Subdomains seen as one site
-
Earlier this month Google announced that sub-domains are now
be treated as one site. At first I thought this was good news as I like to use
sub-domains for separation of categories and the like. But what about links
from one sub-domain to the other, they uised to be external links now they are
internal links. If you don’t have many external links, I would say that the
cross sub-domain links would have been important, if you have a lot of external
links then the flow of link juice would be of more benefit. I think overall its
is a good thing.Does anyone have any opinions about this or know of any writings
on the subject since this announcement?http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2011/08/reorganizing-internal-vs-external.html
-
Well you want to see them as they are considered for ranking. If for ranking a subdomain link is considered an internal link then yes, thats how WMT should report it.
-
I am not a legal expert but it is my understanding if you own the root domain, then you own the subdomains. Even if you use sites like wordpress.com or blogspot the legal owner of the subdomains is the root domain owner. If you violate their terms of service, the main company will kick the subdomain user off and take control over the account.
With respect to Google WMT, I think it's a convenience thing. In most cases, you want to know what other sites are linking to your site. It is usually not helpful to know your own subdomain is linking to your root domain. You expect that as you do other internal linking. It makes the analysis of external linking a bit easier to remove all internal links.
-
Exactly so I am thinking they will basically just aggregate any sites that use the same domain under the same webmaster account.
-
Yes i did not read too clearly, the comments explaned much more.
but it makes one think,about the old question about how google handles subdomains(for rankings). when does it see them as the same site and when does it see them as seperate.
I am guesisng they already do rank sites using the rules in article. I look after a site that has nothing more then a home, about, search and contact page on root domain, with several sub-domains. yet the home page ranks well for all the subdomains catgories. -
The announcement is informative but in my opinion highly misunderstood.
Dr. Pete asked the key question which was answered in a reply from the original author:
"This update only changes how links are displayed in Webmaster Tools. It doesn't affect how links are valued in relation to the search algorithm or ranking. It has nothing to do with Panda, nothing to do with keywords, nothing to do with PageRank."
In short, nothing has changed. The only difference iis how links are displayed when you are viewing the root domain in Google WMT.
-
I get your point, what they dont make clear is if you only list the root domain then how do they know you own the sub domains also, aer you to put the same verification code in each site?
And if they are going to see then as the same site are they going to sdee them that way for ranking? or do they already for that reason?
-
From reading that article it looks like they are doing this for their webmaster tools, but don't mention if they are combining subdomain links and primary domain links into their SERP calculations as if they were the same site.
Knowing if it affected SERP calculations is more important. Have you seen any articles on that (going to search shortly for that ;))
That would be more interesting to me as our site currently has at least 6 subdomains for publicly accessible sites, and while I would love to move them all under sub folders it requires a decent bit of effort on our side. If Google just counted them all under the same link profile for rankings then it would save time and money, and give Google a better view of our web presence as a whole. This would be better for the end user as the end user would be able to get to our blogs, forums, portal, and API knowledgebase easier from search results when just searching for our company name. So I can see it being useful for Google since it is useful for users.
For that article (webmaster tool purposes) I think it makes sense as it helps simplify reporting for the "www" subdomain. It makes it easier to aggregate your data, and see it how Google really sees it (especially if you have a rewrite from www.example.com to just example.com or vice versa). So it sounds good to me
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Best Site or Place to Hire Mid Level SEO Specialists
Hello Mozzers, Our digital agency has been continuously growing which is a good thing BUT recruiting for Junior or Mid Level SEO Specialists is getting harder in our area (we are in Orlando Florida). We post on Indeed.com but the level of knowledge and also the amount of candidates is not a lot. Do you know any other site that only pertains to our industry? Any suggestions? In fact, its been hard , we are even thinking of developing a job board site just for our niche. Your recommendation and thoughts?
Industry News | | ChatterBuzzMedia0 -
Backlink Query. Unranked pages of High Ranking sites.
Hi, So I was just wondering if someone with more knowledge than myself can answer this question for me. I have a site - currently sat on page 2 of google. On-site optimisation is done, however I am struggling to get backlinks that are from highranking pages. I am new to SEO so need a hand. My understanding of backlinks is that the higher the PR of the site that links to your 'money' site, the better that link is, and that these links are very hard to come by. (something that I am finding). Many times I have found sites that have a high rank and offer for a free listing, only for me to fill in details and get listed on a sub-page that has no ranking whatsoever. So my question is, are these kind of links worth the effort? Do they actually have any effect on rankings? And generally would anyone have any tips on the best sites to get links? Thanks
Industry News | | Chstphrjohn0 -
What shall I call my site?
