Folders versus Subdomains

[SmallBusinessSEO]

very interesting discussion I just read it from the beginning.

the main question with subdomains / folders theres days seems to be "how do you want your content to show in google?"

ie either a separate entry alongside the main domain (subdomains) or as dropdown sub content of the main domain, (folder)

agree that there doesnt seem to be much difference between link weighting from our testing lately

[full house]

yah this is really interesting! I have to agree on the folder rather than sub folder. cause folder might look a home page even though its a sub domain or folder.

[heatman07]

folders are easier to create and maintain while subdomains are considered as new sites. They both have their advantages and disadvantages its up to the owner when it'll use it.

[phoenix06007]

Sections in a folder structure are seen by search engines as part of one site, so the more subsections you have, the more content your site appears to have. And we all know how much search engines just love a site that is rich in content. Folders allow you to build your site’s
bulk with each new section addition. Also, the Page Rank in each section will be distributed throughout your whole site — provided you have a sound internal linking structure.

Search engines see subdomain as completely different sites. Therefore, any links between sub domains will hold greater perceived weighting because they will be seen as external rather than internal links within the site. This presupposes that each of your other sub domains.

so which one is better?
If you have loads of content and good branding reasons for treating each section as a separate entity, then sub domains may be the best way to go. However, there is a lot more work involved if and when you decide to add a new section — it’s not as simple as adding another folder.

[mit]

From my experience, folders are much more easier to get indexed and get ranked than subdomains because search engines takes them as a different website.

[jeffduck]

First - this is unquestionably the most interesting thread I've ever read.

Which would be better for sites that don't have valuable home page content such as for listings or directories? Assuming the only valuable content is in the folders or subdomain.

For example:
w7n.com/california and
w7n.com/florida would require common content for their shared home page.

california.w7n.com and
florida.w7n.com would not require anything other than the primary data (the listing) on the home page for each subdomain.