Sub domain or separate domain?
-
Hi Mozzers,
I'm redesigning a property database, and wondered whether it would be better to put this on a sub domain of my site or to set up a completely separate domain?
Back story: My core website is about lifestyle, holidays and property in France. It's very popular, and benefits massively from long tail search. It's a fairly strong, recognisable brand, so I assume any association the database has with the site would greatly benefit it... Maybe.
My current property database on the other hand is very poor in terms of SEO/visibility, etc, so we're having the whole thing redesigned from scratch.
For the database, is it better to set up a subdomain of my strong branded site, or set up a completely new domain targeting keywords in the URL?
Cheers!
Matt
-
Hi,
We have two sites mysite.com and aa.mysite.com. We want to track these sites separately. We created two different properties with IDs UA-XXX-1 for main domain UA-XXX-2 for subdomain.
gaq code for main domain is as following,
gaq code for subdomain is as following,
It works well for subdomain. But we want to see traffic from subdomain to main domain as referral.
What is wrong with the gaq code of main domain?
Do i need to change code or is it enough to inactivate subdomain tracking option in profile settings of main domain?Thanks in advance,
-
Thanks for the comprehensive response Harald! The blog was especially helpful.
I don't think I'm any closer to making a decision (because I don't think it will make much difference whichever way I go!) but the blog certainly helps.
Thanks again.
Matt
-
Hi Matt, First of all I want you to take a look at the below where I am describing the pros & cons of the sub domain & separate domain;
1. Subdomain
-
Maybe technically easier for some setups
-
Has some of the benefits of subfolder in inheriting parent domain authority and separate domain in providing backlinks to main site, but…
-
Needs to establish its own reputation through backlinks from other sites so…
-
Will not rank as highly or as quickly as a subfolder
2. Separate domain
-
Helps you control and generate external backlinks for which you control the anchor text, i.e. editorial links within blog copy back to category and product pages
-
Can create a more differentiated brand identity which can be seen as independent from the main site so generates more engagement with it’s audience potentially
-
Can target a different country, i.e. I have seen UK companies launching a US hosted blog
-
You may not rank competitively at all for weeks or months depending on the quality of the content you create. This may be hard to sell to your colleagues investing in it – it’s an act of faith…
-
Will require a long-term commitment to content creation and backlink development
So, to summarize If you create exceptional content which creates a lot of backlinks then separate domain can be valuable in providing links back to the main site from a separate authority site you control.
For more details please refer to this link:
Understanding root domains-Sub domians
I hope that you will found the solution.
-
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
-
Anything wrong in linking to homepage from all sub domain pages?
Hi, We have 6 sub domains which are forums, guides, etc. They have their own visitors for the related queries. We are planning to divert some of them to the website to promote our product with latest content. We are planning to add a link from every page of sub domain to our website homepage. This makes additional thousands of internal links flowing to website homepage. Will this kind of internal linking structure hurts? Any risks involved? Thanks
Web Design | | vtmoz1 -
Footer link back to developers domain
I have read a lot about where it is suggested to either not put an attribute link in the footer of a clients site or to no follow it. But I have a little bit different take on the question. How does this work on a large scale? Are these manual penalties, or are they automatic? By large scale, I am talking about big cms programs such as Wordpress, Joomla, and the likes of those. They all have links back to their site in the footer of the default templates. Is this bad? Does it not rally matter on the scale of companies such as this?
Web Design | | LesleyPaone0 -
301 Redirect from Old Domain to New Domain
I am building a new website and I plan to 301 Redirect my Old Domain (olddomain.com) to a brand new Domain (newdomain.com) in the upcoming months. To do this I was planning to update the htaccess file on both the old and new domains. The htaccess file on the old domain would look to 301 redirect all pages on the old domain to the new domain. The htaccess file on the new domain would detail any specific URL redirects I want to implement (ie. olddomain.com/EXAMPLE/TEST will redirect to newdomain/TEST) - this will ensure link equity is retained and bounce rates are kept at a lower level. Does this sound like the right approach? Also, what do I need to do with the old domain going forward? Do I need to keep this forever in order for the 301 redirect to work or can I eventually just forward the domain to the new one permanently?
Web Design | | DHS_SH0 -
Website spread over two domains - The Good,The Bad and the Ugly ?
Hi, I am wondering if the way I have set up our website site is creating more harm than good ? All our SEO efforts and content is located @ www.sparrowmakeup.com.au however our portfolio is located at www.make-up-artists.com.au. Questions ? Will Analytic bounce rates effect my SERP, as most people click on the portfolio link in the first 5-15 sec of landing on our page ?? Is there a better way of setting it up ? the reason I set it up like this in the first place was because we wanted a different look/theme for the portfolio. (using WP) Is there any other issues that this setup might have in the SEO / SERP department ?? Is there any benefits and how can I maximize on them (silver lining) Your help and experience is greatly appreciated. Regards Ed
Web Design | | EdsonGroupMedia0 -
Linking root and domain authority
Hi SEOMOZ community, Can you please advise on how to increase Linking root domains and domain authority. much appreciated.
Web Design | | wahin10 -
Appropriate domain name
Hello Awesome MOzzers, Hope you are all well this fab wednesday. I have a questions - how good or bad is this domain - www.web-design-company-inc.com for a web design company. I have heard some people say google no longer cares about keywords in the URL? Would love to know your thoughts. As always - much obliged for your insight. Best regards, Vijay
Web Design | | vijayvasu0 -
Making a third-party hosted blog look like a folder on the main domain
I have a client that has a "completely pristine" Microsoft.net web environment that is unwilling to put a wordpress installation on their server. Their management team wants a wordpress blog for the marketing department. Is there a means where we can host the wordpress blog with a regular hosting company but yet have it appear as part of the main site e.g., mainsite.com/blog vs. having to put it in a subdomain (blog.mainsite.com) and lose all the SEO benefits of the blog content?
Web Design | | jtroia0 -
Stuck with domain: www.kumficars.co.uk
Hi community, I was hoping you could help me. I have a website which I'm running for a client, www.kumficars.co.uk, and it's not featuring at all on google for the primary keyword: Taxi Knutsford I have absolutely no idea why. I've produced a campaign report and am acting on it now, but even that didn't pull much up other than a missing meta description tag, which I'm updating now. Other than that, I can't see any reason why the website shouldn't rank - the competition isn't even difficult! Can anyone shed some light please?
Web Design | | ArtifexDesign0