Pros and cons of seperate sites vs. subdomains
-
First timer and new to SEO
We are designing a website for a customer in south america that has 3 distinct divisions. We want to develop the site in the most SEO effective way possible.
Each division will have its own keyword focus, its own associations and its own links. They will all link to each other from the main page company.com.
we were thinking of creating 4 different seperate domains such as...
www.company.com - basic high level company information with links to the other external sites below.
www.company-contructionsoftware.com
so my questions are:
1- is it better in the long run to have domains that have the search terms in the url like specified above? We can optimize for the main site as well as the individual sites separately
2- would the result be the same using subdomains? for example, itservices.company.com
3- possibly hosting the 3 different sites in different locations?
We want to make sure that we are building using the the best possible architecture for future optimization and internet marketing.
What are the pros and cons?
Thanks!!!!
-
Wouldn't having sub-domains make each sub-domain rank better in serps for each individual thing. In this case construction software, IT services, & graphic design?
Each sub-domain could be built better to have more relevance for each individual category instead of having to split the "google juice" into all three.
I'm sure there is a lot of content that each domain would still have, and since it would be staying on close to the same topic, it has an opportunity to make it further in the serps.
It would be better for starting to create a "SEO Empire" This is an article I think I found off this forum, or maybe an article on SEOmoz somewhere. Anyway you can skip to about the second half of this rather long article where it says "let's begin"
-
Also consider that each sub-domain is considered by Google to be a separate domain.
So, actually building out sub-domains (like www.google.com and adwords.google.com for example) would be considered 2 separate sites wihtin the same company, and when starting to expand and build links too, those links to the sub-domain only stand for value to that actual domain - link value and 'juice' isn't passed through the whole domain to the rest of the site naturally.
It would be better to run with building sub-folders for the main domain like (google.com/adwords/ as an example) as the value of any links to /adwords/ sub-folder is passed all the way through the entire domain, even from a sub-folder.. as well as the other mentioned list above! It makes links building easier to manage without having to build links to all these individual channel sub-domains.
Hope this also helps you out!
Everything else also counts EGOL mentions above.
Cheers! Rob
-
thanks!!!!
-
but from an SEO perspective... are there reasons to put them all together?
-
only one site to promote
-
power of all content is united
I would do it for those reasons ignoring the other six listed.
-
-
these are all important issues to consider, but from an SEO perspective... are there reasons to put them all together?
¡Thanks!
-
I would make one site for a lot of reasons... just a few here... use your imagination to expand the list...
-
easier to cross sell
-
simplify design
-
simplify hosting
-
only one site to promote
-
power of all content is united
-
only one shopping cart
-
simplifies accounting
-
you can add more reasons..
(I know that this was not one of your choices... but I feel so strongly about consolidation that I had to toss this out)
-
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
-
Breadcrumbs for E Commerce Site
Hi, Does anyone have experience with Breadcrumb nodes for e-commerce? http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.overstock.com%2FOffice-Supplies%2FOffice-Star-Professional-Air-Grid-Deluxe-Task-Chair%2F2605023%2Fproduct.html What happens if your product appears in more than one category? Should you let google spider the various breadcrumb routes to the category?? Which one would take preference in results? Right now, for ease of management, we have not enabled category URL paths to the product - so the product appears right after the domain, for example, www.mydomain.com/en/myproduct.html - If we do enable category URL paths, Any comments or opinions? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjs20100 -
Wordpress Config Thoughts: Multisite vs. Parent/Child Themes vs. Infinite WP?
