It often happens that SEO specialists come up with a question, what is better to use for website architecture – subdomains or subfolders. As a rule, such issues arise when the company launches a new project, and it is not clear if it is an independent unit or it belongs to the already existing services, for instance:
- Website of the company’s division in another region;
- Another brand from the same company;
- New language version of the site;
- Additional sections of the site as an online store or a forum.
So, choosing between subdomain or subfolder for your site, consider the below information.
What Is a Subdomain?
The key feature of a subdomain is that it will be perceived by search engines as the original site. So, if you have a site “mysite.com” and now you create a subdomain “subdomen.mysite.com,” for search engines, it will be a unique site. However, the subdomain inherits the so-called “problems” of the main domain, i.e., filters or sanctions.
Now, it should be clear where you can get a great benefit from using a subdomain – the promotion by regions. Even though it will certainly be a more time-consuming process, the subdomain can be effectively promoted in a certain region.
What Is a Subfolder?
The subfolder is perceived by search engines as a part of the main site. So, the pages placed in the subfolder will be indexed faster than the newly created subdomain. However, it works only with high-quality content. The search engine will notice an increase in the number of pages on the site, and it will give good behavioral characteristics to it. Accordingly, the search engine will increase the quota for pages from this site in the search.
Well, the final advantage of using folders is that you don’t have to work with them in terms of SEO individually, as it would be in the case of using a subdomain.
What Is Better for Your Business?
Finally, as soon as you understand the specific requirements for a new project, you can come up with some general conclusions. In this regard, we recommend focusing on the following tips:
- Regional sites must be promoted through subdomains.
- It is better to organize a forum or blog in a subfolder if there is no need to diversify them by location.
- If you want to start an online store – create it on a subdomain. In this case, there is a chance to get more SERP space.
- If you are creating a new service or product that is poorly connected to your main website, including the use of different semantics – create a subdomain or use a completely different domain with a unique brand.
We hope that you received an answer to your question. Take your time to make a final decision.
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