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I don't want to misrepresent what Mr. Cutts had to say on this subject as I don't yet understand all the nuances of the topic.

Here is the link to Matt's comments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_MswMYk05tk

Thanks for patiently entertaining my questioning.

I just did some more digging around on the web and stumbled on a video from 10/2012 of Matt Cutts essentially saying to do whatever you want; Sub domain vs sub folder, there is not much difference in the way google treats them now.

I wish I could latch onto a definitive position. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot!

I will still research the cart pointed to  a sub-folder scenario as you guys recommend.

My understanding is that, unlike licensed cart solutions, if you use a hosted cart like BC, it resides on their server and cannot be moved elsewhere, .

As for the BC templates being limiting, this is not the case for anything at the product level. My designers have been able to greatly modify our BC pages. We have been able to do anything we wanted so far. I have no issues with BC. They are adding new functionality at a startling pace. If we were using a licensed cart, we would be frozen in time, or have to keep pace with evolving web functionality ourselves.

I agree that we would not want to use BC as the front pages of our site. For this, it would be too limiting, which is exactly why I am in the situation I am. We want the best of both worlds without sacrificing on SEO.

I am not sure how you would "point BC to a folder on our site." I just don't know; I am not a web guy.(trying to learn, though)

First off, I have to admit to EGOL I was wrong when I said I read “ that search engines are getting good at being able to deduce that an eCommerce sub domain is legitimate extension of a content intensive main domain, and that they treat the two components as a combined whole. This was a false recollection of an article about search engines being more lenient in assessing duplicate content in the form of product descriptions on retail sites that sell many variations of the same basic item.  I apologize for including BS in my original post.

That being said, I would like to clarify my situation in hopes that advice can be offered.

I have an informational site that is produced with a CMS. It uses a domain I bought through Godaddy. The sight resides on another hosting service (not Godaddy). I am setting up my shopping cart with BigCommerce. How do I best integrate the two components? It sounds like the cart in a subdomain option is out. An option might be to move the informational site to be hosted on Bigcommerce and have it, and the cart, within the same domain? It sounds like EGOL recommends against this.

I was hoping someone could guide me in making the correct decision regarding integrating my existing domain with a hosted shopping cart.

I have an existing website to promote my bricks and mortar retail operation and am expanding into web retailing. I will be using one of the major hosted shopping carts. What is the best way to join the two components from an SEO perspective? Have the cart as a sub domain of my main site, or move my existing domain name to be hosted by the cart provider and have both components operate under the same general domain?

I have read arguments that putting your cart within a sub domain is not a good idea because any clout of the pre-existing domain will not be shared with the  sub domain; that they will be treated as two separate sites.

I have also read that using a sub domain is a good idea being that the content focus of the main domain (marketing and blogs) is different form the focus of the sub domain (product sales), and that the two components would benefit form earning their own rankings undiluted by the other.

And, I have also read that search engines are getting good at being able to deduce that an eCommerce sub domain is legitimate extension of a content intensive main domain, and that they treat the two components as a combined whole.

What is the truth? Which is the better way to go?

Any guidance would be appreciated.