With all the google changes and social media focus on seo, I am in a bit of a dilemma and any opinions welcome. My husband has a very small horseback riding company based in a tiny mountain town of Costa Rica and I cannot decide whether to call it by the company name or by a more generic name that is likely to be picked up by the search engines ( I do believe the importance of domain name is less than it used to be in terms of search with all the new google changes). The two names are www.horsetrekmonteverde.com (bear in mind that his customers come from the States and horse trekking is not commonly used) and www.horseridingcostarica.com One mentions Costa Rica, the other not as you can see. Also not many people have beard about Monteverde. However I am trying to do some strong branding! What would you do?
Industry News | | Llanero0 -
Is there a way to get a list (backlink profile) of all tiny url's that point to my site or a competitors site?
I have noticed that most all links you find in all the major back link profile tools such as OSE or GWM, etc... do not show tiny url's. If there is a service that shows all the tiny urls pointing to your site, can someone please share. It has already been proven that tiny url's do pass link juice, so with that being said... if there is no way to find all the tiny urls that point to a site, wouldn't it be a great strategy to create all my back links with tiny url's to mask my profile from competitors? Thanks!
Industry News | | johnd57890 -
Help seems like google is punishing our site and I don't understand why
I would love some helpMy anme is Suzanne Diamond our web site is WWW.thefutonshop.com we have been on line for years, 10 brick and mortar stores, had a strong ecommerce web site but in the past 4 months we have been dropping like a leaf. Organic search has been dropping since November 2012 but now total traffic seems to be slowing We are working on our SEO but I feel it has to be something more direct that we are being punished by google Perhaps it s obvious but not to me Can anyone help me please or give me a direction. [email protected] thanks in advance for any direction
Industry News | | FUTONSHOP0 -
So, Google is the best site on the internet.. Right? Or is that just what most people tend to think off-face?
LOL woah, put the guns away. I'm not about to rant, I just have a question and wanted to present it well. Then again, I might have actually found some easy fixes to some of Google's tools that they could make. So here's the thing. I noticed how annoyed I always getting when I have to sign in every time I go to the adwords keyword tool, or analytics. Why do you have to sign in a million times? I think it is a problem that can be fixed because if you go to check your webmaster tools, you go straight into your account, where you can then select which site you want to explore. It knows that I am already signed in to Google Accounts when I go to webmaster tools, but it doesn't recognize that fact when I go to my Analytics account, or to use the Adwords Keyword Tool. Now, every site has things that they need to work on, but not necessarily that need to be 'fixed'. Google being so commonly accepted as the best site on the net, I thought it was funny/interesting at the least to point out the problem. Even funnier is the fact that I could submit it as a problem to see if they could fix it or not, but they do such a good job of making it hard for people to contact them, that A) I don't feel like wasting my time trying B) I don't even really know if it is possible to do that. Also, why is there no official Google Analytics App / Mobile site?? Google has been pushing how important mobile is to us webmasters, but then it doesn't seem to be very high on their priority list for the tools that we use. I mean you can't view graphs on phones / tablets (mine at least), in webmaster tools, OR google analytics. Also, its a pain in the but to click the sign in button on Google Analytics when using my phone / tablet, it disapears really fast for me (needs more research from others to see if everyone has the same problem) Thanks for the interest / answers everybody. Look forward to hearing from you guys. Also, tips and help would be nice if anybody knows a solution to my sign in issue
Industry News | | TylerAbernethy0 -
3rd Party Site Presence and Internet Marketing
An issue that I do not see discussed about much in Internet Marketing circles is the importance of establishing and developing a presence on third party sites other than through guest posting and I was wondering how much other internet marketers focus on this area and recommend this to clients. I see many people wanting hiring internet marketers basically for SEO and the KPI's on which they are judged are SEO based outcomes (higher alexa rank, number of page 1 keywords, number of top 1, top 3 keywords etc). I recently gave advice to someone who had very little time, very little money and very little SEO skills who wanted to rank in number 1 positions for their band for wedding and corporate bookings. I basically showed them sites that were highly positioned in the SERPs where they could get develop a strong online profile and how this would work better than investing 3 hours a month badly into SEO. Ultimately what businesses want is strong convertible leads and sales. For many businesses that might be better established particularly where budgets are tight through other elements whether it is Tripadvisor rankings, presence in other 3rd party sites or in an Ebay store than through SEO for their own site. Obviously for big brands with big budgets SEO is essential but as many keyword terms become increasingly competitive how important should referrals from 3rd party sites be in businesses internet marketing strategy and to what extent do you feel current internet marketing businesses identify and promote this need rather than simply working on improving ranking performance for keywords?
Industry News | | LighthouseC0 -
What is the best site-map software?
I am in the beginning stages of building a website and would like to know the site-mapping software for organizing my company's ideas. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Industry News | | canadianplum0