Sub directory vs sub domain for company blog
-
My company's blog is currently a sub directory - www.site/blog.com but for technical ease we are considering changing it to a sub domain - www.blog.site.com.
What are the SEO ramifications of each?
Thank you!
Best,
Sara
-
Before writing the question on SEO Moz I leaning towards a subdomain for the exact same reasons you listed here. However, based on the input below it seems as if links and PR can be passed from both a subdomain and subdirectory.
Do you disagree?
-
i am not saying the change included search, but only that it leads me to think that this is how google already handles things in search. i find it hard to believe that they wiould give subdomain site stats to the owner of the root domain, but considered them seperate in search. You could argue ownership and ranking relevance are not the same thing, but it does remove the border of ownership.
I have never seen anything that shows that subdomains and subdirectories are handeld different, in fact MattCutts has stated they are the same, this and the sitelinks showing links in subdomains just goes to confirm it IMO.
-
Actually, Google has explicitly commented on this. See this post at http://www.seroundtable.com/google-subdomains-webmaster-tools-13968.html where they say:
Dear webmasters: A lot of people have seen the recent announcement about the recent reorganization of backlinks in Webmaster Tools and are saying it's a reflection of a new way that Google handles links for ranking purposes.
Wrong.
This change is only for how Webmaster Tools displays link data to help webmasters understand their links a bit better. The most common use case is for links to both www and non-www versions of the same site, even if these two different hostnames are canonicalized correctly. Previously, Webmaster Tools considered the links to each separately even though webmasters (and everyone else) considered them to be the same site. That situation was not ideal and so this change helps simplify things quite a bit.
-
Yes I agree they did not say that, but to allow someone stats of a web site simply because it is a subdomain of the root you conrol, leads me to thing that they also think this way in search, this with the site links showing sub domain data and what Matt Cutts has said I have no reson to think that there is any difference between subdomains and subdirectories.
Rather than suggesting it indicates a change, i think it goes to comfirm how they already think. I doubt if the webmaster people have the ability to comment of search or even know, so i would not expecet them to confirm anything, although i asked.
-
Google has also said that the GWT change does not reflect in any way how they value subdomain vs subfolders; that this change doesn't indicate that they have changed their way of thinking, just their way of presenting.
-
I know that many have said that over time, but i dont think it is true, recently GWMT has started to show links comming from subdomains as internal. As long as no one else has verified the sub domain it is assumed to be owned by the root domain owner.
Also site links in google contain sub domain links. so i believe that SE's see them as the same site.Also Matt Cutts has said there is no difference, only to say that you should have enouth content to warrent it
-
The extra effort required to create a blog under the domain rather than the subdomain is worth it. subdomains are created by the web team when they are looking for the easiest solution and not taking SEO into account.
Creating a blog on the main domains is widely agreed in the SEO community as being the best option. You are creating additional content and interlinking on your site plus if the blog is link worthy you are getting good PR passed to your main site instead of off to a subdomain.
-
In general I agree i like subdomains, as a developer the seperation is nice and tidy.
but virtual directories is a gret solutiosn when platforms must be mixed, I develop in ASP.MVC and sometimes have to load a web forms application intro a directory. -
It's certainly possible in some cases to do that depending on the web server and underlying application, however with others it is not, or it is difficult.
Ultimately it is up to each individual person to evaluate their technology vs what they want, in our company we have decided that there is little to no cost to our business to put the blogs on their own subdomain and alleviate all technical considerations.
-
IOf you man because they are different platforms, It is posibble, at least on windows servers, you can make a virtual directory, it willact as anouther site in a sub directory.
-
For all the sites we run that have a blog we generally use a subdomain for one reason: It is much easier to mix and match technologies or move the blog to different providers with a subdomain.
For example, one of the sites we run uses a custom-built Ruby-on-Rails application for the main website (www.site.com) and we use Tumblr with a custom hostname (blog.site.com) to host our blog. Such a setup would be impossible using a sub-directory, and if we decided we wanted to switch the blog to a custom WordPress installation it would be possible (not taking into account possible 301 issues)
-
No I dont believe there is, only the usual 301 issues, if you have any links pointing to the old location you will need to 301 redirect to new location this will also prevent duplicate content issues.
but I agree i like subdomains, as a developer the seperation is noce and tidy
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
-
Blogging , do I create a huge blog which links to all my sites
Blogging , do I create a huge blog which links to all my sites or do i create a blog on each site, or do i guest blog to each site from other peoples blogs 😞 which is best ?
