Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • Case Studies
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      What is your Brand Authority?
      Moz

      What is your Brand Authority?

      Check yours now
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • SEO Q&A

        Insights & discussions from an SEO community of 500,000+.

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • Case Studies

        Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4. Moving blog to a subdomain, how can I help it rank?

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Moving blog to a subdomain, how can I help it rank?

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    5
    13
    1935
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • DigitalMoz
      DigitalMoz last edited by

      Hi all,

      We recently moved our blog to a sub-domain where it is hosted on Wordpress. It was very recent and we're actively working on the SEO, but any pointers on getting the subdomain to rank higher than the old blog posts would be terrific.

      Thanks!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • DigitalMoz
        DigitalMoz @David-Kley last edited by

        That's great, thanks for the info! Do you know of any resources off-hand about "generally not [listing] more than two of these subdomains in the search results" for more detail?

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Travis_Bailey
          Travis_Bailey @DigitalMoz last edited by

          You can use PHP redirects, and they'll do the same thing. Though it will be a little slower and the page still has to technically exist. If it's a very high traffic site, then it may eventually become an issue.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • DigitalMoz
            DigitalMoz @RickyShockley last edited by

            My long-term is to get it into a folder, but in the meantime I've had to do a subdomain. Just wondering if I can specifically make the subdomain rank higher than the old (previous) folder URL.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • DigitalMoz
              DigitalMoz @paints-n-design last edited by

              Going to a folder would be great, but the reason was due to the way the CMS works and a few other things. I know it's not the most popular way, but it's a dramatic improvement so far.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • DigitalMoz
                DigitalMoz @Travis_Bailey last edited by

                We haven't lost any traffic yet, I've been pretty cautious and we've actually had a huge improvement in some areas. I'm can't really share all of the reasoning behind it, but I appreciate the note about potentially losing traffic. I had a suspicion about the redirect though, if I can't change the htaccess, would PHP or similar redirects do anything?

                Travis_Bailey 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • DigitalMoz
                  DigitalMoz @RickyShockley last edited by

                  I would like to have done it as a folder, but that wasn't feasible at the time. I have some limitations in terms of the CMS that our corporate site is hosted.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Travis_Bailey
                    Travis_Bailey @RickyShockley last edited by

                    Sure, but the subdomain/folder debate has been going back and forth for years. And I wonder if it's not so much a question of where, but a question of a bunch of new URLs. Would that possibly make a search engine reconsider the pages?

                    We know Google and Bing have stupid amounts of computing power. Duane Forrester has said that a Bing server farm causes so much heat, that they have to contact the FAA when they vent the facility. It causes turbulence.

                    We already know that no search engine can crawl the entire web at this point. So, it may be reasonable to think that some pages are just rated and possibly semi-forgotten. Once a page gets a new URL, it may look like a new thing. The algorithm has changed. New results populate. That may be the case.

                    Or there could actually be a genuine human preference, though my mom doesn't pay much attention to the URL.

                    This stuff is quite difficult to discern with complete certainty. It's basically physics. When you contact the search engines, they contact you back. Now, those contacts are happening billions of times a day.

                    For now, I will remain agnostic. Sub domain, or sub folder are equally fine until proven otherwise with proof beyond a few tests. 🙂

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • RickyShockley
                      RickyShockley last edited by

                      Right on, David. That's what I'm referring to Travis. Rand also mentioned this recently in a WBF.

                      Travis_Bailey DigitalMoz 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • David-Kley
                        David-Kley last edited by

                        From search engine journal:

                        "For blogs, I prefer a subfolder (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/) because the link juice which is sent to that blog is going to be naturally distributed to that main domain, and other subfolders under the domain.

                        Futhermore, the forum/blog will default logo, home page and other links back to the subfolder. If you set this up with a subdomain, by default, the links in the forum/blog itself will all point back to the subdomain. So, with a subfolder, both the inbound and internal linking structure favor the entire site.

                        With a subdomain, the forum or blog will be listed as a separate entity in the Google search results, which is good for owning the results and one’s reputation management. However, Google and other engines will generally not list more than two of these subdomains in the search results, unless those subdomains can prove to Google that they are independent and relevant entities."

                        If you don't know htaccess, redirecting the site to and from the subdomain can be a nightmare. If not setup correctly, your subdomain can cause you all types of duplication and strange URL complications.

                        Hope this helps!

                        DigitalMoz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                        • paints-n-design
                          paints-n-design last edited by

                          Funny, we made that last few month - but the different way - from a subdomain to a folder. We directed older to newer posts, cleaned the code, speed up, made it responsive and moved it to the folder.

                          If you want to have great SEO effects with a blog you need it on the sub-folder like RickyShockley said bevore.

