Smart Traffic SEO Tip #37 – Creating a subdomain or a folder?
Subdomain vs. Subfolder, Subdomain.site.com OR www.site.com/subfolder
A few key facts regarding subdomains and subfolders.
Subdomains:
* Represented in the URL by the characters after “http://” and the ones before “.site.com”
* Are viewed by Search Engines as totally unique sites independent of the parent domain.
* Site Authority (in other words, the ability for the site and its subsequent pages to rank in the search engines) is not passed down from the parent domain.
Subfolders:
* Represented in the URL by the characters after “.site.com/” and before “filename.html”.
* Are viewed by Search Engines as a subdirectory within a site.
* Site Authority is passed down from the main domain.
Based on the above facts, Subdomains are viewed by search engines as totally unique sites independent of the parent domain and the site authority is not passed down from the parent domain. This means creating subdomains requires greater quality of content to support its own and in order for them to rank, it requires a lot of promotion and link building efforts.
Between the two, it is advisable to use Subfolders rather than Subdomains. Use subdomains only when the given topic has extensive content which requires separate navigation and design. Make sure that the subdomain is of great enough quality that it will acquire links and stand on its own.
