Subdomain blog vs. subfolder blog in 2013
-
So I've read the posts here:
http://moz.com/community/q/subdomain-blog-vs-subfolder-blog-in-2013
and many others, Matt Cutts video, etc.
Does anyone have direct experience that its still best practice to use the sub folder? (hopefully a moz employee can chime in?)
I have a client looking to use hubspot. They are preaching with the Matt Cutts video. I'm in charge of SEO / marketing and am at odds with them now. I'd like to present the client with more info than "in my experience in the past I've seen subdirectories work."
Any help? Articles? etc?
-
I'm associated with a site that ranked fairly well. Earlier in the summer, the blog was moved from a subfolder to a subdomain for various reasons. While the reasons seemed valid at the time, the site's traffic plummeted about 1-2 weeks later. We've still been trying to analyze as many other changes were made a few weeks prior; however, the arrows are pointing to the subfolder to subdomain change which may have really caused this plague. We're now looking into moving it back to see if it will resolve the problem.
-
This does not influence my opinion about anything.
-
Google does not calculate DA
-
I have first-hand experience that merging a subdomain into a folder on a domain can have a kickass effect on your rankings.
-
-
I just tested:
and hubspot.com
both have the same DA in OSE.
I also tested support.hostgator.com and hostgator.com
those have the same DA.
-
If you got Jesse and PhD sayin' something, best go with it.
-
Well yes. I mean it's quite simple - Linking to a subdomain does not pass authority to the root domain. It's easy to test on any site you can find me that has a subdomain. Plug it into OSE and you have yourself two different DAs for that very reason.
It's something I don't see ever changing. There's a reason sub domains are treated separately in terms of incoming links; they are their own entity and I believe this will always be the case. Can't think of why it wouldn't.
-
Thanks guys. I know everyone in our industry is pro sub directories. I guess what I am looking for is irrefutable case studies / fact. Have you guys tested this post 2012? Is there any evidence from 2013 that this is still the case?
-
I second that. You use the blog to build the authority of the main domain.
-
Using a subdirectory will cause all of the potential link juice to flow to your root domain. If you go with a subdomain, the potential links gained from awesome blog content won't do your actual domain any good as far as ranking organically for your targeted keywords.
That's the short version. Subdirectories all the way (assuming this is what you're gaming at of course.)
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
-
Single Folder vs Root
I'm working on a multi-state attorney website and I'm going back and forth on URL's. I thought I'd see what the community thinks. lawsite.com/los-angeles/car-accident-lawyer vs. lawsite.com/los-angeles-car-accident-lawyer I should note this site will have over a dozen city locations, with different practices.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | EdShull0 -
Best Practice Approaches to Canonicals vs. Indexing in Google Sitemap vs. No Follow Tags
Hi There, I am working on the following website: https://wave.com.au/ I have become aware that there are different pages that are competing for the same keywords. For example, I just started to update a core, category page - Anaesthetics (https://wave.com.au/job-specialties/anaesthetics/) to focus mainly around the keywords ‘Anaesthetist Jobs’. But I have recognized that there are ongoing landing pages that contain pretty similar content: https://wave.com.au/anaesthetists/ https://wave.com.au/asa/ We want to direct organic traffic to our core pages e.g. (https://wave.com.au/job-specialties/anaesthetics/). This then leads me to have to deal with the duplicate pages with either a canonical link (content manageable) or maybe alternatively adding a no-follow tag or updating the robots.txt. Our resident developer also suggested that it might be good to use Google Index in the sitemap to tell Google that these are of less value? What is the best approach? Should I add a canonical link to the landing pages pointing it to the category page? Or alternatively, should I use the Google Index? Or even another approach? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Wavelength_International0 -
Redirect question | new blog install on subdomain
Hi, I am running a wordpress site and our blog has grown to have a bit of a life of its own. I would like to use a more blog-oriented wordpress theme to take advantage of features that help with content discoverability, which is what the current theme I'm using doesn't really provide. I've seen sites like Canva, Mint and Hubspot put their blog on a subdomain, so the blog is sort of a separate site within a site. Advantages I see to this approach: Use a separate wordpress theme Help the blog feel like its own site and increase user engagement Give the blog its own name and identity My questions are: Are there any other SEO ramifications for taking this approach? For example, is a subdomain (blog.mysite.com) disadvantageous somehow, or inferior to to mysite.com/article-title? Regarding redirects, I read a recent Moz article about how 301s now do not lose page rank. I would also be able to implement https when I redirect, which is a plus. Is this an ok approach? Assuming I have to create redirect rules manually for each post though Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mikequery0 -
Can subdomains avoid spam penalizations?
