Subdomain or subdirectory?

santiagobravo

Hi All

IM looking to create a new section for my site. I want to piggy-back on the pagerank of my main site but unsure what will be better. Either a

subdomain - www sub.mywebsite.com

or
subdirectory - www .mywebsite.com/sub


which is better for pagerank and seo etc?


Thanks

SB

faevilangel

this is from a seo marketer @ http://www.highrankings.com/issue105

The Case for Folders

Sections in a folder structure are seen by search engines as part of
one site, so the more subsections you have, the more content your site
appears to have. And we all know how much search engines just love a
site that is rich in content. Folders allow you to build your site's
bulk with each new section addition. Also, the PageRank in each
section will be distributed throughout your whole site -- provided you
have a sound internal linking structure.

Apart from search engine issues, a folder structure is easier to
maintain -- it's easier to create a new site section than it is to
create a brand-new subdomain each time you want to add a new section
to your site. With a subdomain structure, you need to commit to a lot
of time and forward planning, since you're building up each subdomain
as though it were a different site.

The Case for Subdomains

Search engines see accommodation.capetown.co.za and www.capetown.co.za
as completely different sites. Therefore, any links between subdomains
will hold greater perceived weighting because they will be seen as
external rather than internal links within the site. This presupposes
that each of your other subdomains has a high PageRank -- in order for
the "external" links to be of benefit. However, a site with a folder
structure that has numerous inbound links of a high quality will have
the same effect.

A colleague of mine has an interesting theory that themed directories
are more inclined to link to subdomains. For example, an accommodation
directory would rather link to accommodation.capetown.co.za than
capetown.com/accommodation, as subdomains are likely to be more
concentrated on the topic and have more content. Whether it's true or
not, this demonstrates the branding advantage of having subdomains. As
he says, "It's the difference that does make a difference to some
directory editors."

The other advantage is that some directories allow for category
submissions -- meaning that with subdomains, you can submit various
subdomains under each relevant category without abusing any of the
policies. It's important to keep each subdomain unique. If you do
this, there's no risk of duplicate content and more chances of being
accepted into different categories.

So Which One Is Better?

Not all sites are created equal, and as with offline business, each
site has its own goals and priorities. Great rankings are much more
about site content than site structure -- although the latter is still
important in terms of usability. If you stick to a long-term plan of
building great content and sourcing some great inbound links, all
things being equal, it won't make much difference whether you have a
subdomain or a folder structure.

If you go with a folder structure, be sure to build up substantial
content and have useful and important inbound links back to your site.
If you have loads of content and good branding reasons for treating
each section as a separate entity, then subdomains may be the best way
to go. However, there is a lot more work involved if and when you
decide to add a new section -- it's not as simple as adding another
folder.

santiagobravo

faevilangel wrote: »

this is from a seo marketer @ *link removed*

thanks for that, still doesn't make the choice any easier