Hi, I read up a bunch of posts on using subdomains. But, I am on the verge of launching my first major site, and have to make a decision, so help me: It will be a content site with 10 odd fairly different topics with 100 odd articles each (HTML flat files). Over a period of time, the number of topics as well as the number of articles per topic will grow. I cannot decide between: 1) Having a different DOMAIN for each of the 10 topics 2) Having one domain, but 10 different SUBDOMAINS 3) Having one domain, and a different DIRECTORY for each topic 4) Having one domain and putting all 1000 odd articles into the same directory. My query is regarding the way search engines would see the different structures. For the time being, please ignore the administrative nightmares that I will have in one option versus another. Thanks Ajeet
Kinda depends on exactly how they're divided up. If it's just articles with different subjects I'd go for directories (perhaps separating words with hyphens in the path); if it's more of a functional differentiation then I'd start thinking about subdomains.
As you're asking for opinions from a SEO point of view only, I don't really think there's a lot of difference between your options is it's all going to be on the same IP. Administration and organization are different matters.
What is the root domain you're using? If it's something cool, you could use both... Something like.... alaska.bestdoctors.com/-county-in-alaska-/-town-in-alaska-
I even considered going with the different domains option with the sites residing on different IP addresses (even different C class IPs). Nope, nothing too great on the domain name front. So, I do not absolutely need the same domain name for all topics. Any more thoughts? Ajeet
That's a plus in terms of SERPS, if higher costs are not an issue. I wouldn't spend much more for a little benefit, but who knows, it might make THE difference. It's really up to you as you know your situation. The rest is of little SEO relevance.
If the subjects were similar subjects with a common theme, like red widgets, green widgets ... I would make them folders on the same site. An example would be "www.automobile.com" with folders for "ford", "honda" ... If the subjects shared something in common but at a higher level, sub domains would make sense as well as folders. Subdomains would let each subdomain collect "authorative reference" for the subject. An example would be "transportation.com" with sub domains "automobile.transportation.com" and "oceanliner.transportation.com". If the subjects have little if anything in common, then all avenues are open. You can make one big site with folders for the various topics and try to build a brand name for the site, or you could make them sub domains building reputation for both the site and the encompasing domain, or you could treat them as separate sites and develop them independantly. The first two would suggest domain wide templates. The latter one would permit completely different views for each subject. Not knowing your subjects makes it very hard to say. I know my personal site hits subjects all over the board but it isn't making me any money
Is your domain name long or short? If it's long, subdomains will look cumbersome and hard to remember, foders might be better. Does each topic functions as a standalone site? Then separate domains or subdomains would be better.
A couple of points: 1. If you ever need a certificate for your website (i.e. https), you will have to buy one for each domain or a wildcard certificate, which is pretty pricey 2. From the code/HTML/CSS point of view, using multiple domains, it is harder to reuse server-side scripts (i.e. PHP/ASP/etc), as well cleint-side content (i.e. HTML/JS/CSS/etc) because of cross-site dependencies. 3. From the SEO point of view, it seems to me that SE's favors smaller, specialized websites J.D.