Does poor quality on a subdomain affect a domain (with regards to Panda)?
-
We are considering moving some thin content from our site to a subdomain as a potential "panda" fix. But, we are unsure if Google will treat the subdomain as a completely separate domain or not. Does anyone have any data / Google info that might answer this question? Thanks in advance for your help!
-
the only way to inoculate the main domain if you go with a subdomain is if the topical focus of each is very different. If they're very similar, it's much more difficult to pull off. Of course if they're different enough, that's valid reason to not interlink.
If they're totally related, and there's no interlinking, it could be perceived as attempting to stuff search results with multiple entries.
-
Also, does it depend on how the subdomain is treated? I know in some cases Google will treat the subdomain as a separate domain, depending on interlinking.
-
Good suggestion, but unfortunately the content cannot be consolidated or changed (it is a directory of information). So, you do have personal experience with clients that shows that poor quality on a subdomain will affect the primary domain? Thank you!
-
I only have my own experience with clients and unfortunately can not point to case studies.
One alternative would be to consider keeping it on the main site and finding a way to consolidate some or all of it so you end up with more content per page.
-
Thank you. Can you elaborate on "entirely separately"? Exactly how separate are subdomains? Would no-indexing the content be a solution?
-
Thank you for your quick response. The "thin" content constitutes about 35% of the current traffic, and has potential for improvement in the future, so we prefer not to permanently eliminate it. We are searching for an immediate solution to show Google that content on the primary domain has improved. Do you have any external sources (google quotes) to show that poor content on a subdomain affects the primary domain as well? Thank you.
-
"Panda is a filter that Google has designed to spot what it believes are low-quality pages. Have too many low-quality pages, and Panda effectively flags your entire site. Being Pandified, Pandification — whatever clever name you want to call it — doesn’t mean that your entire site is out of Google. But it does mean that pages within your site carry a penalty designed to help ensure only the better ones make it into Google’s top results."From http://searchengineland.com/why-google-panda-is-more-a-ranking-factor-than-algorithm-update-82564Sub domains are not treated entirely separately. Moving content will not help, you need to improve it or lose it.
-
simply moving thin content, isn't advised under any circumstance, unless you don't care about organic search for the site it's on. If that is the case, then the site its on should be a stand-alone domain, not just a subdomain.
While the impact of it being on a subdomain will be less significant than the main domain, it's all part of the root domain package. Everything on a subdomain ultimately impacts the root domain and all others in that group.
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
-
301 Old domain with HTTPS to new domain with HTTPS
I am a bit boggled about https to https we redirected olddomain.com to https://www.newdomain.com, but redirecting https://www.olddomain.com or non-www is not possible. because the certificate does not exist on a level where you are redirecting. only if I setup a new host and add a htaccess file will this work. What should I do? just redirect the rest and hope for the best?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | waqid0 -
Sub-domain vs Root domain
I have recently taken over a website (website A) that has a domain authority of 33/100 and is linked to from 39 root domains. I have not yet selected any keywords to target so am currently unsure of ranking positions. However, website A is for a division of a company that has its own separate website (website B) which has a domain authority of 58/100 and over 1000 legitimate linking root domains. I have the option of moving website A to a sub-domain of website B. I also have the option of having website B provide a followed link to website A. So, my question is, for SEO purposes, is my website better off remaining on its own existing domain or is it likely to rank higher as a sub-domain of website B? I am sure there are pros and cons for both options but some opinions would be much appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BallyhooLtd0 -
Blog - subdomain vs. subfolderq
Hi everyone I work on an ecommerce site and I'm trying to get more content together for the site & blog. The development team want to put the blog we have on a subdomain of our site, my question is - what is better for SEO Subfolder vs. subdomain I've read a couple of articles to say subfolder is better and a subdomain needs a lot of management to build up authority itself? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BeckyKey0 -
Fantastic engagement - poor rankings
Hi all, I've got a website that, for the life of me, I just can't get to rank highly: mariart.com.au Our DA/PA is higher than many of our competitors, and the engagement is amongst the best I've seen (7624 unique visits with: Pages p/visit = 7.28, Bounce rate = 5.26%, though Avg duration is only 2:36). Have I missed something fundamental here? Thanks!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AlphaDigital0 -
301 redirect to multiple domain
Hi guys, I have a domain A, B and C. The domain A was an association of two business and they are about to split. Parts of domain A are going to be redirect to domain B, but some content belong to the domain C. So my question : Is it possible to 301 redirect some pages from A to B and some other pages from A to C and if yes, what would be the impact on SEO ? Thanks a lot!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | StevePatenaude0 -
Domain name match and SEO
I was asked a question today and would like a second opinion on it : Knowing that Alex wants to rank for personnal training the question is, from a SEO standpoint, which domain name would you recommend me using and why : personnaltraining.com ( IS not available) Personnaltrainingalex.com alexpersonnaltraining.com alextraining.com trainingalex.com I have my idea on this, but I'd like to have your so we can share and discuss on that. Thanks !
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Catalyste0 -
How to Find problem domain history
Hi I have what most of you may think is a dumb question but here goes. please be nice... 🙂 So I have a client (http://www,ace-alarms.co.uk) who are having a real problem ranking for ANY of their key words. I know it's a reasonably competitive area but I've not seen such a stubborn domain and it seems that no matter what we do there's nothing listed. i'm thinking that there may be a problem with the domain name. My question is; how can I find out if this is a problem domain. Thanks in advance Steve
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | stevecounsell0 -
What would be the best domain choice?
Hello I got a website www.keywordCA.com and I'm ranking #1 spot on "keyword" but what I notice if you have the exact match you get more site links and etc. Like this keyword that match with my domain name "keyword CA" The ideal name will be www.keyword.com but is taken and the owner don't want to sell the domain (at least he is not using it, is just parked) and I also got the domain www.keyword.net Do you think www.keyword.net will be much better than KeywordCA.com in order to get more exposure and google will generate more site links?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jpgprinting0