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The biggest reason NOT to use subdomains

by Heidi White
12 replies
I've been working on the build 100 adsense sites model, and part of me wants to SAVE $8 per domain by creating sub-domains for every keyword niche.

I'd asked before if that would affect ranking, and the response was unclear.

However, after reading this post:

A Big Warning To Newbies About A Dangerous Trend

I think the main reason not to use sub-domains is that it makes it easier for anyone who thinks you've got some quality paying niches, to go and find all your other niches.

On the other hand, maybe the 'free' sub-domain approach might be a good way to test the viability of the multiple chosen keywords & niche before investing in a bunch of domain names.

Thoughts?
#biggest #reason #subdomains
  • Profile picture of the author Ernie Lo
    I wouldnt worry about peope copying your niches. Making 100 niche adsense sites is hardly a secure longterm model. Not saying its a bad route (im currently tring to do the same) but It's more of a be happy for the $$ you make as long as it lasts type thing. Your never going to find some one in a million profitable niche that nobody knows about.

    Theres only one thing you need to consider when it comes to using subdomains or not and thast whether they don't rank as well or not.
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  • Profile picture of the author mywebwork
    Well at 8 dollars a domain with 100 subdomains you'd essentially be saving 800 dollars. Thats a fair chunk of Adsense revenue.

    I think your idea of using this method to check the viability of buying an actual domain name is the way to go. If there is enough interest in one of your niches then it would be worth getting a domain for it.

    Bill
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  • Profile picture of the author Troy_Phillips
    If you are naming your domains after actual high searched longtails and can get the exact match dot com.... better get the domain.

    If the exact match isn't available then you can more than likely rank a sub just as easy .
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  • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
    I agree with Troy. If you can get an exact match domain and the niche looks promising, don't hesitate, the domain may be gone by the time you test it. You're not buying all 100 domains at once, are you? By the time you build and promote ten sites, at least a few ought to be earning you money. Those can finance the next batch. You only need to make $80 off the first ten for it to finance the next ten. If you can't do that, maybe you should rethink your plan anyway.
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    • Profile picture of the author Barry Unruh
      With Sub Domain you are not going to be able to sell off the flops either. They are all tied to the base domain, and therefore have no resale value, unless you sell your entire business.

      You have the potential to get a decent return on a low producing website which you no longer care to maintain by selling it. If it is keyword based, getting traffic, and has made at least a few dollars, you will get back much more than your investment in the domain names.

      This would concern me much more than the potential of someone finding out all of my niches.
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      • Profile picture of the author ATHell
        I'm doing a lot of autoblogs, where set up for one takes just 5-10 Minutes. Doing this for every niche, for every domain I start, extending it with 10-20 subdomains is a real winner. Every good keyword has its sidenames which in combination work fine, but would not be worth to register a single domain for it. In detail: Its good if an autoblog makes about 100$/year. Adding subs to it is pushing the profit to 200-300$ and sometimes a subdomain overtakes the main. (At this point I'm thinking about registering the next one :rolleyes But, almost over 90% of the subs won't make the money that would cover the name registration.
        On the other hand: If you spend more then 2 hours for creating a website for a subdomain it will be worth at all to register a good domain for it.
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve Garratt
    Remember that if google de indexes the domain then all your subdomains dissappear with it.
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    • Profile picture of the author Heidi White
      Originally Posted by howdo-i View Post

      Remember that if google de indexes the domain then all your subdomains dissappear with it.
      So, doesn't that mean you are building PR and traffic to the main domain, by the mere act of creating and driving traffic and backlinks to all those sub-domains?
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  • Profile picture of the author SurviveUnemployment
    Personally, I like subdomains, and so do the search engines. A subdomain drives traffic to the top-level domain too because people who find the sub will sometimes go to the main out of curiosity. Plus, you can link your subs (under the same domain) to each other without looking like a "blog farm."

    Oh yeah -- and you don't have to pay for the domain name.

    I guess if easyweightloss.com were available, I might prefer it over a subdomain of easyweightloss.mydomain.com, but most of those names are gone.
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    • Profile picture of the author HCLee
      I have yet to see people create 100s of adsense websites using sub-domains but for ranking that won't be as good as a separate domain. In fact all my adsense domains include the exact keyword I'm ranking. You probably have to do more backlinking too if you go ahead.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dhira
    subdomains are really good for PPC....
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  • Profile picture of the author Graemewhi
    I see some reports that google looks on subdomains as the same as domains so why not use them?They save you plenty of dollars there wouldnt be any reason not to use them unless you want to sell the site maybe ??
    If you have a sub them perhaps it might be best not to have anything on the actual domain so there would be no reason for google to de-index it as suggested in the earlier post.
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