What is Subdomains and their effect on SEO performance continue to dominate internet discussions. While subdomain supporters point out their many SEO benefits, critics of them are more critical and focus on the negative effects they can have on SEO efforts.
Subdomains are a subdomain. They can be a kind of website hierarchy under the root directory. However, they get their website instead of using folders to organize content. Although it is closely related to the root directory, a subdomain will often have its content management system, template, and analytics tools.
What is Subdomain?
A subdomain is a child domain of the parent domain. Subdomains can be used to organize and navigate to sections of websites that are different in thematic content or length.
Multiple subdomains can be created under your main domain. They are considered separate entities but linked under the same website.
How Do I Create a Subdomain?
It is easy to create subdomains and subsections on your website, such as “catalog” and “payment.”
Add the prefix to the domain before the domain. This will indicate the purpose of the subdomain. So, the URLs are going be like, payment.organicshop.com, catalogue.organicshop.com. While both are part of the main domain organicshop.com, each URL serves a different purpose.
Subdomains are categories that fall under the main website if the organic shop is the primary website. Each domain name can have up to 500 subdomains.
Multiple subdomains can be linked to the same site, but each is its entity. A subdomain may be required for your website. Subdomains can be used if they are related to your website or services.
Subdomain vs. Subdirectory
You can create subdomains to separate your website from your root domain. A subdirectory, on the other hand, is a path within your website. Subdirectories are an element of the domain’s hierarchy. The subdomain to which they belong is where the subdirectories are located.
A website may technically use a subdomain and a Sub-directory structure. A subdomain will typically have at least one subdirectory to organize the content.
However, likely, there are not as many subdirectories as a subdirectory. This is because a subdomain covers a lesser amount of content than a root domain that has subfolders.
It is important to know what your primary website structure will look like. Let’s examine the impact of subdomains on SEO to help us decide.
Why Should You Use a Subdomain
A subdomain is simply a section of the main website. However, search engines consider it a separate entity. You can use subdomains for organizational purposes or SEO boosts.
Sometimes, you may not want certain website pages to be indexed with the rest. Although we can’t predict every circumstance, the following are some common explanations.
Hosting a blog for certain reasons, some companies prefer to keep their blogs separate. It could be that the blog is different from the rest of their website or that they wish to make a distinction between the content. A subdomain can be a great option if you are building a blog with a lot of content.
Many companies use subdomains for other purposes, such as a help desk or forum. HostGator follows this model. This type of website often requires a different platform or software. It makes sense to use a subdomain.
Why Should You Use a Subdomain instead?
Subdomains might be a problem if you use SEO to generate website traffic. Your brand should be cohesive, and this includes your website.
Keyword-rich content should be included on product and sales pages. If you treat your store as an independent site, Google won’t take the link juice and keyword richness from your blog and pass it to your store.
Google will not penalize you for these actions, but it will not benefit you.
As your main means of boosting your website’s SEO, I believe the emphasis should be on creating high-quality, relevant content. Without subdomains, you can still arrange your site to work for everyone.
1: To cater to different regions
Sometimes, your website can be tailored to specific regions in the US or even extend into global markets. You can have sub-domains instead of one website with confusing website architecture.
Craigslist is the first thing that comes to my mind. Each region has its sub-domain. Using their site would be almost impossible if it wasn’t broken down in this manner.
2: Demonstrate Different Product Lines
You might consider separating your products and services into niches. This will help you focus your efforts and give your visitors a better browsing experience.
Subdomains and subdirectories should not be confused. A subdirectory is a part of your main site. This is how it looks:
- organicshop.com/blog
- organicshop.com/products
- A subdomain, however, would be:
- blog.organicshop.com.
- Products.organicshop.com
What are the SEO benefits of using a subdomain?
Enhance the On-Site Experience
Amazon Web Services conducted a massive UX survey and found that 88% of online shoppers wouldn’t return to a site if they had an unpleasant experience.
It’s not surprising. You have so many choices to purchase and read any information you desire. Why would anyone bother returning to a site they don’t like?
This is our job, but we can also recreate the experience in-store online. What if you spent two hours in a store, couldn’t find the product you wanted, and no one helped? Would you return to that store again? Online, the same rules apply.
Boost Your Domain Authority
Domain authority This rating essentially shows how trusted you are to deliver the results searchers want. Higher ratings are given to sites that are older and more reliable. Sites are automatically assigned a score when they’re first created.
Your score will rise if you publish high-quality content and generate traffic to your site. Your score could drop if you use black-hat SEO techniques. Linking between subdomains is a great way to increase domain authority.
For example, you can create blog content with links to products in your store. As long as you don’t do it too often, this back-and-forth linking is good for SEO.
Brian Dean says that only 2.2% of content gets links from multiple websites. So, every step counts.
Better Organization of Your Content
Although I have spoken a lot about the content organization and user experience, it is important to understand why.
It’s easier for people to find your content if it’s organized. Google can also crawl it much faster if it is well-organized. This will help Google rank keywords faster, allowing users to navigate the site easily.
You can include relevant keywords in your URL
John Mueller stated that keywords in URLs had little to do with ranking or user experience. They can have a negative effect, but it’s more difficult to have a positive one.
However, keywords can be used to organize content and could improve your SEO. It makes your site easier to navigate and tells Google what section of your website it is.
FAQ Section:
Do subdomains need to be registered?
The simple answer is You don’t need to register a separate subdomain name. You may be able to create subdomains depending on the domain provider.
Do I pay for subdomains?
Subdomains can be viewed as distinct websites by Google and therefore need to be hosted on different hosting plans. You will have to pay separate hosting fees for each subdomain.
How does subdomain affect SEO?
Subdomains can be viewed as separate sites. This will lower the SEO value of your main site and reduce visitor benefits and ranking factors.
How many subdomains are there?
You can create subdomains by creating an A record that points to an IP address. They can also be created as a CNAME which points to another domain. A CNAME cannot point to an IP address. Each domain name may have 500 subdomains.
Conclusion
Subdomains make it easier to navigate large website sections and increase your website’s SEO performance. This allows websites to separate and organize content for a particular function, such as an online shop or blog, from the rest.