Subdomains Versus Subdirectories

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August 23rd, 2010 by James

Websites generally start life with one domain name, and the structure and content develop as the business develops. The decision on whether to use subdirectories or subdomains for distinct content should be considered carefully alongside your search engine optimisation strategy. Is there any advantage in keeping all of your content within the same domain, and using folders to separate information? For example, plants.com/indoor or indoor.plants.com; subdomains can be developed as if they are completely separate domains, but use a common main domain name.

Search engines want to give users the most relevant results, not multiple domains with the same content – they won’t list subdomains on their SERPs if they have content that simply mirrors the main domain. So if you are creating subdomains with SEO in mind, do so only if the content is substantially different in nature, for example outdoor.plants.com and indoor.plants.com – but not if you are duplicating this across the subdomains.

Subdirectories or folders are a quick and easy way to separate different categories of information on the same main domain. A subdirectory may start life as a couple of pages, but evolve into a larger resource. You might then consider moving the content to a subdomain, but you should do this only if the number of pages of discreet information becomes large enough that it could exist as a website on its own.

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