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SEO Advice: When to Use Subdomains
As a professional Search Engine Optimizer, I am asked a lot of questions by people who don't know the first thing about computers let alone search engines. I am also asked questions of those lucky few who are new to the field, and among these so-called "newbies" a recurring question often pops up - Which of the following ways is best to structure site URLs?
In this article I will attempt to answer the question, “which URL structure is best in terms of SEO, subfolders or subdomains?” Short Answer: If the breadth of an issue or keyphrase will be covered in such detail that a new website should be constructed to best accommodate the content, or more simply, if the site’s graphical navigation will need to be altered, use subdomains. In all other cases, use subfolders. Long Answer: To answer this question in detail, we’ll need to go over a few key facts regarding subdomains, subfolders and site themes. Subdomains:
Subfolders:
Site Theme:
So here’s the long answer: Search engine optimization is all about driving the most traffic. Where the goal is to build an authority site with lots of great content that will be found by search engine driven visitors using laser-target search terms, as well as unique, "long-tail" search terms that most would never think to optimize for, but appear on pages in the subfolders of your site and drive traffic just the same. Using subdomains may appear sexy because they can lead to a potentially larger number of back-links (though not if each subdomain is hosted on the same IP), or they can sway the SERPs in your favor by crowding out the top positions with your pages. But without proper promotion, a subdomain only stops potential laser-targeted as well as "long-tail" search visitors from finding your site. My advice is only to use subdomains when the amount of content on a given topic is so burgeoning that it requires a separate navigation and design (i.e. its own website), or is of great enough quality that it will acquire links and stand on its own. For example:
In this example, the focus is narrow but there is still an extensive amount of content. So we’re sending visitors to the subdomain using targeted keywords while visitors are also finding us using "long-tail" searches and landing on the pages of palm.objectwareinc.com subfolders. The overall lesson here is to create subdomains ONLY when you have the quality and/or quantity of content to support them. Remember that subdomains are independent sites in the eyes of the search engines, meaning that in order for them to rank, they will require promotion and link building efforts.
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Article Tags: SEO, Subdomain, Subfolder, Sub Domain, Sub Folder, Atlanta Search Engine Optimization Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/seo-articles/seo-advice-when-to-use-subdomains-114651.html About the Author:
This article was written by Mike Bradbury. Mike is an SEO Analyst for Objectware Inc, an Atlanta Web Development, Atlanta Search Engine Optimization, and Washington DC Web Design Company.
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