I would stick with folders for two main reasons:

• First, yourdomain.com is part of your online brand. If every state's URL is statename.yourdomain.com, I think this takes away from your brand because the first thing people see when they look at the URL bar or in search results is a state name and not your URL
• Next, I second everyone else, subfolders are much more organized, subfolders look better, and subdomains are an old SEO strategy (a little spammy, especially for a new domain)

Hey Charles,

First, I would get in touch with the website owner or whoever you submitted your guest post to and request that they add your link to the article. I would do this very respectfully, and treat it like it might have been a mistake. I wouldn't even mention that you want to the article taken down if they do not add it, since the ultimate goal is to get the link. Also, I would create the code for the link to make it easy on them.

If they decide not the add the back link (bummer), then it is your call if you want to make the effort to get the article taken down. The only reason I would take the time to get the article taken down is if you have another niche website that will publish the content and will add your link. Otherwise, I would just make note of that website and never guest post for them again.

I hope this works out for you. I know how much time it takes to write good guests posts, so I really hope you get the link out of it.

These links do not count as 1,000 links from 1,000 seperate website, since Google does recognize linking root domains.

The most important link to your website would be from the page with the highest page authority, which is almost always the home page.

I am not 100% sure, but I remember reading about a recent Google algorithm update that targets multiple links from one domain. Web design firms were affected, since they typcally sign the footer, which creates a link on every page of the website.

The subdomain, works similar to a subpage. Google will notice the root dominan, which is abc.edu.

I do not think you are at risk of a penalty or anything like that, but if you want to continue to increase your rankings, once you get a link from a domain, I would focus my efforts on getting another link from a separate root domain, instead of a link from a subpage or subdomain from the same root domain.

Here is a recent article in published in Search Engine Journal about subdomains and subpages, as they relate to SEO:

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/subdomains-or-subfolders-which-are-better-for-seo/6849/

It looks like Cody is right, Google does recognize them has seperate, but a recent tweak in Google's algorithim, now cause them to be recognized as being associated with each other.

I would think that this means a link from a subdoamin and a root domain would not be equal to two links from two different root domains.

Cody, thanks for you insight, and I would love to hear what you think?

Cody, I would like to hear your opinion, but in Kristian's case, I would not think removing these site wide links would be a good idea, unless the links are spammy. Especially if the website has a good reason to be there (ex: it is a good resource, it is a sponsor, it si the parent company, etc.). As long as not all of the links in Kristian's backlink profile are site wide, I wouldn't link the website is at risk of a penalty. Also, I would not think removing a site wide link on an .edu site would be a good idea, just becuase all of the referral traffic potential.

Like I said, the site wide penalty seemed more geared to a web designer or hosting company that only have site wide links in their profile.

Cody, what do you think?