Are Subdomains Risky?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Sub domains are really this:

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

These are examples of sub domains.

Tal

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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.