Let’s dive into the intriguing debate of Subdomain vs. Subdirectory for organizing a website. As a website owner or developer, choosing the right structure and seo friendly hosting can significantly impact your site’s performance, user experience, and search engine optimization (SEO).
Both ways of a website organisation have their significance, so you need to understand your needs before making a choice. So let us check out different aspects of both ways of organising a website to choose the best one for your website. From a basic understanding of what is a subdirectory to subdomain what is and all other aspects that can help you choose one option, we will discuss everything. Ultimately, your decision on subdomain vs subfolder should be the best fit for your user and website control.
Subdomain what is It?
You may have asked yourselves once- what is subdomain in URL? A subdomain is like a little neighbourhood within your main domain. It’s an extended part of your website’s URL that serves a specific purpose. This is also considered a separate website by Google. For instance, you can create a subdomain like blog.yoursite.com to host your blog content. Similarly, if you want to separate your e-commerce section from the main domain, you could use a subdomain like shop.yoursite.com. Subdomains allow you to create distinct looks, feels, and functionalities for different parts of your site. Its function makes it a great choice for organisations that have different departments or want to show web pages in different languages under the same domain name.
This helps to downsize the overall load on a domain but there are also some cons of it like no domain authority sharing and no link power sharing.
A subdirectory (also known as a subfolder) resides within your main domain. It’s a folder structure that organizes content under your primary URL. Unlike subdomains, subdirectories keep everything under one roof.
You can make separate pages for your different needs and they are represented as subdirectories in the website database. Like, if you create a subdirectory for blogs it looks like yoursite.com/blog. Like this, you can create thousands of subdirectories on your website to keep it organised and easy to navigate for users. This also helps in the linking structure of a website.
So let us understand various aspects below with proper details on the Subdomain vs Subdirectory. This can help you in choosing one for your use.
Most site owners think once about subdomain vs subfolder before making a choice. Let us make it easy for you. However, you must not forget the main purpose of your website and the elements that support SEO.
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SUBDOMAINS
Now that you have understood subdomain what is, check out other aspects of this choice.
ISOLATED ENTITIES:
This is a crucial disparity between subdomains and subdirectories. Search engines often regard subdomains as isolated entities from the main domain. This implies that the subdomain must establish its authority and rankings from scratch, which can be more challenging.
NO SHARED LINK EQUITY:
For those who choose the subdomain option to create pages for different uses, the link authority of the main domain is not shared. This means that if you have a main website and a separate section of it (like a blog or a store) that’s set up as a subdomain, the popularity and credibility of your main website won’t automatically bolster the subdomain. You will have to work separately for the subdomain to make it popular.
FOR LARGE ORGANIZATIONS:
Subdomains can be advantageous for large organizations with distinct business units or for targeting specific geographic regions or languages with different content.
Even, John Mueller, the popular man from Google who keeps sharing insights regarding these topics once said that both subdomains and subdirectories are acceptable options.
SUBDIRECTORIES:
Now that you have understood what is a subdirectory, you can understand these aspects to make a wise choice.
SHARED SITE AUTHORITY:
In contrast to subdomains, subdirectories are part of the main domain and are typically used to organize content within the website. Because they are considered part of the main domain, they inherit the authority and credibility that the main domain has built up over time. Thus when you post a blog in the subdirectory, you have more chance to get it indexed and ranked in a short time, if your main domain has established an authority. The authority is shared and passed to the new posts in the subdirectories.
CONSOLIDATED LINK EQUITY:
The point for link equity goes to subdirectories in the subdirectory or subdomain discussion. This makes choosing a subfolder an option to boost your SEO. From backlinks to internal links, all help support the domain authority and make linking a more beneficial thing to do.
Simplest SEO MANAGEMENT:
When you structure website content like website.com/blog or website.com/store, managing SEO gets easy. You can see all the pages in one place. You can check the performance of all the pages in the subfolder in one go. This also boosts the main domain and other pages of the website. You can see the good impact of one page on another page. However, if you choose a subdomain and create blog.website.com and store.website.com, you need to work for each one separately. This can take a lot of time and you may need more resources to get the same results. .
WHEN TO USE A SUBDOMAIN
If you know what is subdomain in a url, it gets easy to decide when to use a subdomain. Let us see different needs.
STRUCTURING ORGANIZATION:
Subdomains are ideal for websites with distinct sections or departments requiring separation. For instance, universities often employ subdomains for various faculties or departments (e.g., engineering.university.edu, arts.university.edu).
LOCALIZATION:
Businesses operating across multiple countries or regions can utilize subdomains to establish localized versions of their website. For instance, fr.website.com for French audiences and de.website.com for German audiences.
STRATEGIC SEO:
Subdomains offer a strategic advantage in targeting specific keywords or topics. For example, a lifestyle blog might use a subdomain like travel.blogsite.com to enhance search engine rankings for travel-related content.
TESTING AND DEVELOPMENT:
Separate environments for testing and development purposes can be created using subdomains. For example, dev.website.com for development and staging.website.com for staging changes before deployment.
BRANDING AND MARKETING:
Distinct branding or marketing campaigns can be facilitated through subdomains. For instance, a promotional campaign might utilize a subdomain like promo.website.com to create a dedicated landing page. In this, you should not think much about subdirectory or subdomain, the latter option is better.
E-COMMERCE AND PRODUCT LINES:
Subdomains aid in organizing products for businesses with multiple product lines or e-commerce sites. For example, electronics.website.com for electronics and fashion.website.com for clothing.
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CONTENT ORGANIZATION:
Subdirectories effectively organize website content into logical sections, enhancing user and search engine understanding. For example, a blog section under www.website.com/blog/ and a product section under www.website.com/products/.
SEO ADVANTAGES:
Subdirectories improve website SEO by consolidating domain authority. They are especially beneficial for multilingual websites, allowing specific targeting of languages or regions (e.g., www.website.com/en/ for English and www.website.com/fr/ for French).
STREAMLINED NAVIGATION:
Subdirectories simplify website navigation, offering clear paths for users to follow, thus enhancing user experience and reducing bounce rates.
CONSISTENT URL STRUCTURE:
Using subdirectories maintains consistent URLs across the site, essential for branding and user recognition.
LOCAL SEO:
For businesses targeting specific geographic locations, subdirectories help create localized content (e.g., www.website.com/us/ for the United States and www.website.com/uk/ for the United Kingdom).
MANAGING MULTILINGUAL SITES:
Subdirectories are commonly used to organize multilingual websites, with each language having its subdirectory (e.g., www.website.com/en/ for English and www.website.com/es/ for Spanish).
Understanding all aspects can make your choice better and you can also avoid various website hosting issues. However, you should never hesitate to get help from web experts, if required.
Conclusion
From knowing what is subdomain in the url, and choosing a domain name to manage your choice on subdomain vs subfolder, you can manage all things focusing on discussed aspects. The subdirectory or subdomain debate extends beyond SEO considerations, with both options being SEO-friendly when optimized correctly. Regardless of choice, focusing on fundamental SEO practices such as keyword targeting, on-page optimization, backlinking, and technical SEO upkeep remains crucial for favorable search engine rankings.
