Does linking to a subdomain give link juice to the main domain?

[Vsky]

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?

[AlanBleiweiss]

Yeah it can get really confusing.  Here's the concept.  Each Root domain can have many subdomains, as well as sub-folders.

Any link pointing to any subdomain or subfolder will provide some linking value to the entire root.  It's not as much as that individual subdomain or subfolder gets, however the cumulative impact is there and it's real.

The reason is pretty straight forward - any sub, (domain or folder) is naturally associated with the root.  It contributes to the overall weight of that root.

It's not unlike the branches of a tree.  While the rain may fall directly on a branch, some of the water has the ability to work it's way back to the main trunk of the tree.

Just like water that seeps into the ground and soaks into the roots, can and will work it's way up the trunk and to the branches.

[MarieHaynes]

I always thought that a link to a subdomain did not benefit the main domain.  Alan, can you explain this more?  If an external website links to subdomain.mydomain.com will mydomain.com get link juice from this?

[AlanBleiweiss]

If you mean - if we get an inbound link pointing to the subdomain, will the root domain benefit?" the answer is yes to a certain extent.  How much will depend on how closely related the subdomain topical focus is to the root domain, as well as how strong the link is from the perspective of the source site.

If you mean - if we point a link from within a subdomain to a page on the root domain, will the root domain benefit?" Then the answer is also yes, but how much depends on many other factors. And those links will carry less value than most quality inbound links coming from other root sites not in your control.