Are Subdomains Risky?

[coreytucker]

Hi,

I have a hosting account at hostgator which runs around $10 a month. I have 25 domain names under that account and now see these are actually subdomains. The thing is though is each site has a real .com url.

Each subdomain is on a different topic, so none of the topics are related.

So im wondering if im risking all of my sites by adding even more subdomains. Keep in mind each subdomain has a .com name. Is this a risk or perfectly safe with Google? Thanks

[Chris Lockwood]

That's a common way of doing add-on domains and should not be a problem.

Sub-Domain Names can be very usefull.. I use them and it does not seem to effect me.. Yes I also have the .com, .net too .. I can set them up on their own server no problem but sometimes I just like to use sub-domain names...

James

[Eric Engel]

The only thing I would add to the comments above is that if you wanted to start setting up each domain with a unique IP address (a good SEO tactic) then you would have to use a reseller's account at hostgator, where the domains would have their own accounts and not be add-ons.

[coreytucker]

thanks guys, but is it risky to have so many sub domains? I mean I plan on adding alot more....possibly reach 50-100 sites within a year or so. So im just wondering if I need to upgrade to the reseller account or if I should be safe doing it the way I am doing it.

I have subdomains on weight loss, acne, anti spyware etc. None of the sites are related but all have their own unique .com name. I honestly did not know these were even labeled as subdomains when I first started. I just dont want to be screwed and get all of my sites penalized.

Corey,
I see no reason why they would be risky.. Many people use sub-domain names.. I have a dedicated server and I still use them. I have many clients that use them also..

James

[Eric Engel]

Corey--

I don't think google actually sees them as subdomains. As far as search engines (and your viewers for that matter) are concerned, this is just another website on a shared hosting account.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this.

[Wakunahum]

Considering it's like $6-8 for a domain, you might as well just buy a new domain for each site cause you never know what rules will change on how subdomains are seen in the future.

I'm sure you plan on making more than $6-8 per domain in the long run anyways.

[entrepenerd]

Originally Posted by Eric Engel

Corey--

I don't think google actually sees them as subdomains. As far as search engines (and your viewers for that matter) are concerned, this is just another website on a shared hosting account.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Calling your setup subdomains is a misnomer. They are add-on domains. Subdomains are an entirely different thing. For example, acne.yourdomain.com is a subdomain of yourdomain.com . What you're using are NOT subdomains, and they are definitely not viewed that way by the SEs.

That said, having a network of sites that are all hosted on the same block of IPs is still not ideal for SEO purposes, but not horrible.

Ideally, if you were linking all of these together, you would want to have them on their own IPs in different C blocks to get the biggest benefit out of the link juice. But, if they are not linked together, then the way you are currently setup is perfectly fine.

Google does not care how many sites you maintain as long as they are useful. It only has an impact on the weight of your links between your own sites.

[coreytucker]

but when I go in my cpanel the sites seem as subdomains.

Ok so I have a site called fishingsupplies.com and my main site is Isalecows.com

so it looks like fishingsupplies.isalecows.com

Thats a subdomain right? Im using the basic 9.99 plan at hostgator.

[Hilary Keaton]

I use many addon domains and as far as I know they're as fully functional as the main domain. Have you asked Hostgator?

[girliemarketing]

If your really worried you could always upgrade to a WHM for about $15 more a month. It seems easier to manage that way, at least for me.

[talfighel]

Sub domains are really this:

Yourwebsitename.com/workathome.html
Yourwebsitename.com/makemoney.php
Yourwebsitename.com/mystory.html

These are examples of sub domains.

Tal

[Eric Engel]

Originally Posted by talfighel

These are examples of sub domains.

Tal

No those aren't subdomains.

entrepenerd has it right on this. They look like subdomains, but it's just a way to keep things in order. They aren't actually seen as subdomains by google. They just look like it to you.

[Jeff B]

Originally Posted by talfighel

Sub domains are really this:

Yourwebsitename.com/workathome.html
Yourwebsitename.com/makemoney.php
Yourwebsitename.com/mystory.html

These are examples of sub domains.

Tal

No, those are file names.

A sub-domain is sports.yahoo.com or finance.yahoo.com, where yahoo.com is the domain.

There is nothing wrong with sub-domains at all, just look at yahoo or some of the other big sites. They use them all day long and it's not hurting them.

[Elmar Sandyck]

Hi Corey,

Personally I choose to buy a new domainname for each of my sites. I don't know if it is risky with Google to put them all on one domain, but I know it will give you more credibility when you have a separate URL, with a strong name, for each of you sites.

Cheers,

Elmar

[Careygee]

Sorry but I beg to differ. What you are describing below are Directorys.

Subdomains are as "entrepenerd" described above...
ie; "For example, acne.yourdomain.com is a subdomain of yourdomain.com"

Originally Posted by talfighel

Sub domains are really this:

Yourwebsitename.com/workathome.html
Yourwebsitename.com/makemoney.php
Yourwebsitename.com/mystory.html

These are examples of sub domains.

Tal

[richdirtygirl]

Originally Posted by coreytucker

thanks guys, but is it risky to have so many sub domains? I mean I plan on adding alot more....possibly reach 50-100 sites within a year or so. So im just wondering if I need to upgrade to the reseller account or if I should be safe doing it the way I am doing it.

