I posted this query already in the link building section, but on reflection I think it may be more of an SEO question. Sorry for the duplicate post. I'm looking into link building for a site which has country specific subdomains depending on where you access it from. By this I mean here in the UK you will see uk.[sitename].com, in the USA us.[sitename].com etc. The domain www. [sitename].com 301 redirects to the appropriate subdomain. Would it be counterproductive to develop links to the www. domain, or would the link 'juice' be passed on to the subdomains? Or should the individual subdomains be promoted, and do directories etc tend to accept subdomains?? Hope that all makes sense
yes, if the link is from an IP in xxx country, the link juice will be passed on to the relevant 301 redirected site you use for that country. That is very hit and miss though as link IPs can change easily. I would definately promote the individual site extensions and gain links FROM that country. So get only .co.uk or uk .com sites linking to your .co.uk .de sites linking to your .de site (if you have one) and so on. Trust me, it works......
Thanks for your reply, I think I follow your logic. I guess that will make link building a more time consuming task but will perhaps pay dividends in the long run.
Thats the price you pay for running country specific domains been there, done that! and I dont do it any more if I can avoid it! It will definately pay dividends though and give you failover in case one of your sites loses position badly. and as they all mature you will rank well all over the place
I have to say, it's not a site I own just one that I *might* be asked to help out with SEO. I'm not entirely sure why the decision to go for subdomains rather that subfolders was made, but it was made anyhow. I'm guessing you ain't a big fan of the regional subdomain format
I have to admit I read your post wrong! I thought the company was running different country TLD domains for the various countries. Well, I cant for love nor money find the link now but someone posted some news from an SEO expo the other day that means that Google is now treating subdomains very differently. hopefully someone will post it. But instead of them being treated as a seperate site as they have been, they will now be treated just like a subfolder. With a limit of only 2 results showing up in different keywords SERPS
You know what?? - I think I saw that article recently, but I wasn't too sure what to make of it. I'll check my history/bookmarks once I get home and see if I can find it again.
seo daddy, is this the article you meant?? http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/