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What is a Subdomain?
A subdomain is a subset of a larger domain.
Example:
Keyword.YourDomain.com
To understand the subdomain concept better, take a look at this domain dissects.
A complete domain name will include the Top Level Domain (which in this case is .com), the Second Level Domain (SLD), and a subdomain.
While there are several examples of TLDs, the most common are .com, .org, and .net.
The SLD makes the domain name unique
The part placed before the domain name is called a subdomain. While www is a subdomain, you don’t always have to use it as a subdomain. Instead, you can replace it with any word, keyword, or service to create a domain with a unique address without having to buy a new domain name.
In most instances, subdomains act as extensions to the main domain name, allowing you to send site visitors to different site addresses and point to specific directories or IP addresses in the hosting account.
When Should You Use a Subdomain?
Even though your subdomain will still be on the same domain name, think of it as a different site. By having a subdomain, you’ll be telling search engines that your content is off-topic and needs to be treated like a different site.
You can use a subdomain:
1. When Trying to Organize or Split Web Content into Distinct Units
If your website has a lot of content on a specific topic or if there is content on your site that you intend to draw attention to, you should break it up into subdomains.
Such subdomains will set content apart from the main site and give it unique addresses without you having to register any other domain name.
Examples
· Cars.YourDomain.com
· Food.YourDomain.com
· Fashion.YourDomain.com
You can also use a subdomain to accommodate content that may not be necessarily crucial to the main website. E.g.
· events.noriskseo.com
· store.noriskseo.com
2. When Adding Third-Party Services That Aren’t Compatible With Your Site’s Programing Language
Search engines consider subdomains as separate websites from your site.
However, the good thing about subdomains is that you can add third-party services that are not compatible with the programing language of your main site e.g., E-commerce and Shopify (a different CMS on an HTML page) without difficulties integrating them.
Going by a subdomain, you can add a WordPress blog on a non-WordPress website or even add a landing page software that’s not compatible with your programing language.
Subdomain folders use a CNAME Record in your DNS to attach to your domain and manage it.
3. When Creating Language Specific Versions of a Site
Subdomains also offer a good way to create language-specific versions of a site
E.g.
· french.YourDomain.com
· esp.YourDomain.com
The same applies when creating country-specific versions of a site.
4. When Looking at Saturate Search Results Page
Using a subdomain may also make sense when you have two pages from the main domain that are ranking for one search query. In this case, a subdomain would saturate the search engine results page with your listings.
This would work for you because Google shows a maximum of 2 URLs from a given subdomain on a search results page but may show more from a root domain if it has multiple subdomains.
Subdirectories/Subfolders
Subfolders, also subdirectories, are the folders that come behind a domain address.
Examples:
· YourDomain.com/Keyword
· www.alliancewoodworking.com/services/
Like a subdomain, a subfolder allows you to create different content categories. However, they are set up differently on servers.
Unlike subdomains, no server partitioning is involved with subfolders. Since a subfolder is housed on the same server, all its link juice goes to the domain.
Subfolders tend to get all the benefits of the subdomain they are on, and pages behave similarly irrespective of what subfolder under a subdomain they are put in.
When it comes to subfolders, search engines consider everything that’s after YourDomain.com to be part of your main website’s domain.
Subfolders use the same Content Management System (CMS) as your current domain
For some third-party services, you can add a subfolder instead of using a subdomain – e.g., WordPress and Lead Pages
Subdomains use CMS as your domain
If everything on your site is around the same topic, you should use subdirectories.
Examples
· YourDomain.com/blog
· YourDomain.com/About
· YourDomain.com/Tools
Summary: When to Use a Subdomain or a Subfolder (Subdirectory)
1. From an SEO Perspective – Subfolders are Always Better for Rankings
Roughly 90% of a site’s link juice transfers with a subdomain, while 100% of a site’s link juice transfers through a subdirectory.
This is because all subfolder pages/blogs become part of your main domain and thus contribute to your domain, increasing your site’s domain exposure and authority.
By using a subdomain, you’ll have something close to a second website that you’ll need to build up and will be trying to do SEO for two separate properties.
2. 3rd Party Apps
Most of the time, a Subdomain is easier to integrate into your CMS, website language, and 3rd party apps. E.g., if you have a WordPress site and intend to integrate E-commerce and Shopify whose programming languages are not compatible, you will find it easier using a subdomain than a subfolder.
3. Niche
If your site has multiple topics, use subdomains because search engines like ranking niche websites more than authority sites with all sorts of content.
If you just want to stick to one niche, use subdirectories.
4. Blogs
Blogs work well on Subfolders
5. Landing pages
The intended longevity of your landing page will dictate your choice.
If using a landing page for ads and will probably come down after some days (a short-term page for a campaign), a subdomain would be ideal as you’ll not have to be worried about long-term SEO for such a page
When creating a landing page that you mean to keep in the long term, use a Subfolder as it will contribute to your SEO and overall domain authority.
6. International Pages
If your business operates in multiple countries, you might need to consider a subdomain. E.g.
· French.YourDomain.com
· Esp.YourDomain.com
If it’s just a few pages in French, though, you can do a subfolder. It all depends on how substantially different the countries you’re targeting are and the changes you intend to make to your site as you add the different countries.