Subdomain or Folder, which would work best on an aged domain

[MikeBarcus]

Hi Fellow Warriors,

I've got a couple of questions that I've been mulling over for a long time but never asked, and was hoping to get some feedback.

I have a domain that I registered 10 years ago and never really did anything with it. I've had a few sites on it over the years but none of them stayed long so the domain has 0 PR.

I was thinking about adding some niche blogs to the domain and was hoping that since the domain was so old maybe they would rank faster.

My first question is: Do you think the domain age will help at all?

Secondly, what would be a better way to go. Using a subdomain ie: http://nichetitle.mydomain.com or using a folder like http://mydomain.com/nichetitle

Or would I just be better off searching for a new domain name?

FYI, the domain name is not related to any specific search terms.

Thanks in advance, I hope someone has been in a similar situation and can set this matter straight

[outwest]

subdomain if you plan to make the information unique
google will only index about two of these subdomains per main domain, you have to convince them the information is totally different from the main domain

also any age of the main domain or PR I dont think will necessarily pass to the sub
google considers subdomains new domains to some extent

[MikeBarcus]

Thanks outwest, anyone else care to comment please.

[Derek Devlin]

Hey Mike,
Here's my take on it. Google used to treat sub-domains as completely different entities, my understanding now is that they have to some degree attached a relevancy score to sub-domains and linked this back to the main domain. So basically, outwest is right.

Only develop sub-domains if you plan on making these unique i.e. in totally different niches because google will only index your subdomains if you can prove without question that each is independant from the other. Why? Well, the reason for this change was simple. It was becoming too easy to game rankings by just firing up a new sub-domain with your chosen keyword in the same niche and achieve a ranking for it.

Google's approach today means its far less likely that you would see sub-domains from the same domain in the same set of top 10 results.

Hope this helps mate.
Derek.

[proseocontent]

I think a folder is better. A subdomain is like a new domain for google.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by outwest

...google will only index about two of these subdomains per main domain, you have to convince them the information is totally different from the main domain

Outwest, you chided the WF for newbie nonsense, so where do you get such
nonsense yourself?

Google only indexes 2 subdomains?!?!?!?!!? Seriously, where do you get
this stuff from?

Google will index anything and everything it wants to. It will index ALL of
your subdomains, from 1 to infinity. If it only indexed 2, then man sites
like amazon, ebay, zap2it, go, about, etc ( even google) are up a creek. They have zillions
of subdomains.

Seriously man. Get real. That would mean every free wordpress and blogspot
blog would not be indexed. They are all subdomains...

Nothing personal outwest, but you are out "there."

www. is a subdomain.

Paul

[trustumar]

domain age does not matter but site age does. if niches are about completely different topic i would suggest you follow this site, no1reviews.com

[MikeBarcus]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Outwest, you chided the WF for newbie nonsense, so where do you get such
nonsense yourself?

Google only indexes 2 subdomains?!?!?!?!!? Seriously, where do you get
this stuff from?

Google will index anything and everything it wants to. It will index ALL of
your subdomains, from 1 to infinity. If it only indexed 2, then man sites
like amazon, ebay, zap2it, go, about, etc ( even google) are up a creek. They have zillions
of subdomains.

Seriously man. Get real. That would mean every free wordpress and blogspot
blog would not be indexed. They are all subdomains...

Nothing personal outwest, but you are out "there."

www. is a subdomain.

Paul

Thanks Paul! Your post makes absolute sense and brings the topic into perspective. Answers like yours are the reason I'm glad to be a Warrior.

Thanks again for taking the time to post,
Mike

Originally Posted by trustumar

domain age does not matter but site age does. if niches are about completely different topic i would suggest you follow this site, no1reviews.com

Thanks trustumar!

As the old saying goes, "the proof is in the pudding" and no1reviews.com sure provides the proof. Over 4,200 indexed subdomains with good PR certainly adds a lot of weight to Paul's answer.

Is this your site? You (or the owner) has certainly done a lot of work over the past 5 years.

Thanks again,
Mike

[JMartin]

Think sometimes we spend too much time on a forum reading posts rather than engaging in the marketplace in which we participate.

The decisions for folders/subs for niches is just a personal one. Look at Squidoo, About.com, HubPages, CNN, etc. Different structures, good ranking potential.

As for indexing, About.com, TopTenReviews.com and many other sites use subs and rank all over the place. No need to guess, theory-craft and other nonsense. Just do a search and behold what your eyes easily see.

As for aging, think about why age really matters and why it's site age, not domain age that counts. If I have a site (not domain) that's say 5 years ago, in that time it will have added content, received links, built up authority in a niche or niches, been talked about perhaps and so forth. It's like child. As it grows, it develops more and more and eventually becomes and adult. Now think about domain age. You have a domain that's 10 years old, but has nothing build up. That's like going to the hardware store and buying all the pieces to making a project but putting it in the garage for years. When you come back years later, the project isn't done and it isn't any further along than when you stopped.

[domaining]

I would recommend going for folders instead of subdomains personally.

But I guess with enough work you could make the subdomains work.

Not only are folders easier in my opinion, but they pass juice a bit easier as far as I understand.

[trustumar]

@ MikeBarcus

no, no1reviews.com is not mine. I found it while i was searching for a niche.

[dealers]

Hey Mike:

I was having trouble deciding whether I should add a folder
or a subdomain to a site where I am adding on a blog.

From what I've read on this thread, I have chosen to add a
new folder for the blog.

- Rick