Hello everyone, I have a basic question for which I couldn't find a definitive answer for. Let's say I have my main website with URL: www.mywebsite.com And I have a related affiliates website with URL: affiliates.mywebsite.com Which includes completely different content from the main website. Also, both domains have two different IP addresses. Are those considered two completely separate domains by Google? Can bad links pointing to affiliates.mywebsite.com affect www.mywebsite.com in any way? Thanks in advance for any answer to my inquiry!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fablau0 -
Top 5 tips you would give for an ecommerce blog
Hello, What are the top 5 tips or resources you would give to an ecommerce site that is starting a blog? If EGOL could share, too, that would be great. He's the best. So far we are doing: 1. Around 1000 words per blog post, but varying depending on the topic 2. New product and best product reviews for some of the posts. 3. I'm doing my best to have the writer make them best-of-the-web 4. After we've got a track record, I'll analyze the statistics to see what's working. 5. There's very little blogging in our industry Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobGW0 -
Getting a Sitemap for a Subdomain into Webmaster Tools
We have a subdomain that is a Wordpress blog, and it takes days, sometimes weeks for most posts to be indexed. We are using the Yoast plugin for SEO, which creates the sitemap.xml file. The problem is that the sitemap.xml file is located at blog.gallerydirect.com/sitemap.xml, and Webmaster Tools will only allow the insertion of the sitemap as a directory under the gallerydirect.com account. Right now, we have the sitemap listed in the robots.txt file, but I really don't know if Google is finding and parsing the sitemap. As far as I can tell, I have three options, and I'd like to get thoughts on which of the three options is the best choice (that is, unless there's an option I haven't thought of): 1. Create a separate Webmaster Tools account for the blog 2. Copy the blog's sitemap.xml file from blog.gallerydirect.com/sitemap.xml to the main web server and list it as something like gallerydirect.com/blogsitemap.xml, then notify Webmaster Tools of the new sitemap on the galllerydirect.com account 3. Do an .htaccess redirect on the blog server, such as RewriteRule ^sitemap.xml http://gallerydirect.com/blogsitemap_index.xml Then notify Webmaster Tools of the new blog sitemap in the gallerydirect.com account. Suggestions on what would be the best approach to be sure that Google is finding and indexing the blog ASAP?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | sbaylor0 -
Subdomain or directory path?
Hi Mozzers, Client: Important carpet cleaner player in the carpet cleaning industry Main Goal: Creating good content to Get more organic traffic to our main site Structure of the extra content: It will act like a blog but will be differentiated from the regular site by not selling anything but just creating good content. The look and design will be different from the client's site. SEO Question: Which option is more beneficial, creating a subdomain or adding a regular page within the website following a directory path URL? If possible, please state what are the advantages and disadvantages of these 2 options in terms of SEO. Thank you and have a great weekend everyone,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Ideas-Money-Art0 -
Subdomains vs. Subfolders for unique categories & topics
Hello, We are in the process of redesigning and migrating 5 previously separate websites (all different niche topics, including dining, entertainment, retail, real estate, etc.) under one umbrella site for the property in which they exist. From the property homepage, you will now be able to access all of the individual category sites within. As each niche microsite will be focused on a different topic, I am wondering whether it is best for SEO that we use subdomains such as category.mainsite.com or subfolders mainsite.com/category. I have seen it done both ways on large corporate sites (ie: Ikea uses subdomains for different country sites, and Apple uses subfolders), so I am wondering what makes the most sense for this particular umbrella site. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks, Melissa
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | grapevinemktg0