                          DigitalMoz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • Travis_Bailey
                            Travis_Bailey last edited by

                            A sub domain is no better than a folder and vice versa. I'm more curious what brought about this decision. So if you know of an interesting argument, I would like to hear it.

                            Now, what you may need to do, unless all the external links to the pages are terrible, is setup 301 redirects. How to do that would really depend upon your server. The vast majority are Linux based. So you would have to search something like '301 redirect htaccess (server flavor)'. That could be Apache, Nginx, CentOS... whatever. Either way, you'll get there, and if it's still a question then there are plenty of forums that specialize in your server type.

                            Beware of htaccess. It will knock your site down if you mess up the configuration via white space or some other syntax error. Try it in a test environment first, if possible. 'Always look both ways before crossing the street.' That is how you handle htaccess.

                            I don't want to startle you, but right now you're possibly losing a ton of traffic. Maybe you aren't losing any at all. I don't know, I don't know your domain. I can't even begin to guess.

                            Refer to your analytics and redirect if it's worthwhile. That's all I can say without knowing more.

                            DigitalMoz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • RickyShockley
                              RickyShockley last edited by

                              I know that rand recommends hosting your blog on a FOLDER of your root domain instead of hosting your blog on a subdomain.

                              The reason for doing so is that the domain authority of the subdomain will put a slightly larger distance (in terms of authority signals carrying over) from the root.

                              For example, its better to have your blog at bobsmithdental.com/blog vs blog.bobsmithdental.com.

                              After that, its really a matter of tightening up your keyword optimization on the blog posts and building and earning quality inbound links!

                              -Ricky

                              DigitalMoz 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • 1 / 1
                              • First post
                                Last post

                              Got a burning SEO question?

                              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                              Start my free trial


                              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.

                              • See all categories

                              Related Questions

                              • BHeffernan

                                Can subdomains hurt your primary domain's SEO?

                                Our primary website https://domain.com has a subdomain https://subDomain.domain.com and on that subdomain we have a jive-hosted community, with a few links to and fro. In GA they are set up as different properties but there are many SEO issues in the jive-hosted site, in which many different people can create content, delete content, comment, etc. There are issues related to how jive structures content, broken links, etc. My question is this: Aside from the SEO issues with the subdomain, can the performance of that subdomain negatively impact the SEO performance and rank of the primary domain? I've heard and read conflicting reports about this and it would be nice to hear from the MOZ community about options to resolve such issues if they exist. Thanks.

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BHeffernan
                                1
                              • henrycabrown

                                Moved company 'Help Center' from Zendesk to Intercom, got lots of 404 errors. What now?

                                Howdy folks, excited to be part of the Moz community after lurking for years! I'm a few weeks into my new job (Digital Marketing at Rewind) and about 10 days ago the product team moved our Help Center from Zendesk to Intercom. Apparently the import went smoothly, but it's caused one problem I'm not really sure how to go about solving: https://help.rewind.io/hc/en-us/articles/***    is where all our articles used to sit https://help.rewind.io/***    is where all our articles now are So, for example, the following article has now moved as such: https://help.rewind.io/hc/en-us/articles/115001902152-Can-I-fast-forward-my-store-after-a-rewind- https://help.rewind.io/general-faqs-and-billing/frequently-asked-questions/can-i-fast-forward-my-store-after-a-rewind This has created a bunch of broken URLs in places like our Shopify/BigCommerce app listings, in our email drips, and in external resources etc. I've played whackamole cleaning many of these up, but these old URLs are still indexed by Google – we're up to 475 Crawl Errors in Search Console over the past week, all of which are 404s. I reached out to Intercom about this to see if they had something in place to help, but they just said my "best option is tracking down old links and setting up 301 redirects for those particular addressed". Browsing the Zendesk forms turned up some relevant-ish results, with the leading recommendation being to configure javascript redirects in the Zendesk document head (thread 1, thread 2, thread 3) of individual articles. I'm comfortable setting up 301 redirects on our website, but I'm in a bit over my head in trying to determine how I could do this with content that's hosted externally and sitting on a subdomain. I have access to our Zendesk admin, so I can go in and edit stuff there, but don't have experience with javascript redirects and have read that they might not be great for such a large scale redirection. Hopefully this is enough context for someone to provide guidance on how you think I should go about fixing things (or if there's even anything for me to do) but please let me know if there's more info I can provide. Thanks!

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | henrycabrown
                                1
                              • fablau

                                Using "nofollow" internally can help with crawl budget?

                                Hello everyone. I was reading this article on semrush.com, published the last year, and I'd like to know your thoughts about it: https://www.semrush.com/blog/does-google-crawl-relnofollow-at-all/ Is that really the case? I thought that Google crawls and "follows" nofollowed tagged links even though doesn't pass any PR to the destination link. If instead Google really doesn't crawl internal links tagged as "nofollow", can that really help with crawl budget?

