12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
12 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

SEO implications of sub folders vs root domains

by Eddy Gonzalez
10 replies
I have a very successful ecommerce website that generates a lot of revenue and organic traffic. Due to the success of this, my business model has changed and I'd like to follow on the success of this website and branch out into selling other related products and services. However I'm unsure as to whether to create a brand new website using a similar naming structure as my current site, i.e.
brandname-service1.com, brandname-service2.com or create an umbrella site for my brand and have all the products and services living on sub directories, i.e. brandname.com/service1, /service2, /service3 etc.

My main goal is to improve the value of my brand so I would really prefer to go down the umbrella domain route BUT aside from the implications of doing a 301 migration what would this mean for ranking the future products and services on a sub folder over having them on dedicated domains?
#domains #folders #implications #root #seo
  • Profile picture of the author DABK
    Why can't your current website be the umbrella site?


    Originally Posted by Eddy Gonzalez View Post

    I have a very successful ecommerce website that generates a lot of revenue and organic traffic. Due to the success of this, my business model has changed and I'd like to follow on the success of this website and branch out into selling other related products and services. However I'm unsure as to whether to create a brand new website using a similar naming structure as my current site, i.e.
    brandname-service1.com, brandname-service2.com or create an umbrella site for my brand and have all the products and services living on sub directories, i.e. brandname.com/service1, /service2, /service3 etc.

    My main goal is to improve the value of my brand so I would really prefer to go down the umbrella domain route BUT aside from the implications of doing a 301 migration what would this mean for ranking the future products and services on a sub folder over having them on dedicated domains?
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745346].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Eddy Gonzalez
      The current domain name wouldn't make sense to then have other products within that domain, for example:

      mybrandname-bluewidget.com/redwidgets etc

      I want to take out the product in the domain and have something like:

      mybrandname.com/bluewidget, /redwidget etc

      hope that makes sense.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745411].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
        Originally Posted by Eddy Gonzalez View Post

        The current domain name wouldn't make sense to then have other products within that domain.
        I'm not all too sure that is true. We have built dozens of sites on domain names that have nothing to do with many of (or in some cases, ANY of) the products. As long as there is a slight connection, it can work and would certainly be the ideal scenario.

        I understand that selling teddy bears on combatknives.com would not work but usually a vague relationship exists (e.g. red widgets and blue widgets are still widgets).

        A good example would be guitarcenter.com. They certainly sell far more than guitars!

        To the best of my knowledge, Blue Buffalo only sells food for cats and dogs (not buffalo).
        Signature
        BizSellers.com - The #1 place to buy & sell websites!
        We help sellers get the MAXIMUM amount for their websites and all buyers know that these sites are 100% vetted.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745458].message }}
      • Profile picture of the author DABK
        Like Dave, I do not think you need to make the change you're contemplating.



        Would dabk-walkingshoes.com/running-shoes stop you from buying running shoes from dabk-walkingshoes.com?


        Do you really think people pay that much attention to urls? Or that Amazon.com has not taught them you can buy everything from a domain except the river?


        Originally Posted by Eddy Gonzalez View Post

        The current domain name wouldn't make sense to then have other products within that domain, for example:

        mybrandname-bluewidget.com/redwidgets etc

        I want to take out the product in the domain and have something like:

        mybrandname.com/bluewidget, /redwidget etc

        hope that makes sense.
        {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745618].message }}
        • Profile picture of the author Eddy Gonzalez
          This is just a personal preference, but I would trust a website more if that website had running shoes in the domain rather than walking shoes and I was looking for running shoes. But I get that some wouldn't care what the domain was, but rather the price, shoe quality etc. In your example dabk-shoes/running-shoes and dabk-shoes/walking-shoes works so much better in my opinion. The potential for promoting dabk shoes is then much greater. That is essentially my end game, to create a strong brand rather than shoe horn (pun intended) other products into one domain. You used Amazon as a good example, yes you can buy everything on the Amazon site and yet the domain says nothing about what they do (do you know most of their revenue comes from cloud hosting?).
          {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745927].message }}
          • Profile picture of the author DABK
            The name of the site does not have to be the url. You can buy the new domain name and redirect to the existing domain.

            If you strongly prefer one option, it can be done, without loss of traffic.

            You can do the other variations I mentioned. Or you can have a brand new site that encompasses what you already have and keep the existing site (have it compete with the new site).

            Each has advantages and disadvantages. Pick the one that best fits... And execute well. And you will be fine.

            Originally Posted by Eddy Gonzalez View Post

            This is just a personal preference, but I would trust a website more if that website had running shoes in the domain rather than walking shoes and I was looking for running shoes. But I get that some wouldn't care what the domain was, but rather the price, shoe quality etc. In your example dabk-shoes/running-shoes and dabk-shoes/walking-shoes works so much better in my opinion. The potential for promoting dabk shoes is then much greater. That is essentially my end game, to create a strong brand rather than shoe horn (pun intended) other products into one domain. You used Amazon as a good example, yes you can buy everything on the Amazon site and yet the domain says nothing about what they do (do you know most of their revenue comes from cloud hosting?).
            {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745941].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Dr Doomain
    Banned
    I would definitely choose the second option, because the link juice will flow much better inside a domain than through several subdomains. Google treats a subdomain as a separate domain. Either way, internal linking is important.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745774].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MikeFriedman
    Originally Posted by Eddy Gonzalez View Post

    I have a very successful ecommerce website that generates a lot of revenue and organic traffic. Due to the success of this, my business model has changed and I'd like to follow on the success of this website and branch out into selling other related products and services. However I'm unsure as to whether to create a brand new website using a similar naming structure as my current site, i.e.
    brandname-service1.com, brandname-service2.com or create an umbrella site for my brand and have all the products and services living on sub directories, i.e. brandname.com/service1, /service2, /service3 etc.

    My main goal is to improve the value of my brand so I would really prefer to go down the umbrella domain route BUT aside from the implications of doing a 301 migration what would this mean for ranking the future products and services on a sub folder over having them on dedicated domains?
    As long as you handle the migration properly, you will be fine. I've consulted on many of these, and have yet to see one that loss traffic when everything was done properly.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11745928].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Pelorus Technologies
    Depending on the content and structure of the website, subfolders or root domains should be used. As a rule, subfolders can be useful for Website optimization as they consider better association and can exploit the power of the root space. A root domain, on the other hand, might be a better choice for a website with a straightforward structure or content that is diverse and difficult to organize. Eventually, the main variable in Website design enhancement is making excellent substance that fulfills client plan and offers some benefit to the crowd, no matter what the URL structure.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11752088].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author dave_hermansen
    I'll add on more thing (I hope) to this discussion ...

    Wayfair.com did not start that way. It was a single entity that owned dozens of completely unrelated, successful websites with a wide variety of unrelated .com website names. Eventually, they decided to merge those dozens of websites into one domain - wayfair.com. Clearly, nothing they sell on that site has anything to do with the words(s) "wayfair". It is an irrelevant, made up, nonsense word similar to "Bing" or "Yahoo".

    That made up word does not affect the ranking of Wayfair whatsoever. Why? ... because Google ranks individual pages, not websites.

    Hayneeedle.com, incidentally, is another example of the same model as Wayfair and if you are old enough to recall, Amazon was originally a site that just sold books.
    Signature
    BizSellers.com - The #1 place to buy & sell websites!
    We help sellers get the MAXIMUM amount for their websites and all buyers know that these sites are 100% vetted.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11756497].message }}

Trending Topics