I have subdomains on weight loss, acne, anti spyware etc. None of the sites are related but all have their own unique .com name. I honestly did not know these were even labeled as subdomains when I first started. I just dont want to be screwed and get all of my sites penalized.

Hi hun!

I don't like addons... so I cannot be completely fair with them...

Problems I have seen-found with addons:

1. if you ever outsource you are opening your whole business to a stranger. Even if he/she is the best person in the World... bad things can happen.
2. Same risk if someone finds out your pass, etc...
3. Unlimited is not really unlimited. There is some filter in hostgator that will not allow you to upload more files after a certain point. I don't know how it works... it can be for files, processes, or who knows what?... but unlimited is not unlimited at all.

I don't like to tell people what to do... I had to take the same choice a couple of years ago and went for the reseller account.

Your call...

RDG

[Careygee]

I went to some of my SEO ebooks and pulled up some info.
One of them mentioned WebProNews.com
I went there and did a quick search and the best I came up with
is the following with a Matt Cutts Video and an article on Sub-domains.

It is about a year old but maybe someone else can do better, but
at least it is on target for this thread and question.
The URL is below. Hope this helps.
Carey
Google Scrubs SubDomains | WebProNews

Originally Posted by coreytucker

but when I go in my cpanel the sites seem as subdomains.

Ok so I have a site called fishingsupplies.com and my main site is Isalecows.com

so it looks like fishingsupplies.isalecows.com

Thats a subdomain right? Im using the basic 9.99 plan at hostgator.

Corey,
You are correct, this is exactly how I have some of my sites..

FishSupplies.com = Add-On Domain Name Which Redirects to Sub-Domain Name FishSupplies.iSaleCows.com

There is nothing risky about doing this at all...

James

[coreytucker]

thanks alot guys! I just really feel the urge to build alot of mini sites and it was a concern of mine. Im happy to see basically it seems they are treated just like regular domains

[E. Fire]

Entrepenerd and tafigel are actually both correct. A subdomain is a domain below the level of a top-level domain name that is aliased to a directory within a domain:

subdomain.mytopleveldomain.com on some systems is aliased to the directory mytopleveldomain.com/subdomain/

... on other systems there is a subdomain.mydomain.com directory at the same level as the root. It depends on the server configuration. I've used subdomains and see little benefit to them.



However, the way CPanel is set up, "subdomains" is in fact a misnomer as entrepenerd says; your domains are not in fact true subdomains but are full domain names within the same parent (account).

There are some schools of thought that it is best from an organic SEO point of view to have important domains on a separate, dedicated IP address. Multiple domains with the same IP address and same registry data are believed to receive less weight. YMMV. Stick to white hat and you'll probably be fine, but it's something to keep in mind. I don't know if your host offers that option; I was surprised to discover recently that GoDaddy will give you a dedicated IP even on shared hosting for a few bucks more a month.

K.

[lpstoops]

Originally Posted by coreytucker

but when I go in my cpanel the sites seem as subdomains.

Ok so I have a site called fishingsupplies.com and my main site is Isalecows.com

so it looks like fishingsupplies.isalecows.com

Thats a subdomain right? Im using the basic 9.99 plan at hostgator.

Yes that is a subdomain.

There has already been some great advise on this thread, but I figured I'd throw in my two cents. Effectively, subdomains on the same IP address isn't bad unless that IP address gets black listed by google. That could effect your sites. However, that's not super likely, and if you're staying away from black hat stuff then you should be fine.

Adversely, if you start making mini-sites like this, www.yourdomain.com/whatever, then it each would effect your main site drastically.

[lpstoops]

Originally Posted by talfighel

Sub domains are really this:

Yourwebsitename.com/workathome.html
Yourwebsitename.com/makemoney.php
Yourwebsitename.com/mystory.html

These are examples of sub domains.

Tal

Those are not subdomains, those are folders on your main site (ie: and extension of your website, the same site, the same url, the same to the search engines).

A sub domain is this: http://whatever.yoursite.com

Don't confuse the two, the function very differently in the search engines.

[Eric Engel]

Am I the only one completely blown away by the mis-information that gets passed back and forth in a forum when someone asks a question like this?

[wayfarer]

Late last year, Google announced that they were going to start treating subdomains as if they were regular directories. What this would have meant, if they had ever implemented it, was that no more than two results would appear on a single page for any given search-term. Thankfully, they saw what a horrible idea it was, and never went through with it.

I think the reason they backed out of this was they saw the devastating effect it would have had to all those blogspot blogs, which are all on subdomains. It would have made their own network much less competitative.

[IMChick]

It looks to me like the OP is putting separately purchased stand-alone dot com domains all into one hosting account for administrative hosting purposes.

While I'm not real tech-savvy, these are viewed as separate sites being held under the same parent account, at least with Go Daddy and Hostgator, the two I am most familiar with. They are not subdomains, but they are separate domains hosted on the same account.

If the OP needs to give password access (to a developer, for example) for one or two domains and does not want the entire business accessible because it is held in one account, he should split out each domain into it's own separate area, like a reseller account.