We publish four local food and drink magazines, each with its own website and related web content. Even though the content across all four titles shares a common mission, there is little overlap in actual stories. That is, each site has its own story content, events calendar and business listing guide. Still, since we share an editorial staff and a common look among all four, we are debating the pros and cons of a few different wordpress and SEO configurations, and would welcome the community's input on the pros and cons. Here is what we are considering for the Wordpress configuration: Wordpress Multisite - concerns about 10-15% performance hit, incompatibility with certain plug ins, need to more ‘expert’ development InfiniteWP - concerns that adding a 3rd party plugin to the mix might complicate things Parent / child themes A single wordpress site with different content subfolders for each locale - simplifies events / guide listings / seo, but too much in one place? Problems with current config (four different wordpress installs across four different base domains - ediblemanhattan.com, ediblebrooklyn.com, ediblelongisland.com, etc) SEO value is currently spread across four base domains Four different wordpress installs / upgrades / templates / plugins must be managed separately Four different namespaces for registered users make cross-domain registration more difficult, less usable The independent site approach is potentially problematic if we were to decide to combine certain site features - for example guide and event listings - into a single site experience filterable by zip / location Our questions: WP config: independent sites vs. multisite vs. parent/child themes vs. other? SEO config: should we move to shared parent domain? If we do, should we use locale-based subfolders or second level domains (brooklyn.ediblemag.com vs. ediblemag.com/brooklyn)? Operations: We think there are SEO advantages to move all four sites share the same base domain - ex, ediblemagazine.com, but are there operational disadvantages we are not considering? Ability for local site editors to work within their locale section only Ability for ad sales to target a single locale, example, run of site display ads on specific locales Ability to segment users by their locale - ex. enroll users in email lists for edible brooklyn only
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | brianhalweil0 -
Site migration from non canonicalized site
Hi Mozzers - I'm working on a site migration from a non-canonicalized site - I am wondering about the best way to deal with that - should I ask them to canonicalize prior to migration? Many thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
1 Ecommerce site for several product segments or 1 Ecommerce site for each product segment ?
I am currently struggling with the decision whether to create individual ecommerce sites for each of 3 consumer product segments or rather to integrate them all under one umbrella domain. Obviously integration under 1 domain makes link building easier, but I am not sure how far google will favor in rankings websites focussed on one topic=product segment. Product segments are medium competitive.Product segments are not directly related but there may be some overlap in customer demographics- Any thoughts ?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lcourse1 -
How come this site does so well?
Hi Guys, It's bugging the crap out of me why this site does so well http://www.stagedinburgh.com/ when I look at it's link profile its so weak and terrible plus many links comes from the sites they own. Somehow the site out ranks many sites for search terms like edinburgh stag party, edinburgh stag do, edinburgh stag weekends. Am I missing something? They seem to only have links from 13 domains and they aint great. What am I missing?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PottyScotty0 -
Domain vs Subdomain for Multi-Location Practice
I have a client who has 2 locations (Orlando & Tampa) and would like to keep the current domain for both locations (DA 29). We want to target additional cities within each service area (Orlando & Tampa). Each service area would target 2 cities on the main pages and 4-5 cities with "SEO" pages which contains unique content specific to the given city. Would I be better off creating sub domains (www.orlando.domain.com & www.tampa.domain.com), creating subfolders (www.domain.com/orlando, etc) or keeping the domain as is and create SEO pages specific to each city? We want to spread the domain authority to both locations.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Red_Spot_Interactive0 -
Can you advise why my site get outranked by sites with way less authority and so on
Hello SeoMoz, As a new member I first want to thank you guys for your service, seomoz is by far the best resource and toolbox I have ever found. I have a question, or more of a request if you could advise me on what I do wrong.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DennisForte
I have a website: www.letsflycheaper.com with a Domain Authority of 80, and my target keywords are keywords like: cheap business class, business class flights.
My target page is: www.letsflycheaper.com/business-class.php. With all my keywords I am page 2 and I have a real hard time getting on the first page, but if I look at my competitors like: www.wholesale-flights.com with a Domain Authority of 'just' 50, crappy backlinks and so on, they are all on the first page with almost all of my keywords that I want to target. What do I do wrong? Can you maybe give me a couple tips on where I should focus on more? Hopefully you guys can help me... Kind Regards, Ramon van Meer0