Content Development | | SocialAssist1 -
One Page Website Blog Content Question
Hi guys, I'm new to the art of SEO and am learning every day from all the fantastic content here, I have a question that I can't find an answer to, hope it doesn't stump you like it has me... I have a one page website (www.neilwilliamsvoiceover.com) that I need to put more content on for SEO purposes but needs to be kept as one page. I've set-up a blog via blogger, and have that on the website but it's in iframe, which I've now discovered is ignored by search engines. So, my question is, is there a way to pull my blog feed into the website and have it recognised by search engines as content for the website? Would I use an RSS feed or feed burner or something else completely?! Thanks for your time and help in advance.
Content Development | | BamMK0 -
Does Google penalize for duplicate blog posts?
Occasionally, I get asked by another blogger if they can repost (in full) one of our blog posts on their blog as a guest post. I've always been under the impression that Google penalizes this type of behavior, but I haven't seen any evidence. Is this true?
Content Development | | Event360300 -
Directory Subdomain: Bad or Good?
We are thinking about setting up directory on a subdomain (local.sample.com) with content supplied by DirectoryM. Despite assurances by DM that they are Panda proof, I am uneasy releasing 100's of 1000's of pages at once to the search engines with content that is somewhat limited in value. Even if DM can somehow make these directory pages look a little unique then what they already have out on the internet, I am still scared how a potential spammy subdomain will impact the master domain. The upside to DM is that they can add 1000's of new weekly visitors and they will add 1000's of links to our pages to our master domain to their existing directory sites. What approach would you take here? Is there any risk in trying this out or are my fears unfounded? Would mass linking to the subdomain from the master site impact the master site?
Content Development | | irvingw0 -
How to titling images in WP blog
What is the best way to title an image in a blog post. The wording will relate to the post discussion so I am not discussing the word stuffing, rather how to enter the words. Here are my options for the title: 1. dayton engagement photos 2. dayton_engagement_photos 3. daytonengagementphotos 4. Is there another preferred method? Should I increment the image title for each image such as: daytonengagementphotos1, daytonengagementphotos2, etc. What about the alternative text area? Does the same concept apply there? Thanks hR3ua.jpg
Content Development | | maximphotostudio0 -
What is the best way to bring a blog into my SEO strategy
We have a blog set up with Blogger and generate some great content on it. What is the best way to optimise the blog from an SEO standpoint? In particular the domain name, it is currently .blogspot.com address, is there a better way to work with that? Obviously the blog is branded with our company logo and name etc but is about the book industry. I'm basically concerned about linking people to our blog and not the website and so not getting much benefit?
Content Development | | Benj250 -
Best strategy for content/articles. Individual pages or blog posts?
Hi all, Whilst adding content to one of my sites quite often I'm left deciding whether I should create an individual webpage for the content, or write it up as another blog post. More often I write it up as a static page so it fits in with the rest of my website more 'directly'. However I'm wondering if I'm missing out here as obviously I'm not taking advantage of the benefits of a blog, RSS, Tag Cloud, etc etc... Just wondering if others encounter the same quandary?
Content Development | | davebrown19750 -
How to get a blog into Technorati
Hi This again is probably a naive question, but here goes anyway. I've searched around a lot to find out how to use 'Technorati' with my companies blog posts, i.e.extend their reach. I have discovered, from lots of querying, that WordPress does an automatic RSS feed which 'Technorati' will automatically pick up on once it has been told of an update to the blog by WPs automated Ping. In a WP forum I found a discussion about the problems of getting your blog into 'Technorati'. http://wordpress.org/support/topic/tags-do-not-update-technorati/page/2?replies=52 In it basically it states that you blog post should be there. If it isn't it is due to errors in coding on an individualized theme. I ran a W3C validater suggested, that did pick up 90 errors for my 'home' blog page. The link even explains in practical terms how to correct the errors. However, the designer is not convinced this is the problem. As a novice I don’t know if this is the reason for definite. Does anyone have an opinion on this problem?
Content Development | | catherine-2793880