When it comes to search engine optimisation (SEO) there are always different approaches that can be taken. This is no different for subdomains and subfolders. Both are used by websites throughout the Internet, but which is the best to use when it comes to SEO? There are different facts regarding both subdomains and subfolders which can be listed, these are:
Subdomains:
- Displayed in the URL by the characters after “http://” and the ones before “.site.com”
- Are viewed by Search Engines as totally unique sites independent of the parent domain
- Site Authority (in other words, the ability for the site and its subsequent pages to rank in the search engines) is not passed down from the parent domain
Subfolders:
- Represented in the URL by the characters after “.site.com/” and before “filename.html”
- Are viewed by Search Engines as a subdirectory within a site
- Site Authority is passed down from the main domain
By analysing the above facts it is clear that subdomains can make SEO campaigns much more of a challenge due to pages being viewed as unique sites. This means pages would need greater quality of content, promotion and more link building. This can prove very costly. The advantage of using subdomains is the ability to optimise separate pages rather than the whole website which means different keywords can be optimised on different pages.
I advise that you use subfolders if you don’t have a big budget or have topics which need extensive content, a separate navigation or a different design. If you do use subdomains then ensure that it is of great enough quality that it will collect links and stand on its own.
