A question about SEO and subdomains

[MrWonton]

Hey guys, just a quick question about subdomains. As we all know, search engines like KWs in the URL. For example, redbicycles.com would be excellent for the search term "red bicycles".

But what about red.bicycles.com? Would this be as easy to get to the top spot as redbicycles.com?

Would love your insight.

Thanks

[Brad Callen]

Sub domains are seen as a different site to Google. That's why most people do bicycle.com/red. Also, only KW's at the top level tend to have a LOT of influence.

[MrWonton]

Thanks Brad. Say red.bicycle.com was to be a standalone site, totally seperate from bicycle.com.

Would "bicycle.com/red" rank better than "red.bicycle.com" for the KW Phrase "red bicycle".

I guess I'm asking two questions really. Does the KW order matter in the URL, and, will the subdomain have less potential than a subdirectory?

Thanks

[sandrax]

Hi MR Wonton,

Yes KW order matters and subdirectory is less powerfull, best is of course redbycicle.com. Have a great weekend

[subashchandrapoudel]

You will get more SEO value if you use first level domain name.
Sub domains will get less SEO value.
And I think redbicycle.com will be good for SEO rather than red.bicycle.com

[scott g]

Originally Posted by MrWonton

Hey guys, just a quick question about subdomains. As we all know, search engines like KWs in the URL. For example, redbicycles.com would be excellent for the search term "red bicycles".

But what about red.bicycles.com? Would this be as easy to get to the top spot as redbicycles.com?

Would love your insight.

Thanks

You are correct! I don't know what the rest of these guys are talking about... Google does look at Subdomains as their own, seperate entitites.

People think it's a hastle b/c you have to embark on backlinking campaigns for every subdomain... But you'd be doing the same for every directory that you'd create too... Um, Duh.

I'm using subdomains now and I have been having good luck with them! Google likes them! And with the addition of every new subdomain, I get an EMD for what that site will be targeting.

So your example "red.bicycles.com" is exactly what I'm doing.
blue.bicycles.com
orange.bicycles.com
whatever.bicycles.com
mybikesbetterthanyour.bicycles.com

CHEERS!

[scott g]

mydomain.com/sub-directory
sub-domain.mydomain.com

A subdomain is a totally different website and will be treated like one.

Keyword order matters OF COURSE! Didn't you do your keyword research?!

keyword order
"keyword order"
[keyword order]

I'm confused by this thread. I don't think half these poster's have any clue what they are talking about.

[socialbookmark]

IMO its good but not as the exact keyword without subdomain.

[junkdna]

Ok, a little bit less relevant, but some advertising networks will not let you put their ads on sub-domains.

[MrWonton]

Originally Posted by scott g

You are correct! I don't know what the rest of these guys are talking about... Google does look at Subdomains as their own, seperate entitites.

People think it's a hastle b/c you have to embark on backlinking campaigns for every subdomain... But you'd be doing the same for every directory that you'd create too... Um, Duh.

I'm using subdomains now and I have been having good luck with them! Google likes them! And with the addition of every new subdomain, I get an EMD for what that site will be targeting.

So your example "red.bicycles.com" is exactly what I'm doing.
blue.bicycles.com
orange.bicycles.com
whatever.bicycles.com
mybikesbetterthanyour.bicycles.com

CHEERS!

Exactly the kind of response I was looking for! Thanks for your insights, and everyone elses

I started building a network of websites based around subdomains, but I lost interest. I think I may have to revisit the project!

Would love to hear from anyone else that has had experience developing subdomain websites. It works for about.com!

[scott g]

I'm seeing more and more subdomains ranking real high in the SERPs. There is not disadvantage to using subdomains.

IMO subdomain+domain=EMD is just as good as EMD domain. Period. Google reads them the same exact way. If you're getting involved in a semi-competitive niche, an EMD.com isn't going to do you squat without some off-site SEO...

People talk about hypens and yada yada... Google doesn't read the hyphens... Most semi-educated/experienced internet users doing searchers in Google can spot a spammy looking website by looking at the URL - just like someone who diddle daddles in IM.

@Mr.Wonton
Think of it like this (this is how I try to ): You've got your TLD with all sorts of subdomains... With some blood, sweat, and tears, you could easily build a pretty strong, authoritative TLD that holds some weight in the rankings. Just like the other sites that use subdomains.

• legalview.info
• about.com
• google.com
• yahoo.com
• msn.com

My personal preference on subdomains vs. subdirectories is that I usually prefer the convenience of subdirectories for most of my content. A subdomain can be useful to separate out content that is completely different. Google uses subdomains for distinct products such news.google.com or maps.google.com, for example. If you’re a newer webmaster or SEO, I’d recommend using subdirectories until you start to feel pretty confident with the architecture of your site. At that point, you’ll be better equipped to make the right decision for your own site.

