In this blog, we will learn about subdomains. How can they impact our main website’s SEO rankings, the myths, the facts and can we run our online business with subdomains?
So, let’s start!
What is a subdomain?
Subdomain is a part of the main domain or website. For example, there is a website, say, abc.com, so abc is the domain/website name and .com is the extension.
Similarly, in xyz.abc.com, here, xyz is the subdomain of abc, which is the main website. When we buy a domain on the internet, it is basically a space that we are buying which has a physical IP address. Now, a typical IP address looks like this: 192.168.123.132.
Thus, a domain name is easy to remember. And a subdomain is a separate space that we can create on our domain. In layman’s language, it is a separate website that you can create with your main website.
Can we run our online business with subdomains?
Yes, you can run your online business with subdomains. Moreover, you can use a subdomain to target a completely different set of audiences than your main website and start a new online business. It could be irrelevant to your main website’s content. For example, your main website is about blogs and your subdomain could be an ecommerce website. Also, learn how you can grow your business with Digital Marketing.
Can we make subdomain on a completely different topic than main website?
The short answer is yes, you can.
However, read the pros and cons to understand the advantages and issues that you will go through while handling a subdomain.
Pros of subdomains
- Your hosting plan gives you the flexibility to make a subdomain on a completely different niche. You can make your subdomain on blog, service or ecommerce which can be totally different from your main website’s content.
- You get a lot of benefit in SEO rankings by diversifying your content through main domain and subdomain. For example, your main website is about blogging and the subdomain is about ecommerce. Here you can target totally different keywords and audiences.
- Subdomains are easily manageable and flexible. You can also use it for branding purposes.
- Subdomains can help to distribute the load of your server and enhance performance for website users in relation to varied business fields.
Also, click the link to find the wrong business growth strategies of digital marketing agencies that kill them.
Cons of Subdomains
- The biggest challenge you will face while using subdomains is that you will have to do separate SEO efforts for both of your websites.
- It is quite challenging to maintain multiple subdomains, as you have to work on their security and updates separately.
- You have to create a separate backlink profile for each subdomain, just like you created for your main domain.
Can subdomains affect the main domain’s SEO ranking?
Always remember that Google considers subdomains as separate entities. However, there could be certain indirect ways that can affect the main domain’s SEO ranking. Let’s have a look at the following pointers to understand this:
- The backlink profiles of the main and subdomain are created separately. And Google also considers the domains as different entities, so it is a myth that the two domains would hamper each other’s SEO ranking.
- In case you are getting a backlink from your main domain to your sub domain, it is advisable that do it only if your domains are displaying same type of content or else irrelevant backlinks can do more harm to SEO ranking than good.
- Try to work on the content quality of both the domains and don’t you spammy links or thin content on your sub domain as it may plummet the overall brand value, website visitors’ trust and most importantly, the search engine rankings.
- Remember that if you are putting duplicate content on any of your domains and the webpages are not properly crawled and indexed then it will affect the rankings negatively.
- If you have worked hard on your subdomain then it will increase the overall brand reputation and users may also check your main domain thus, increasing your website traffic on the main domain.
- Do not rank both the domains on the same keywords as it will lead to keyword cannibalization.
You can also learn how to use personalization in e commerce marketing for business growth.
Do subdomains rank in Google ?
Yes, subdomains do rank in Google. But there are certain pointers that you must remember –
- You have to separately build the domain authority of your subdomain as it doesnt automatically pass from the main domain.
- You can build high authority of a subdomain by putting original and unique content in it. This can enhance the ranking chances of your subdomain.
- Other ranking factors include – On page, Off Page, Technical SEO and Content promotion.
- While doing the technical seo, create separate sitemaps, robots.txt files and also check the mobile and website friendliness and speed to make sure that it doesnt increase the bounce rate your website.
- Create quality backlinks for your subdomains to get it ranked.
Does Google index subdomains?
Yes, Google does index subdomains. You can do it by linking your subdomain on the Google Search Console. Attach it separately in it.
Also, keep in mind the certain factors that can help your subdomains to get indexed quickly. And they are –
- While doing the on page seo of your subdomain, make sure that you have properly linked your website content with other content from the same website.
- Always follow the Google guidelines to develop your website content, just like you do for your main website.
- Do not put low quality thin content and do a proper keyword research to target your audience.
- Relevant and high quality content with a proper backlink profile can help your subdomain get indexed.
- Make sure that the subdomain niche and its micro niche should be relevant. For example – you are writing about relationships, then the micro niches would be parenting, marriage, professional relations etc.
How many subdomains does Google have?
Google has been using a vast variety of subdomains for a while now.
Let’s have a look at some of the important and popular ones.
- www.google.com – The main search engine
- mail.google.com – Gmail service
- news.google.com – Google News
- maps.google.com – Google Maps
- drive.google.com – Google Drive
- photos.google.com – Google Photos
- docs.google.com – Google Docs
- calendar.google.com – Google Calendar
- translate.google.com – Google Translate
- scholar.google.com – Google Scholar
Why subdomains are bad for seo?
It is a big myth! You need to build separate backlinks profile and overall domain authority for the subdomain. It is no way bad for the main domain.
If you are planning to create a subdomain, then choose a neutral name for your main domain so that later on you can create a subdomain where the website visitors will not get confused and promote your subdomains separately with separate social media handles and run ad campaigns to create more and more brand awareness for your subdomain.
Also, learn about the top 10 Google ads tricks in 2024 for beginners to give a boost to your business, especially if you are new to this business.
What is the difference between Subdomain vs Subdirectory?
The major difference between a subdomain and subdirectory is that the former one is a separate website and subdirectory is a folder that is within a website. A subdirectory is made to organize a website’s content in a logical path and is created after the root domain name.
Best Subdomain Finder Tools
Now let’s have a look at the best subdomain finder tools online for free.
Sublist3r
This open source tool shows a list of subdomains of websites from the search engines like Google, Yahoo and more.
Amass
It is also an open-source tool and a part of OWASP project and it collects the subdomains using various methods like passive information and active reconnaissance. Amass is best suited for security professionals.
Security Trails
This tool is mostly used by cybersecurity personnel and online marketers to get an in-detail DNS and domain’s historical data. Its interface is also user-friendly.
Conclusion
Subdomains do not negatively hamper the SEO of your main domain. You can work on an entirely new niche or create a subdomain website to work on a micro niche related to your main domain. You can create an online business on your subdomain, however, you must work on its backlinking profile and content strategy to boost its domain authority. It will not just pass on to your subdomain from your main domain.
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