Mobile subdomain?
-
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
-
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?
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
-
How to prevent development website subdomain from being indexed?
Hello awesome MOZ Community! Our development team uses a sub-domain "dev.example.com" for our SEO clients' websites. This allows changes to be made to the dev site (U/X changes, forms testing, etc.) for client approval and testing. An embarrassing discovery was made. Naturally, when you run a "site:example.com" the "dev.example.com" is being indexed. We don't want our clients websites to get penalized or lose killer SERPs because of duplicate content. The solution that is being implemented is to edit the robots.txt file and block the dev site from being indexed by search engines. My questions is, does anyone in the MOZ Community disagree with this solution? Can you recommend another solution? Would you advise against using the sub-domain "dev." for live and ongoing development websites? Thanks!
Web Design | | SproutDigital0 -
Should Our Mobile Responsive Version of our Ecommerce Site include the on Page content to Help with Rankings
Hello All, We are soon to launch our new redesigned website along with a mobile responsive version but i have noticed we currently don't include the on page Content we have on the mobile version which we have on the desktop version to help with rankings etc. I am not sure how google does mobile research with regards to rankings. We have designed our responsive version to be as user friendly as possible at the expense of having to much clutter/content but I am wondering now , if we will rank on mobile if all our on page content isn't present. Just wondered if we should include it at the bottom of the pages with say a "Read more" extension to help avoid clutter? Any advice greatly appreciated thanks Pete
Web Design | | PeteC120 -
Mobile and SEO
We are in the process of building a responsive version of our site for mobile users (currently about 20% of total traffic). What are the most important SEO considerations we should be aware of when it comes to this kind of project? Thanks
Web Design | | halloranc0 -
HTTPS redirecting to subdomain; do I need to 301 to HTTP first?
Hello there, quick question on HTTPS downgrade to HTTP. Originally, full site was HTTPS. Redesign eliminated need for secure layer. Site currently has https 301'd to sub.domain.com. Ideally, site would live at domain.com, but with the old site having been indexed https, the security warning triggers when you visit, hence the 301 to a subdomain. Thinking possible solutions here are to a) add back in secure layer or b) 301 all old https pages to new http pages. Have I overlooked something? With (a), I will see no SEO impact, correct? With (b), can I expect impact similar to a relaunch? Have seen a lot of chatter that there is some impact in switching http to https, but not much the other way. Any help much appreciated!
Web Design | | alimo0 -
Responsive design or mobile website for SEO
Because domains with a mobile version have better rankings in Google then domains with only a deskop version we're considering a mobile website. My web developer says that a m.domain.com is duplicated with the domain.com, and he recommends a responsive design. What is better for SEO positions in mobiles devices. A m.domain mobile website or a responsive design. What are influential factors?
Web Design | | remkoallertz0 -
Blog on Subdomain or Subdirectory?
I was wondering what the SEO impact was of having a blog on a sub domain or sub directory. Which of the following is better? blog.companysite.com companysite.com/blog Personally, I like making the blog a more important part of the site so 2) is preferable; however, I don't know which one is best for SEO purposes. Do the search engines consider a subdomain as a different website? Can SEO authority be passed through each equally? What is your preference? Regards, Dino
Web Design | | Dino640 -
What is your mobile website strategy?
Do you have one where you deliver the same content to the desktop (rich user experience) as well as mobile websites? In our case we provide content to www.domain.com, m.domain.com (for smart phones not using our native apps) and mo.domain.com (for older feature phones). We found that in some instances Google favours the indexing of our mobile content over our desktop site and we have now started pointing canonical content to our desktop site (i.e. to www.domain.com). Possible downside is that Google might not present desktop indexed content on mobile devices. This is not really a big issue, as currently Google presents mobile content for desktop searches. A better approach would have been responsive design, but we feel that dedicated apps will rule the mobile device space and desktop-websites will evolve to allow content to be displayed on all devices (we consider our m.domain.com and mo.domain.com stop-gaps to overcome legacy device issues and bandwidth limitations). What is your mobile device strategy with regards to SEO?
Web Design | | MagicDude4Eva0 -
Are iPads and other tablets considered mobile devices?
A colleague and I were discussing whether or not iPads should be considered mobile devices. Obviously, developing for a mobile phone is different than developing for an iPad so we're trying to determine if mobile is the correct umbrella to put both of these devices under.
Web Design | | TheOceanAgency2