Root-Domain vs Subdomain Linkbuilding
-
Hello Mozzers!
Couple of days ago I received a request to start optimizing a wordpress website, the domain itself has been around for around 10-12 years so it's it can be considered as one that has real history behind it. The page has been moved from HTML/FLASH to wordpress about 3 - 4 years ago and hasn't been any SEO maintenance on it. The site used to rank for first position with several keywords, but now understandably, it has greatly decreased.
My main question would be, that when I've checked the root domain's and the subdomain's metrics with MOZ Open Site Explorer, the sub domain (with "www.") showed a PA 40 and 90 external links while the root domain (without "www.") only has 27 PA and 6 External links.
I know that the 301 or server redirects only transfers about 90% of the link juice to the targeted URL but the difference between the 2 results seem way too big for me.
What do you think? Is this normal?
During future link building is it more beneficial to target the root domain so the page won't lose that "10%" by redirecting the new link from sub-domain to root domain?
Is it possible to get more juice transferred?Thank you very much,
Adam -
Hey
I'm a bit confused - not the first time! Would very much appreciate if you good folks could shed some light on a couple of questions.
Our site in the search console is inputed as www.domain.co.uk
Is this our subdomain?
When I'm using Open Site Explorer and filter by Target, say "this root domain" is it now showing me inbound links to domain.co.uk instead?
Lastly how does this affect rankings i.e getting links to www.domain.co.uk or domain.co.uk as whoever types in either domain gets to the correct site.
-
Thank you CKG for your answer, it's much appreciated.
I have already started to move to www. , I changed in WordPress settings, from non-www to www version, also selected the preferred version www. in webmaster tools and contacted the server administrators about the change. My only last problem is the battle with the htaccess to redirect the rootdomain to the www. subdomain but I should get it sorted out pretty soon
Cheers,
Adam -
Hey
I think you should go through both for analysis purposes however in order to moving forward you should be focusing on one URL which contains www.
here are the link for you to help yourself to understand the difference between these.
http://moz.com/community/q/root-domain-and-subdomain-links-opensite-explorer
-
I have just come across the same issue for a site I am optimising. For me, when www is used the page authority in OSE is 42 compared to 33 when there is no www.
It would be really good to hear what people's views are on this.
Billy
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
-
Alexa top domain losted link
my website has alot of losted backlink from alexa top domain. is it ok ? url: https://www.payamgostar.com/
Link Building | | pgmarketing2008acn0 -
Domain Change, loss of inbound links ...
We're strongly considering a domain name change; this is purely for marketing reasons. We think in the long term, this will be a good thing. I believe we can mitigate the page redirection, branding changes, etc. My concern are the inbound links: from 200+ domains, 3,000+ links. So, I guess we can contact each of the top sites linking to us and hope they update our links. I'm not hopeful. I believe we'll loose must of the links. Has anyone been down this road and have experience to share?
Link Building | | jmueller0823
What should I expect, worst case? Is there a way to mitigate? Thanks much.
Jim0 -
Backlink count is WAY high vs. competitors
Hi all! My site was managed by a SEO company that is no longer around. I started to look for a new agency and in the process, found Moz and decided to try out the report. While running the report, found out that my I have 3K links vs 173/1600/6344 links that my three other competitors have. Any simple guidance will be appreciated.
Link Building | | fullerton0 -
External Followed Links in the Competitive Domain Analysis Report
In the Competitive Domain Analysis report, why does the number of my external followed links vary over time. Some weeks its high some weeks it's low. Doesn't seem to be a pattern.
Link Building | | PGD20110 -
Help with blog for linkbuilding location.
I work for a company that has www.widget.com. This is the site we do all our business under. Right now there is no linkbuilding so I would like to create a blog to start linkbuilding. We also own www.widget.info. Can I run the blog under .info and still get the credit on the .com or are they considered completely separate entities that have nothing to do with one another? The reason I would prefer it on the .info is it gives me complete control. By putting it on out .com I have to talk to the developers to install wordpress and mysql, when I would much rather just be able to do it on my own. Any ideas?
Link Building | | EcommerceSite0 -
Domain Question
Hello fellow SEOmozers! I'm trying to register a domain name that contains keywords for my business, however the .com is obviously taken (however its just a parked domain without a site) so I have an option to get either .co .us or .net I wanted to know if the domain extension makes any difference for the search engine or does having .com gives you an advantage over having .co .us or .net? Thanks for your input!!!
Link Building | | igor.pinchevskiy0 -
About to get my competition domain, how what I can do?
Hello, I'm trying to get a domain from what it used to be my main competition, if I get this domain can I forward the domain to my website? because they have good local ranking that I don't have and also a lot of links. I don't really want to use that brand name, I just want to take advantage of the links they already created if that possible. Or can I do something else with the domain or just buy it and keep it so nobody else can buy it? Thank you
Link Building | | jpgprinting0 -
Does linking to a subdomain give link juice to the main domain?
I have a few domains that I'm going to use for link building, will the link juice from the sub domains transfer to the main domain?
Link Building | | Vsky0