Subdomain or Subfolder - Which is better for SEO!

[arora]

I was thinking about this for one of my sites.

Whether to make a sub-domain or a sub-folder - which is better for "better rankings" in the SERP's.

There seems to still some controversy about the above!

I know some SB sites like SU use sub -domains, Benj used sub-domains to get into 2nd position in seocontest2008, OWG swears by sub-domains!

On the other hand, Squidoo uses sub-folders!

That said, i came across this post and i quote it here-

"Subdomains and subfolders both have their advantages, especially when setting up blogs. For blogs, I prefer a subfolder w*w.fhefh.c*m/news because the link juice which is sent to that blog is going to be naturally distributed to that main domain, and other subfolders under the domain.

Futhermore, the forum/blog will default logo, home page and other links back to the subfolder. If you set this up with a subdomain, by default, the links in the forum/blog itself will all point back to the subdomain. So, with a subfolder, both the inbound and internal linking structure favor the entire site.

With a subdomain, the forum or blog will be listed as a separate entity in the Google search results, which is good for owning the results and one’s reputation management. However, Google and other engines will generally not list more than two of these subdomains in the search results, unless those subdomains can prove to Google that they are independent and relevant entities."

So, in conclusion, if you’d like to build the equity of one web site or entity, I suggest using a subfolder. If you’d like to build an entire new entity with its own equity, launch a subdomain.


Read more here

I thought, I will share it here so that guys who are in the same dilemma will be guided.

Any thoughts or opinions/personal experiences will be appreciated!

[KingPin]

I don't think it matters to be honest.

All down to personal preference.

As long as you do the SEO right.

KP

[tb987]

Many will choose subfolders as standard for branding reasons e.g. bbc.co.uk/xyz and because people don't uderstant subdomains they expect it to be www. However, if you need to built out your web presence using additional servers or different service characteristics you may be forced to use subdomains e.g. search.bbc.co.uk and news.bbc.co.uk

But for you and me it probably doesn't matter that much I do both - depends which I favour at the time : )

[OldWelshGuy]

I agree with KP, I have large sies with subfolders also. It depends on their purpose and long term aims etc. You can sell a sub domain, but you can not sell a subfolder for example.

SUbd's need promoting independently, so that makes more work. OTOH they can be linked to by the same sites as they are different domains. This makes it easier to re-enforce their niche.

[inertia]

Google treats sub domains in exaclty the same way as sub folders. The only advantage of using them is for your visitors.

How Changes To The Way Google Handles Subdomains Impact SEO

[OldWelshGuy]

Originally Posted by inertia

Google treats sub domains in exaclty the same way as sub folders. The only advantage of using them is for your visitors.

How Changes To The Way Google Handles Subdomains Impact SEO

That isn't 100% correct. What Matt Cutts was referring to was the filtering process applied by google to SERP's at the time of query. Currently it is limted to 2, but they also used to show subdomains. They no longer do that. other than 'at the time' search filtering, google has changed nothing.

I will try and make it a little more clear as I just read that back and i havent made myself clear

For a specific search, domain.com might be the best site, it has multiple pages of equal importance that appear on the same page. Google will take the second page, drag it way up to the top and indent it placing it directly below the top ranking page on your site.
EG. you rank 3 & 10, but google will position 10 directly below 4, but indented.

Time was that google would display subdomains also, but now it is saying that 'at the time' filtering treats any kind of attachement to a domain as being part of the domain.

You can get multiple listings though once you become an authority on a search term. eg. welsh rugby forum - Google Search

You will see here that my rugby forum is shown as the authority site, it lists the various sections of it, but directly below it, independently of the authority links, the welsh rugby forum' area of the board appears again, even though it is listed in the authority listing.

[inertia]

Your post says the same thing as mine. Essentially Google's search algo is treating sub domains in the same way as sub folders? So in answer to the posters question -

Whether to make a sub-domain or a sub-folder - which is better for "better rankings" in the SERP's.

Google treats sub domains in exactly the same way as sub folders.

There is an interesting thread here on site links

I am also a bit puzzled. Does Google manually change the algo to suit its own sites/subdomains?

[OldWelshGuy]

Originally Posted by inertia

Your post says the same thing as mine. Essentially Google's search algo is treating sub domains in the same way as sub folders? So in answer to the posters question -



There is an interesting thread here on site links

I am also a bit puzzled. Does Google manually change the algo to suit its own sites/subdomains?

But only on specific searches where sub doms & folders could be competing with each other. If the content theme is totally different then they will not be competing will they?

What I mean is that dogs.inmysite.com could be seen as a completely different domain to harleybikes.inmysite.com .

I read it that the filtering is done post algo rankinging and before display.