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Subdomain equal to reg domain with all things equal?

by bdunndchi
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
If all things (backlinks, etc) are equal, will a subdomain blog post rank higher or lower than a blog post on the root domain, or is it equal?

Thanks for any advice.
#domain #equal #reg #subdomain #things
  • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
    Can't answer your question directly. But rarely see a subdomain rank for any meaningful terms. Might be a coincidence (few subdomains used for the terms I was looking at). But interesting none the less.
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    • Profile picture of the author paulgl
      Hmmmmmmmmm.

      Ever hear of the go.com network? Like espn.go.com? Disney.go.com?

      Anything from about.com? Those subdomains rock with google.

      How about forums.digitalpoint.com?

      All things being equal is the key.

      Paul
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      If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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      • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
        Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

        Hmmmmmmmmm.

        Ever hear of the go.com network? Like espn.go.com? Disney.go.com?

        Anything from about.com? Those subdomains rock with google.

        How about forums.digitalpoint.com?

        All things being equal is the key.

        Paul
        They are authority domains, so that is not equal. What are your thoughts on a subdomain on a newly registered domain?
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Originally Posted by terrapurus View Post

          They are authority domains, so that is not equal. What are your thoughts on a subdomain on a newly registered domain?
          LOL! You are asking if subdomains can do just as well and I gave you proof!

          You think forums.digitalpoint.com was always an authority site?

          Every new topic on about.com gets a brand new subdomain. AND...
          it's treated as a brand new domain, not a sub page of about.com.

          That's crazy to say you rarely see subdomains rank, which means
          you never see about.com, digitalpoint, go.com, etc.

          A new subdomain is treated as a new domain just like a regular domain is.
          So, if you put equal effort into it....

          Paul
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          • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
            Originally Posted by paulgl View Post

            LOL! You are asking if subdomains can do just as well and I gave you proof!
            You are focusing so hard on being right you are not answering the question. A subdomain on an authority site will of course rank well. This is beyond question and not the point in dispute (and giving about.com as an example of what the OP can do is not that useful). The question relates to a normal (ie brand new) domain and if a subdomain can outrank a root domain. There are (at google's own admission) more than 200 factors that contribute to ranking. They do not however tell us what these 200 are - we can only guess through observation. An interesting statistical study I have read on URL length shows that shorter URLs will rank higher on average than a longer URL. And if you put a subdomain in front of a root domain, it is of course going to be a longer URL. That is tick in the NO column. On the other hand, using a subdomain gives you the opportunity to have an exact match keyword in the domain. That has to be a tick in the yes column. So all things being equal, which wins out? I am happy to admit this is a question we can not easily answer. We rarely see subdomains in the top 10. Is this because people rarely use them? Or is it because they are not ranked highly? Both are reasonable conclusions - hence my original statement that I can not answer the question directly.
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            • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
              Originally Posted by terrapurus View Post

              We rarely see subdomains in the top 10. Is this because people rarely use them?

              Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner.

              It's just like the people who say .info's don't rank well. They rank just fine, they just aren't as commonly used as .com.

              I have plenty of subdomains ranked well. In fact, I'm working on a whole business model that involves subdomains right now.

              You can find a lot of local business directories setup this way and they are ranking just fine.
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              • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
                Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

                Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner.

                It's just like the people who say .info's don't rank well. They rank just fine, they just aren't as commonly used as .com.
                In this case though, Google has openly stated that domain extension does not effect ranking, so that is a given.

                Originally Posted by MikeFriedman View Post

                I have plenty of subdomains ranked well. In fact, I'm working on a whole business model that involves subdomains right now.

                You can find a lot of local business directories setup this way and they are ranking just fine.
                A perfect answer given out of experience. Of course the unwritten questions is do you see any root domain rank boosting by linking from your subdomains (ie an internal link wheel)? Or is this diluted?
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                • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
                  Originally Posted by terrapurus View Post

                  In this case though, Google has openly stated that domain extension does not effect ranking, so that is a given.



                  A perfect answer given out of experience. Of course the unwritten questions is do you see any root domain rank boosting by linking from your subdomains (ie an internal link wheel)? Or is this diluted?

                  There is some interlinking from subdomains to root domains. It's really hard to quantify what effect that may be having on the root domains if any. I haven't run an adequate test.

                  In my opinion, and from what I can tell, a subdomain is treated by the SERP's the same way an individual page or post is on a blog or website.

                  Others might feel differently, but from the sites I have and the local business directories I have been setting up, this is what I have witnessed.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Originally Posted by terrapurus View Post

      Can't answer your question directly. But rarely see a subdomain rank for any meaningful terms. Might be a coincidence (few subdomains used for the terms I was looking at). But interesting none the less.
      Hi terrapurus,

      This couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, subdomains tend to dominate the search results with some notable exceptions of course. The most common subdomain is www. This should be fundamental knowledge for anyone in the SEO business.

      Google doesn't treat one page differently from another based on domains, or subdomains, with the exception of country codes which triggers localization filters. Outside of country code domains they are essentially domain (and subdomain) agnostic.
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      • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
        Originally Posted by dburk View Post

        The most common subdomain is www. This should be fundamental knowledge for anyone in the SEO business.
        Yes .. and I can use www1 to point to a different server cluster than www etc etc (versionone does this for hosted solutions for example). But here is good explanation from superuser.com about subdomains in the real world as to whether www is a real subdomain. It explains it better than I ever could so why reinvent the wheel ...

        A sub domain normally denotes separate content from the main website.

        For example, if I go to foo.bar.com, I expect a different set of content from bar.com.

        The www prefix is subtly different to a sub-domain. This is actually a canonical alias that normally points to the same content as the non www prefix.

        So in real-world terms, "www" is not really a sub-domain as it does not contain a "sub section" of the website. Here are some examples...

        This page is a memorial to or bar.com - the root of the website foo.bar.com - a sub-domain of the website

        Part Two... should you use "www" prefix?

        The answer to this question is "it depends". If your audience is the "general public", you'll find that they are more comfortable starting a web address with www. If you are dealing with savvy technical types, you can ommit the www - so you'll find Stack Overflow, Super User, jQuery and many other websites with technical audiences using the non-www address as their preferred URL. Also note, though, that if you type in the www by accident, you still get to the same page!

        In short, "www" isn't really a sub-domain, it's an alias and you should use it if it is appropriate to your audience.

        If you are thinking about this kind of stuff, you might find the W3C Style Guidelines a useful read!

        Style Guide for Online Hypertext
        So to reply to your statement .. no, not really.
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        • Profile picture of the author dburk
          Originally Posted by terrapurus View Post

          Yes .. and I can use www1 to point to a different server cluster than www etc etc (versionone does this for hosted solutions for example). But here is good explanation from superuser.com about subdomains in the real world as to whether www is a real subdomain. It explains it better than I ever could so why reinvent the wheel ...



          So to reply to your statement .. no, not really.
          Hi terrapurus,

          While you see a "good explanation" I see a bad explanation in that post. Funny how someone can have all the correct facts yet ignore them when they formulate a conclusion. :rolleyes:

          In short, www really is a subdomain and pointing to an inaccurate musing doesn't change that fact. I don't mean to belittle the author you quoted, but lets just say that he represents the classic definition of cargo cult science.
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          • Profile picture of the author terrapurus
            The techhead answer is correct. But Google webmaster guidelines does treat it as two separate entities, so from the opposing perspective it is correct.
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