Choosing the right domain is hard

yes, but if its an authority site I think you'll need a separate domain, not just a subdomain for the pets area. Unless you're trying to make a gigantic site, then have fun :-)

I wouldn't put the authority site itself on a subdomain. Buy a separate domain for that and create subdomains for each niche area.

I am making an over all authority site with several categories (dogs.mysite.c0m, cats.mysite.c0m, monkeys.mysite.c0m This kind of thing). I am doing this for a number of reasons. One of which is, it is a lot cheaper than buying domains for each category, and I can keep on adding new categories when I have the time and content.

I was just wondering if I would get ranking for keywords in my subdomain and the different pages in that subdomain as well. Like, would dogs.mysite.c0m/grooming give me help with dogs and grooming. I am trying to figure out how to SEO the site the best way.


-joel

Well, yes you would get some SEO benefit.


You say you want to SEO your site the best way and the absolute best
way is to have a keyword rich domain and not use a lot of subdomains and directorys.

Having said that, just because you mentioned best so that would be best practice in my book.....

There is nothing really wrong with your plan.

Good on page SEO and your off page SEO is probably going to do far more for your search rankings than your domain.

Heck look at other authority sites...

True that the biggest short term bang might come from a nice keyword centered domain and that is always my approach if for no other reason than Google bolds the keywords in the search results so it stands out better...good for domain names, subdomains, titles, descriptions, PPC ads...

The domain is going to be a % of the overall 'points' value, how much it matters is up for debate but at the end of the day you'll rank based on other factors.

Just have a good SEO plan and work it.

Cheers,

Jonathan