Folders versus Subdomains

[Cricket]

I look forward to it!

[kristeejo]

I too, am waiting on one of you chickens to test out this theory. ; )

[Cricket]

I already have pages and sites in testing mode well beyond what I should be.

[Cristian Mezei]

Never ever do tests on the websites that bring you money.

Just do on your personal blog, or on a newly developed website, or some lost and forgotten one.

[Cricket]

I always have something in testing mode somewhere - it is a big part of how I have learned over the last 4 years or so. It is half the fun of SEO for me.

[DirectoryFreak]

Interesting thread and many good points.
My experience is that subdomains can be very good under the right conditions.

Eg. running a general directory, I belive the benifits of useing subdomains vs. folders is great.
1 point is the general relevancy of the domains.
If you use subdomains to your main categories, the whole relevancy/theme is set from the beginning, and both the human eye and SE know what they can expect on a given subdomain and its subfolders:
art-culture.website.com (yes art and culture, and this goes for the whole domain, so art&culture is set as relevant for all pages/folders on this subdomain, and this is GREAT for the listings/submitted sites.)

I run a couple of directories where I test this structure, and I am very impressed with the results, vs. folders.
One thing is I rank great on searches, on all major SE. Secondly is how easy and fast PPC Ads catch on the relevancy

For distribution of pagerank, I can reveal this from personal tests.
www.website,com (PR6) Only domain with external inbound links
art-culture.website.com (PR5) only internal inbound links from www.
art-culture.website.com/artists/ (PR4) only internal inbound links from www.

One of my live sites with this structure is www.global-weblinks.com, but its still to new to be given internal PR

[Will.Spencer]

It appears that Google has let something slip which seriously affects the "folders vs. subdomains" discussion.

In the Links tab of Google Webmaster Tools, it says:

This table provides a list of pages on http://www.example.com/ that have links pointing to them from other sites. 
Click the number in the External links column to see a sample list of links to the page.
See Internal links for internal links and links from subdomains.

Did you notice what I noticed?

"See Internal links for internal links and links from subdomains.

[jijo]

that's an interesting point wills. So does this mean subdomains become more effective than ever? I mean now they get power of keywork and internal site listing

[Will.Spencer]

I would have to argue that external links are immensely more important and powerful than internal links.

Thinking it through, this change (if it is real) makes subdomains and subdirectories effectively the same.

[Hopeful]

chicgeek kicked me out of my own thread on the following because of this similar thread, so forgive me if this is off-topic:

Originally Posted by Hopeful

Note: This is not related to SEO. I'm familiar with that thread and I think this is a different issue. Here goes:

First, I don't care about SEO. Our forums will all be locally advertised and we really don't want search engines telling people in New York about content in a California site.

So, subdomains or folders?

I will have many forums and they will obviously be virtually identical, though each community will adapt for their own needs.

So, which is better and why?

www.townA.myforums.com
www.townB.myforums.com
www.townC.myforums.com

or

www.myforums.com/NY/townA
www.myforums.com/CA/townB
www.myforums.com/MA/townC

For branding purposes, myforums.com should be fairly visible. Beyond that I really can't conceive of the benefits of one over the other. What are your thoughts?

Thx!

Thoughts?

[Webfu]

I think your brand name stands out way more when you don't use a subdomain in front of it.

[Hopeful]

Nice point. Thx for the insight. It does have a nicer look doesn't it. It seems at this point that it may come down to (a)aesthetics and (b)transferability if I need to switch servers.

Thx again!

Any other thoughts?

[52ltd]

Related to earlier in this same thread ... I noticed Honda is using -

shop.honda.com on their commercials now.

Actually marketing their sub domain instead of what their competitors Nissan.com do - who are popular for using the folders when branding their domain name.

- nissanusa.com/z

Guess its all who you ask. Some like to see the sub domain, some like the folders.

[Cristian Mezei]

I am absolutetly sure that Honda has nothing to do with SEO.

They are just doing that because it's the only way they know.

[world4health]

Hi,

I have been out for a while but would very much like to know, what's the significance of having a site structure in folders as opposed to the regular .php file type extensions? Does it rank better in the SERP?

I am currently in the process of a major redesign and would love to know if a folder type structure is recommended over the regular file type extensions?

Thanks in advance

[world4health]

Originally Posted by world4health

Hi,

I have been out for a while but would very much like to know, what's the significance of having a site structure in folders as opposed to the regular .php file type extensions? Does it rank better in the SERP?

I am currently in the process of a major redesign and would love to know if a folder type structure is recommended over the regular file type extensions?

Thanks in advance

I would really appreciate an answer

[anandsoft]

Nice discussion!
I think, as per G, sub-domains are treated just that! They need to be linked and promoted as if they were separate domains (TLDs). Every link from parent domain counts, ofcourse. A sub-domain is recommended when you are dealing with an independent topic at greater depth. For example, directory.v7n.com is a much better idea than v7n.com/directory/. This is because, v7n directory is very elaborate, and requires domain status. On the otherhand, consider directory.v7n.com/business to that of business.directory.v7n.com. Here, the former may be preferred than the later.
As far as SE visibility is concerned, a folder will always be visible immediately, because it is considered part and parcel of the root. A new sub-domain may not be visible immediately, as it is considered as an independent web for all practical purposes.
Choosing between sub-domain and folder depends on how much attention one can give. If one is going to develop the subject area exhaustively, it is better to go for sub-domain. If you are not sure about the prospects of continual development of the subject area, then a folder would be suitable. The development may come in the form of developing links, adding content, etc.

Look forward for your comments!

[Communication Agency]

Hi Cristian Mezei and John Scott,
I have big problem in my had couple days.

If I own video.com and I want to optimilize foer search engines for keywords "video games".
What is better to make subdomain

games.video.com

or its better to register whole new

videogames.com?

What is better for SEO? I red all your fight on this thema. It was really great to read!

Thanks for replay

Pavel Surovi
Communication Agency
<link removed>

[John Scott]

Doesn't really matter what the domain is so much as it matters what kind of authority the domain has. Domain authority tends to drive SERPs much more effectively than file / folder naming.

[Aussie]

I'm certainly going to have to test this, as it really does feel like a he said/she said style of debate - where it's more about who is saying what, rather than what is being said.

(and no, the irony of the weight being on who and what in relation to the topic isn't lost on me )