Google and subdomains

[aleco]

I thought the general consensus was that subdomains didn't really add much to boosting your ranking in google?

I just did this search:

http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&client=REAL-tb&ie=UTF-8&q=domiso+polyphonic+ringtone

in Google, only to find it's practically ALL taken up with the same website, just different subdomains for each result - is this allowed? Should it be?! More than the first 20 pages are taken up by the same website (got bored of checking past there!)

Thank goodness one of my sites managed to squeeze in at no. 2, but my other one is lost in the results somewhere due to complete domination by this other site!

[Colleen]

This is a website review? :confused:

[digitalpoint]

It was moved here because it's not about Google itself.

This is also the place for Why does this site rank where it does? questions.

[Colleen]

I thought he put it here, and I see now.

[aleco]

I'm not asking why my site ranks where it does, rather should Google allow such attempts to cheat (well, I say attempts, but it's obviously worked!) and does this show that using subdomains rather than additional folders in the url help more than thought?

[digitalpoint]

"Why does Google allow this site to cheat?" seems like a simple rewording of "Why are these sites ranked where they are?" to me...

[aleco]

Fair enough! Couldn't have posted in here anyway due to lack of posts :o Suppose if anything I should've posted it in the SEO section as that's where previous (http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=608) sub-domain/folder discussions occurred, but I see why this one's best in here now.

Anyway, back to the topic! :D ;)

[digitalpoint]

Anyway, there are cases where allowing subdomains should be allowed in my opinion. For example, blogspot.com. There are millions of blogs that essentially would be cut out of the search results:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:blogspot.com

Also, if you search for "ebay" on Google, 7 of the top 20 results are from ebay.com because of sub-domains.

[Solicitors Mortgages]

quote from the net:
""Google indexes subdomains as if they are distinct sites, so fred.googlebomber.com, jane.googlebomber.com and harry.googlebomber.com can contain the links.

Google is aware of this, and has intervened in a recent rigging attempt which saw a search for "california apartment insurance" return dozens of pages from subdomains at areaguides.net. Now the results return fifteen results, with over 800 more not shown.""
GEM

[digitalpoint]

I don't think it would be a huge priority for Google to cut out sub-domains, because as soon as they did that, people would just switch to unique domains. You can get domains now for $5/year, so a hundred throw-away domains for that purpose wouldn't be a big investment.

[Blogmaster]

For related content I advise to not use a subdomain but for unrelated, it is better.
BTW
It seems like Google's UK office is asleep!

[T0PS3O]

BTW
It seems like Google's UK office is asleep!

What's that all about?

[Dominic]

If you want a sub-domain to rank it has to in it's own right just like another site and the same as getting a second indented listing from the same domain. So really if they have put the work in it can be done. But if you are thinking of this strategy work consider using different sites from different c class ip blocks as they are more of a sure thing over the longer term.... oh and so is great / unique content.

[Blogmaster]

What's that all about? I'm talking about google.co.uk and it's algorithm. Does Google.com have results like that?

[T0PS3O]

Yes, it's the exact same algo but with the addition of choice of geolocation.

[Blogmaster]

By the way, how do you get indexed by Google.co.uk? How do they know which sites are operated from the UK?

[T0PS3O]

By IP Georeferencing. It's the same bots though so there is no way of getting indexed by g.co.uk. If your site is hosted in the US then it will show on general searches. If it's hosted in the US and the searches specifies UK Only, it won't show.

[Blogmaster]

ic ... so if a web site is targeting the UK market, it should definitely be hosted there then.

Thanks

[T0PS3O]

Preferably, yes. But not-so-savvy surfers still tend to use g.com and just add 'UK' in their search. So make sure your pages mention UK in the footer etc.