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fablau
                                0
                              • vinodh-spintadigital

                                Does having a different sub domain for your Landing Page and Blog affect your overall SEO benefits and Ranking?

                                We have a domain www.spintadigital.com that is hosted with dreamhost and we also have a seperate subdomain blog.spintadigital.com which is hosted in the Ghost platform and we are also using Unbounce landing pages with the sub domain get.spintadigital.com. I wanted to know whether having subdomain like this would affect the traffic metric and ineffect affect the SEO and Rankings of our site.  I think it does not affect the increase in domain authority, but in places like similar web i get different traffic metrics for the different domains.  As far as i can see in many of the metrics these are considered as seperate websites.  We are currently concentrating more on our blogs and wanted to make sure that it does help in the overall domain. We do not have the bandwidth to promote three different websites, and hence need the community's help to understand what is the best option to take this forward.

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vinodh-spintadigital
                                0
                              • paulissai

                                Do low quality subdomains affect the ranking performance/quality of a root domain?

                                Hi, Late last year the company I work for launched two new websites that, at the time, we believed were completely separate from our main website. The two new websites were set up externally and were not well-planned from an SEO perspective (LOTS of duplicate content) - hence, they have struggled to rank on Google. Since the launch of the new websites we have also noticed that our main website (that previously ranked very well) has suffered a decline in visitation and search engine rank. We initially attributed this to a number of factors, including the state of the market, and ramped up our SEO efforts (seeing minor improvement). We have since realised that these two new websites have been set up as subdomains of our main website, with MOZ displaying the same domain authority and root domain backlink profile. My question is, do poor quality subdomains affect the ranking performance of a root domain? I have not yet managed to find a definitive answer. Please let me know if more information is required - I am quite new to the whole SEO concept. Thanks! Amy

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | paulissai
                                0
                              • Kingalan1

                                Domain Authority: 23, Page Authority: 33, Can My Site Still Rank?

                                Greetings: Our New York City commercial real estate site is www.nyc-officespace-leader.com. Key MOZ metric are as follows: Domain Authority: 23
                                Page Authority: 33
                                28 Root Domains linking to the site
                                179 Total Links. In the last six months domain authority, page authority, domains linking to the site have declined. We have focused on removing duplicate content and low quality links which may have had a negative impact on the above metrics. Our ranking has dropped greatly in the last two months. Could it be due to the above metrics? These numbers seem pretty bad. How can I reverse without engaging in any black hat behavior that could work against me in the future? Ideas?
                                Thanks, Alan Rosinsky

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan1
                                0
                              • djlaidler

                                How do I list the subdomains of a domain?

                                Hi Mozers, I am trying to find what subdomains are currently active on a particular domain. Is there a way to get a list of this information? The only way I could think of doing it is to run a google search on; site:example.com -site:www.example.com The only issues with this approach is that a majority of the indexed pages exist on the non-www domain and I still have thousands of pages in the results (mainly from the non-www). Is there another way to do it in Google? OR is there a server admin online tool that will tell me this information? Cheers, Dan

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | djlaidler
                                0
                              • Webdeal

                                How Google Adwords Can Impact SEO Ranking ?

                                Hi SEO Gurus, I have a question. How Google Adwords Can Impact SEO Ranking ?
                                Positive , negative or neutral impact? I will appreciate if you will provide detailed answer Thank you for your time webdeal

                                Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Webdeal
                                0

                              Get started with Moz Pro!

                              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                              Start my free trial
                              Products
                              • Moz Pro
                              • Moz Local
                              • Moz API
                              • Moz Data
                              • STAT
                              • Product Updates
                              Moz Solutions
                              • SMB Solutions
                              • Agency Solutions
                              • Enterprise Solutions
                              Free SEO Tools
                              • Domain Authority Checker
                              • Link Explorer
                              • Keyword Explorer
                              • Competitive Research
                              • Brand Authority Checker
                              • MozBar Extension
                              • MozCast
                              Resources
                              • Blog
                              • SEO Learning Center
                              • Help Hub
                              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                              • How-to Guides
                              • Moz Academy
                              • API Docs
                              About Moz
                              • About
                              • Team
                              • Careers
                              • Contact
                              Why Moz
                              • Case Studies
                              • Testimonials
                              Get Involved
                              • Become an Affiliate
                              • MozCon
                              • Webinars
                              • Practical Marketer Series
                              • MozPod
                              Connect with us

                              Contact the Help team

                              Join our newsletter

                              Access all your tools in one place. Whether you're tracking progress or analyzing data, everything you need is at your fingertips.

                              Moz logo
                              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                              • Accessibility
                              • Terms of Use
                              • Privacy

                              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.