....../

If you throw your content into a subdirectory, usually the code is all in the same file storage space. That can make it much easier to find/edit/change code. It can also be easier to move code from one place to another. A subdomain, however, is often a domain name system (DNS) alias. Subdomains can be a little more difficult for a novice webmaster to set up, especially if words like “CNAME” don’t mean anything to you. Subdomains can be managed separately, which can be a joy (you can use DNS to decouple a subdomain if you want to migrate that part of your site) or a pain (it may be more of a hassle to juggle DNS setting instead of just using file commands to make or move directories). When I started my blog, I decided to use a subdirectory (mattcutts.com/blog/) just to keep things simple, for example.
For several years Google has used something called “host crowding,” which means that Google will show up to two results from each hostname/subdomain of a domain name. That approach works very well to show 1-2 results from a subdomain, but we did hear complaints that for some types of searches (e.g. esoteric or long-tail searches), Google could return a search page with lots of results all from one domain. In the last few weeks we changed our algorithms to make that less likely to happen in the future.

I'm tired of hearing people say crap like "They don't rank as good as subdirectories or EMD's."


The same goes for ".info's are crap don't ever buy one if it's the last, only thing available."



You have no clue what you are talking about.

[RBadgley]

I am going to take an example of some of the things I have questions about. Lets say I want to get into forerunner GPS watch. I find that all the reasonable domains are taken for the forerunner but looking on the search engines (market Samurai) nobody is doing a good job of SEO on these keywords and I know I can beat most of them. I was thinking of starting a website on say BobsReviews.com and start a sub-domain for the exact keyword that I want to target does this make sense or am I going in a wrong direction. Also if I use a domain such as Bobsreview.com I could get into other niches that have similar circumstances

Note I am not actually doing the above but am looking to a very similar situation.

Thanks for your thoughts

[RyanCoisson]

Brad Callen is exactly right. subdomains are seen as separate. Also on a side note google is starting to not give as much weight to exact match domains as they have in the past.

[scott g]

Originally Posted by RBadgley

I am going to take an example of some of the things I have questions about. Lets say I want to get into forerunner GPS watch. I find that all the reasonable domains are taken for the forerunner but looking on the search engines (market Samurai) nobody is doing a good job of SEO on these keywords and I know I can beat most of them. I was thinking of starting a website on say BobsReviews.com and start a sub-domain for the exact keyword that I want to target does this make sense or am I going in a wrong direction. Also if I use a domain such as Bobsreview.com I could get into other niches that have similar circumstances

Note I am not actually doing the above but am looking to a very similar situation.

Thanks for your thoughts

Then I would say you've got a pretty good plan (and opportunity) to create yourself an authority site. You get enough good reviews out there and pretty soon the TLD will become synonymous with legitimate/non biased/informative reviews - That can open a door to a whole different world of site monetization to you; or you could stick with Adsense!

This is my opinion: I think subdomains in general look more authoritative than directories.

Either way you're still going to be doing your homework - keyword research, content creation, and backlinking.

[wallstreeterwww]

I was also thinking of using subdomains also for my minisite idea. It seems like the concensus here is that subdomains are ok to use, but what the heck is an EMD?

[scott g]

Originally Posted by wallstreeterwww

I was also thinking of using subdomains also for my minisite idea. It seems like the concensus here is that subdomains are ok to use, but what the heck is an EMD?

EMD = Exact Match Domain in relation to your targeted "keywords."

Examples:

Domain
http://thisismykeyword.com

Subdomain
http://thisis.mykeyword.com

Directories
http://mykeyword.com/this-is-my-keyword
or
http://thisis.com/mykeyword

Lot's of variations and a whole nother thread in itself!

CHEERS!

[panket]

redbicycles.com and red.bicycles.com are seen different to google, subdomains can use be included in the URL. For example:bicycles.com/red or you can rediect to bicycles.com.

[scott g]

Originally Posted by panket

redbicycles.com and red.bicycles.com are seen different to google, subdomains can use be included in the URL. For example:bicycles.com/red or you can rediect to bicycles.com.

Actually Google takes out dots slashes and hyphens when they read things.

[wallstreeterwww]

Thanks Scott and sorry for not responding so fast as I forgot to check this thread

Originally Posted by scott g

EMD = Exact Match Domain in relation to your targeted "keywords."

Examples:

Domain
http://thisismykeyword.com

Subdomain
http://thisis.mykeyword.com

Directories
http://mykeyword.com/this-is-my-keyword
or
http://thisis.com/mykeyword

Lot's of variations and a whole nother thread in itself!

CHEERS!

[stevenukas]

I have been thinking for a while.For example:
hxxp://this-is-my-keyword.com/
or
hxxp://this-ismy-keyword.com/
or even this
hxxp://thisismykey-word.com/
This allows us to choose more domains for specific keyword,but the question is;will we outrank exact match domains with no dots slashes and hyphens? Lets think of something not competitive,already ranking #5 in serp's <150K SEOC.
Why I am I concerned is b/c it would look damn fishy to make a it look like hxxp://thisism-ykeyword.com/ Thanks and sorry I might over complicate things sometimes

[scott g]

Originally Posted by stevenukas

I have been thinking for a while.For example:
hxxp://this-is-my-keyword.com/
or
hxxp://this-ismy-keyword.com/
or even this
hxxp://thisismykey-word.com/
This allows us to choose more domains for specific keyword,but the question is;will we outrank exact match domains with no dots slashes and hyphens? Lets think of something not competitive,already ranking #5 in serp's <150K SEOC.
Why I am I concerned is b/c it would look damn fishy to make a it look like hxxp://thisism-ykeyword.com/ Thanks and sorry I might over complicate things sometimes

EMD's carry some weight... Off-site SEO (backlinks) carry more.