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[Daniel Herzner Contribution Level: 3]

Hi all - can you tell me if Google indexes domains and subdomains the same way? IOW, if I have mysite.com and danh.mysite.com would they both be indexed equally or does Google have a strong preference for just the domain (mysite.com in this example)? I'm scrounging around through a bunch of articles trying to find an answer and figured I'd ask you guys too. Thanx.

[Richard Bravo Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 9]

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Hi Daniel,

Something to consider here is that search engines typically treat a subdomain as a unique domain.
Therefore the optimization of that domain will need to be treated a unique effort.

So if you look at the basic elements of seo, namely backlinks, the subdomain will need it's own backlinks for placement purposes.

Something else to consider when choosing the use of a subdomain or a subdirectory (a folder within the root directory) is that a subdirectory will benefit from the pagerank of the root directory as it is a child directory of the root. Subdomains being a unique entity do not benefit (well, just a little) from that relationship.

Unless of course you are passing PR from the ROOT to the SUB as part of a PR sculpting strategy ...
but that's a different conversation for another time.

However, with that said, considering subdomains are viewed as unique locations, they afford you a great opportunity for additional ranking power as they can be uniquely optimized as a standalone directory. Each sub can have a unique set of anchored backlinks pointed to it.

Of course the same could be said of subfolders. But I think you get the point.

Make sense?

As for indexing, spiders will typically find your subdomains without any problems when crawling the root directory. Obviously best practice to ensure this is to have a properly structured xml sitemap which includes your subdomains.

Hope that helps.
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[Richard Bravo Company: Life Force International Contribution Level: 9]

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Totally Dean ... (totally? do they still say that? lol, lettin my old surf days come out)

Anyway, yes the work load increases as well as the learning curve in all respects.

This is definitely advanced SEO type stuff and something I DO NOT recommend newbies even consider until they're already making money in other areas. This takes planning, strategy and time to implement. Each SUB you add doubles your SEO workload.

Of course you could just use subs and not worry about the SEO factor at all.
SEO isn't a requirement by any means. So if it;s just a matter of using subs for structural or collateral management purposes, then let er' rip.

Plus that's the beauty of SEO ... you can always go back and optimize later.

You can also use subs for URL redirects.
This can be especially handy for display urls used for PPC campaigns or affiliate promotions.

Once again, a different conversation for another time.

Holy Menacing MetaTags Batman!
Tune in next time kids when the Caped Crusader journeys into the heart of Gotham to uncover the secret lair of the Meta Mobsters ...


Dedicated to Jason and Laura
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[Ana Hoffman Contribution Level: 4]

Never expected to finish reading an SEO discussion with a smile on my face:)

Good advice, nothing to add, just to learn.

Seo Engine Ranking Secret: Buy an Aged Domain

[Timothy Norton Company: AdzZoo Contribution Level: 3]

Richard,

Your explanation of the use of subdomains vs. subdirectories is the coolest thing I've read all day. I would agree that he could just not worry about using subdomains right now. I would also agree that new people should not worry at all about SEO. If you want to, concern yourself with SEO for content. What I mean is learning how to optimize articles that you submit to article directories or videos that you produce so that these pieces of content appear on the first page of Google for keyword phrases you want to target. Generate some traffic this way before worrying too much about the page rank of your own website because getting a high ranking for these types of content is much easier than for your own site, you will learn a lot, and you will see results faster. That's just my opinion.

Tim

[Tony Logue Contribution Level: 2]

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are....lol

[Leo Berenguel Contribution Level: 1]

From my experience, If you want to compare the performance of a sub domain against a main domain - both having the same links and the search term matches the domain name. The main will rank higher than a sub domain, Although its not by much.

Whenever I have a new web site Idea (Cost $0)- I simply create a sub domain and optimize it.
If you decide to get a main domain after having good results from the trial, then you can go ahead and do a 303 redirect. This way , you don't loose any SEO benefits.

[Amit R Contribution Level: 1]

Sub Domains is also counted but the main thing is to have unique content on that particular page.


road deicer
Numis Networks

[Adam Holland Company: Global Resorts Network Contribution Level: 3]

a subdomain is just a subfolder in the regular domain..

so "sub.mysite.com" is inherently the same folder as "mysite.com/sub"

IMO, does it really matter for seo purposes whether you do a subdomain or just another folder.. no.

But, yes, google techically does see it as a unique domain..

I'm only bringing this up because you want to make sure that when you're linking back to your main domain that you either link to yoursite.com or www.yoursite.com. Just pick one and be consistent, thats all.

Adam

[JonMarc Wright Company: Usana Health Sciences, Inc. Contribution Level: 3]

James and Richard, nice info. lol James I wonder how many people are wanting to pick your brain right now about what you didn't reveal. I was going to post about the differences between the subdomain and sub folder structuring but you beat me to it. Important that people understand the difference because you could be leaving money on the table if you're not sure of what you're doing.

Not gonna beat a dead jockey reiterating what they said, point is you don't need to worry about taking SEO hits. If the content and the subdomain and domain name are all related, you can do quite nicely by using the subs to target specific keywords. Common sense, but like they both hit on, PLAN IT ALL OUT.

If you grab up a nice domain that can have a lot of related subs thrown in there for some related niches or micro niches within niches, etc., you can do some pretty cool stuff quickly and relatively painlessly.