Subdomains and SEO

[inserate]

I so far have used .com domains that feature the keywords I want to rank for. I was asking myself though whether I could not use subdomains for my nichesites, i.e., niche.somefiveletterdomain.com.

My fear though is that it will not possible to rank these subdomains in google in a high spot.

Has anybody made any experiences with SEO and subdomains?

[jasm]

waiting for reply... I want to know opinions / exeperiences, etc. regarding this too...

[freebird1959]

Not sure about what you are asking. Usually a sub domain is part of your original domain name. But I have made a few niche sites using blogger which would look like ex. niche.blogspot.com

[xzlana]

I think SEs will associate subdomain with the main domain. Subdomains won't be ranked high for keywords and topics which are not close to the main domain.

[paulgl]

Subdomains are looked on as separate sites. Ranking them is the same.
Many large networks use them, like go.com, zap2it, about.com, ....even
that other monster: forums.digitalpoint.com

But it should be used for a different website, not just a sub category.
A sub category for most of us is best done by domain.com/subcategory

Paul

[inserate]

Thanks for your inputs.

So, if subdomains are looked at as separate domains, if I managed to rank a subdomain (e.g., niche1.mainsite.com) high in google, would mainsite.com also profit from the link juice? And how would a site like niche2.mainsite.com profit from the success of niche1.mainsite.com?

[jtooder]

No, they are treated as different sites. Link juice given to mainsite.com only by a link from sub.mainsite.com similar to a link from any other site.

Link juice acquired for sub.mainsite.com does not benefit mainsite.com.

[inserate]

OK, thank you!

Let's say I have a portal about dangerous arts, dangerousarts.com. What if I have a specific nichesite, say about "How fire-breathing works." I host it at how-fire-breathing-works.dangerousarts.com. In Google, will the site be disadvantaged to how-fire-breathing-works.com, given the exact same SEO strategy for the site (i.e., linkwheel)?

Thanks for any explanations!

[RealEcon]

Originally Posted by inserate

OK, thank you!

Let's say I have a portal about dangerous arts, dangerousarts.com. What if I have a specific nichesite, say about "How fire-breathing works." I host it at how-fire-breathing-works.dangerousarts.com. In Google, will the site be disadvantaged to how-fire-breathing-works.com, given the exact same SEO strategy for the site (i.e., linkwheel)?

Thanks for any explanations!

Ive got a competitor that has a subdomain sitting right under his main domain for a high traffic financial keyword. It looks like blog.finance-dot-com, so its no problem to rank a subdomain. Google treats it like a new domain. Usually subs are used for blogs or for states. Like california.fitness-dot-com, newyork.fitness-dot-com, etc. I think for you it would be better to just create a page off the main domain. That way you will get some of the authority from the main domain. Subs wont get any authority from the root domain.

[inserate]

Originally Posted by RealEcon

Ive got a competitor that has a subdomain sitting right under his main domain for a high traffic financial keyword. It looks like blog.finance-dot-com, so its no problem to rank a subdomain. Google treats it like a new domain. Usually subs are used for blogs or for states. Like california.fitness-dot-com, newyork.fitness-dot-com, etc. I think for you it would be better to just create a page off the main domain. That way you will get some of the authority from the main domain. Subs wont get any authority from the root domain.

Thanks for this reply. With creating a page off the main domain, do you mean www.maindomain.com/page/ ?

[jonatan]

If you want to use the same .com domain but not the same index file and you want to try to rank for a different keyword, a good way to do this is to create a new page on that same .com address of yours. Example: "youraddress.com/your-new-keyword.html"

[inserate]

Thanks, but how about an entire site, not just a page?

[MikeFriedman]

Originally Posted by inserate

Thanks for your inputs.

So, if subdomains are looked at as separate domains, if I managed to rank a subdomain (e.g., niche1.mainsite.com) high in google, would mainsite.com also profit from the link juice? And how would a site like niche2.mainsite.com profit from the success of niche1.mainsite.com?

No it wouldn't. Again, they are looked at as two separate sites.

You can certainly setup links between them, but in the absence of any links, they are just two independent web pages.