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subdomain or directory

by zcx
4 replies
  • SEO
    • |
If I want to set up a new project in an existing domain, does it make a big difference whether it's a subdomain or a directory? Which would be better:

BlueWidgets.BuyWidgetsNow.com

or

BuyWidgetsNow.com/BlueWidgets

?
#directory #subdomain
  • Profile picture of the author Louise Green
    It depends.

    Sub domains are better for larger sections on your site so Google can spider more pages, but they are treated as new sites so indexing could take a while.

    Directories are better for sub-topics, for example if your site is about cars a structure like domain.com/porche is best.
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  • Profile picture of the author SEOArbiter
    Originally Posted by zcx View Post

    If I want to set up a new project in an existing domain, does it make a big difference whether it's a subdomain or a directory? Which would be better:

    BlueWidgets.BuyWidgetsNow.com

    or

    BuyWidgetsNow.com/BlueWidgets

    ?
    I would definitely go with the sub-directory approach. It looks better, it's easier to manage, and if you are doing promotion on your main domain (i.e., www.yoursite.com), then that will pass to the sub-directory/file names, as it's part of that domain. Where, with Google, the subdomain is completely different. That is why you should setup your site where if they go to yourdomain.com, you redirect to http://www.yoursite.com, and all over your site, you link to http://www.yoursite.com/, not http://www.yoursite.com/default.asp.

    Either way, as long as you have the keyword in the URL, either in the domain name, directory name, or file name, you're done with the URL aspect of on-page SEO.

    Then, to actually get ranked, do link building. Remember, it's all about links.
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    • Profile picture of the author zcx
      Thanks for the replies!! I was really glad to read this:

      Either way, as long as you have the keyword in the URL, either in the domain name, directory name, or file name, you're done with the URL aspect of on-page SEO.

      That's something I've been wondering about - specifically, if getting the keyword into the URL as the file name was enough for SEO purposes. You've cleared that up for me, thanks again!
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    • Profile picture of the author thecableguy
      A directory gives you a "Silo" effect, which some SEO guys recommend for organic traffic. Subdomains are better at "branding" (I guess, well it's supposed to be anyway), but keep in mind it's considered a separate domain, and it's harder to get a high ranking since it's not a top level domain.

      Alan
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