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Hi,
We are setting up our mobile website.
Should we use a Subdomain ie m.mysite.com
or should we display different content under the same domain?
We are worried that we are stripping out some content and images from the mobile version that could adversly affect our SEO.
Thankyou
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ryanryan,
In our experiences, building dedicated mobile sites is still something a lot of companies still want. Yes, responsive is the new trend and will continue to evolve, but when it comes to mobile... people want their info fast. Who you are, what you do and how to get in touch asap. We have mobile sites on both subdomains (m.domain.com) and also in folders from the root domain (www.domain.com/m) and all sites optimized. We haven't seen much of a difference to be honest, however, we aren't optimizing huge, national websites on those set ups either. More local companies, dentists, contractors, etc.
Go with what is easiest for you to setup for your clients/yourself, BUT, when you talk anything SEO with your clients, your content all needs to be unique. Can't stress that enough. Google sees all. Quickly rewrite whatever is on your main mobile site to be different from your main website, yet provides the same message. Target your keywords as you would normally with on-page best practices in the mobile site. Integrate social media into, especially Google+ and install a separate Google Analytics tracking ID into your mobile sites too for more Google points and measuring! Implement, test, analyze and modify as needed to meet your expectations.
Hope this was insightful.
Patrick -
For my two cents I'd lean towards responsive design rather than a separate site/subdomain. Its so much easier to maintain one site rather than 2 or more different versions. Stripping out content is always a ranking danger so why go there?
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