Not necessarily true though. Just as one large example, look at About.com. A lot of their sites rank extremely high in search engines, and they're all subdomains. They're treated as separate sites in that sense anyway, so seperate domains would probably have little or no effect on making them rank any higher. For my own case, I'm using subdomains on a business site, and I also run a few music-related sites (not similar enough to run on subdomains). I've noticed no difference between inter-linking one way or the other. The reason I'd opt for subdomains in the OP's situation is because it would simply be easier to manage, probably get the same effect, and they wouldn't have to bother with the extra cost of a lot of domain registrations. Just my $.02 though.
yeah, I'm not sure where you're getting that. it's really easy to make multiple subdomains rank for a single query now. wasn't always that way, but it's definitely like that now. google for "ebay" to see an example.
Umm, that is the name of their company. It is not a generic search term lol. Give me an example of a generic search term with more than 1 subdomain result for that search term. I have done about 20 searches for common search terms and can't find any. If ebay didnt have the entire page full of their domain and subdomains I would have been shocked! At any rate do what works for you. As a developer I have found taht what works for me is developing more than 1 site within a niche. My customers can find what they are looking for a little easier and I can target different keywords with the different sites. Also a very good domain name for each site helps a LOT especially with the SEO. Gl!
And it can apparently work just as well using subdomains - just about all content networks to this (About.com is the example I already gave, and they're definitely proof that subdomains don't hurt SEO-wise, since they rank to ridiculously high for some major keywords). Customers can still find what they want as easily... it has nothing to do with the domain really in the sense of interlinking; it has to do with how well you're actually interlinking them. It's just a matter of preference. If you'd rather use multiple domains, use multiple domains. If you'd rather use subdomains, use subdomains. You can get good SE rankings with either. Jenn
First, About ranks ridiculously high for a ridiculous number of keywords. If I don't see an About result on every other search I do I would be surprised! I agree 1000% with what you are saying but I am speaking to something completely different. Getting TWO (2) sub domains on the first page or two of google et el. Not getting a sub domain ranked high in the search engines for many different keywords. I cant do this with sub domains. Maybe it is just me. But I have done it with two different sites which are topically related and linked together. With that said I am now going to mess with the sub domains on one of my sites to see if I can get 2 of them listed on the first page and prove myself wrong. which I just may be. Have a stellar weekend!
Mediology ultimately we all have different objectives and goals, which is great for all of us and these types of discussions are great to have. The bottom line however is to rank high in serps so that we can get the traffic to the site and monetize it ... now MY GOAL is to rank #1 for my keywords yes, but not just one listing or the top 2 but this sweet dealy (I used "appetizer recipes" as an example, BTW this is not my site ) Have a great weekend!!
i'm for the subdomain way .. It's much easier to manage and promote one site than 20 of them. Try submitting 20 sites to 100 directories in a day.
Read the point 5) on this interview: http://interviews.slashdot.org/interviews/02/07/03/1352239.shtml?tid=95 This is also a good article http://www.webmasters-central.com/wp/se/sharedip.shtml I would say that this myth is busted! (unless matt is lying to protect their algorithms but I doubt that)
Interlinking works in some cases and doesnt work in other cases. Not just C blocks or ip's. Google can even see your whois records to see whether the same person owns 2+ sites. If you are not out of sand box, or just out of it, dont even think about it. But remember, interlinking is is only one factor that affects SERP / sandbox. Google does not discourage people from owning more than one site, nor interlinking. The SERP will not improve largely becasue of this (but your internal traffic will! ). Google wants to make sure that each site has reasonable amount of links from external sites than itself or from the sites of same owner or a small pool of sites. The more diffrent variety of sites that accepts your site ( & therefore, links) the better. Also, I will not provide site wide footer / side bar links that are exactly the same for all pages. Yes, each page can link to a diffrent page and that makes the links more appealing to users. (something like related online resources for each page, 3-5 links. These links can be exclusively used by your pool of sites). Also, when you build network of sites, you must ask yourself whether you want too many "not so good" sites, or "one great big site". If you dont have established sites, refrain yourself from creating more than 1-3 sites in the beginning. Based on how these three goes, you can create more or dedicate your time on the one that works.
Interesting interview Mikkom. "Google handles virtually hosted domains and their links just the same as domains on unique IP addresses. If your ISP does virtual hosting correctly, you'll never see a difference between the two cases." How do you know if your virtual hosting is done "correctly"? I rent a dedicated server and have around 20 domains hosted on it. Are there specific settings I should be checking? Bill