Negatives to using custom sub domain?
-
So - being photographers, we have our main website, but also, we use a hosted service for all our client galleries (www.zenfolio.com)
So, in effect, we have two websites:
- Our main informational website
- Our client gallery/proofing website
The client gallery has back links to our main website - so, when people are viewing their gallery, they can easily get back to our main site. We also have thrown a few of our preferred keywords in there for SEO purposes. The gallery has thousands of pages which link back to the main site.
So.. the client gallery URL can either be: http://ourbusinessname.zenfolio.com OR we can have it so it uses our own domain, such as: http://gallery.ourbusinessname.com
The question is, which domain name will benefit the back links more? Our custom subdomain (which links to our main domain) or, using the Zenfolio domain (which is external to our site). Or, is there no real difference either way?
Or.. do I make no sense?
-
Thanks everyone.
So - it is all agreed that using my own domain (in some form) is definitely the best option. That's good.
**In regards to Sub Domain V Folder. **
Before tackling that issue fully - Just to be clear, the Gallery is a hosted solution, so, I can not just pick it up and move it to wherever I like.
I can however, create a CNAME record and redirect it that way. BUT Im no expert in this area - I know I can use a CNAME record to redirect to a sub domain, but can you redirect to a folder?
-
There is a big debate of ourbusinessname.com/xxxx and sub-domains but let's not get into that
The challenge with our not discussing the topic is it leaves blitzna with trying to make a decision, and the results of his decision will differ depending on which route he chooses.
If he chooses the subdomain path: http://gallery.ourbusinessname.com, then he actually gains no ranking benefit at all from the move, and he will lose ranking based on the juice lost from the 301 redirect. There may still be financial benefits from not having to support two distinct websites, but that is not related to ranking.
If he chooses the folder approach: http://ourbusinessname.com/gallery then the main site will increase their DA (assuming the gallery has backlinks or will gain backlinks) which offers a benefit for both the original site and the gallery.
What advantage do you see being offered from choosing the subdomain approach in this instance?
-
I agree with most of what Mysterio shared, but I prefer a third option that was not mentioned.
If your current site is ourbusinessname.com then I prefer your gallery to be at ourbusinessname.com/gallery
By combining both sites under the same domain, you will combine your Domain Authority from both sites, which should offer a ranking benefit to both sites.
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
-
How do I carry out a redirect? Is there a code I need to use?
How do I carry out a redirect? Is there a code I need to use? Thank you in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | laurentjb0 -
Linking back to the homepage im trying to rank - Using exact match anchor? Linking from footer?
Hello, Our site is an basically advertisements / listings website. Structure is as following <last 200="" adds=""> (homepage trying to rank) < category 1 > < category 1 > < category 1 > < category 1 > < category 1 ></last> My question - each of the categories links back within the menu back to homepage. The link text currently is last 200 adds. Can i use exact match anchor? Or should i use just last 200 ads? The issue is that one of my categorys (category 1) has already the exact match anchor im trying to rank for. So i can not use the same to link back to homepage. Im worried that google does not see any exact keyword anchor texts back to homepage hence will rank my homepage with lower strenght for that keyword . Im also worried that the category 1 page might now compete with the main homepage for this word (even tho at the moment category itself does not rank for this keyword) Can i link from footer back to homepage with an alternative keyword then to give some "context" to google more? Would this be spamming?
On-Page Optimization | | advertisingcloud0 -
Can Robots.txt on Root Domain override a Robots.txt on a Sub Domain?
We currently have beta sites on sub-domains of our own domain. We have had issues where people forget to change the Robots.txt and these non-relevant beta sites get indexed by search engines (nightmare). We are going to move all of these beta sites to a new domain that we disallow all in the root of the domain. If we put fully configured Robots.txt on these sub-domains (that are ready to go live and open for crawling by the search engines) is there a way for the Robots.txt in the root domain to override the Robots.txt in these sub-domains? Apologies if this is unclear. I know we can handle this relatively easy by changing the Robots.txt in the sub-domain on going live but due to a few instances where people have forgotten I want to reduce the chance of human error! Cheers, Dave.
On-Page Optimization | | davelane.verve0 -
Should i avoid using H2 to optimize my home page
Hi, my site is www.in2town.co.uk and i am looking at ranking for lifestyle magazine but i am a bit worried. The titles of the articles on the home page are h2, and i am just wondering if i should change this to h3 as it may get confusing for google. Can anyone let me know if i should keep the article titles as h2 or if i am right that they need to be changed to h3 or something else any help would be great
On-Page Optimization | | ClaireH-1848860 -
When Adding content to the site. Should I use the same keyword term on each page or select a secondary keyword to focus on?
I have created a site www.autoinsurancefremontca.com. The index page is SEO for the key term auto insurance fremont ca. I want to add more content on another page of this site. Should I have that page also SEO'd for the same keyword or should I pick another keyword to focus on?
On-Page Optimization | | Greenpeak0 -
301 redirects from several sub-pages to one sub-page
Hi! I have 14 sub-pages i deleted earlier today. But ofcourse Google can still find them, and gives everyone that gives them a go a 404 error. I have come to the understading that this wil hurt the rest of my site, at least as long as Google have them indexed. These sub-pages lies in 3 different folders, and i want to redirect them to a sub-page in a folder number 4. I have already an htaccess file, but i just simply cant get it to work! It is the same file as i use for redirecting trafic from mydomain.no to www.mydomain.no, and i have tried every kind of variation i can think of with the sub-pages. Has anyone perhaps had the same problem before, or for any other reason has the solution, and can help me with how to compose the htaccess file? 🙂 You have to excuse me if i'm using the wrong terms, missing something i should have seen under water while wearing a blindfold, or i am misspelling anything. I am neither very experienced with anything surrounding seo or anything else that has with internet to do, nor am i from an englishspeaking country. Hope someone here can light up my path 🙂 Thats at least something you can say in norwegian...
On-Page Optimization | | MarieA1 -
Using categories in Permalinks
I am looking at updating my WP Permalink structure and wanted to know if I should continue to include the category after my domain as in www.maximphotostudio.net/weddings/6081/columbus_wedding_photography/ or maybe www.maximphotostudio.net/6081/columbus_wedding_photography and www.maximphotostudio.net/6082/dayton_wedding_photography. Any help is appreciated.
On-Page Optimization | | maximphotostudio0 -
Cross Domain Duplicate Content
Hi My client has a series of websies, one main website and several mini websites, articles are created and published daily and weekly, one will go on a the main website and the others on one, two, or three of the mini sites. To combat duplication, i only ever allow one article to be indexed (apply noindex to articles that i don't wanted indexed by google, so, if 3 sites have same article, 2 sites will have noindex tag added to head). I am not completely sure if this is ok, and whether there are any negative affects, apart from the articles tagged as noindex not being indexed. Are there any obvious issues? I am aware of the canonical link rel tag, and know that this can be used on the same domain, but can it be used cross domain, in place of the noindex tag? If so, is it exactly the same in structure as the 'same domain' canonical link rel tag? Thanks Matt
On-Page Optimization | | mattys0