Are Subdomains Good for SEO?

Are Subdomains Good for SEO?

Nearly half of marketers say that organic search has the best ROI of any marketing channel, and 70% say that SEO is more effective than pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. 

Due to its low cost and effectiveness, companies of all sizes and from all industries are making SEO a top priority. Yet, with so many SEO marketing strategies, it can be challenging to nail down which ones are best for your business. 

One strategy some are considering is using a subdomain or several subdomains on their website. But how can a subdomain impact your website’s SEO performance?

Keep reading to find out. 

What Is a Subdomain?

A subdomain is an extra part of your primary domain name. For example, let’s say your website is: yourbusiness.com

your business is the primary domain, and .com is the top-level domain (TLD). You can add the subdomain store to get this: store.yourbusiness.com

You may want to add the subdomain blog so that the website will read blog.yourbusiness.com

Subdomains help organize different sections of your website and allow users to navigate the content easily. You can create multiple subdomains on your primary domain. 

Each subdomain gets a website of its own with a separate content management system, analytics tools, and more, but the subdomain is still under the root directory. It just doesn’t use folders under the root directory to organize content.

Reasons to Use a Subdomain

Subdomains can be excellent for your website, especially if your business website has a lot of content. Subdomains are ideal for:

  • Events
  • Regions
  • Store
  • Support

These subdomains will provide customers with a better onsite experience. You can also create mobile-friendly subdomains for an even better experience. 

Plus, subdomains can help boost your website domain authority. You can use them to grow your authority in niche markets too.

Using subdomains is also beneficial if you:

  • Partner with another organization 
  • Run several large recurring campaigns that need individual landing pages
  • Want to split the branding on a specific project

However, if you choose to use subdomains, you will need a specific person or team who can manage them. A subdomain’s domain authority won’t automatically trickle down from the primary domain. 

Reasons Not to Use a Subdomain

If you’re looking for SEO tips for your website, you’ll find that experts don’t recommend using subdomains for this purpose.

Typically, subdomains are not great for SEO because they do not share links with the primary URL or other subdomains.

As mentioned, each subdomain gets its own website and analytics profile. This requires much more complicated cross-domain tracking. 

While subdomains have their place, they don’t belong in your SEO strategy.

How to Create a Subdomain

To create a subdomain, you must go to your domain registrar or WordPress hosting account. Next, you should go to your “Domains” tab and click the submenu. There should be an option that says “Subdomains.”

If you have several domains, you’ll need to choose which domain you want to add a subdomain before typing in the name. Then, once you enter the subdomain name, click “Create,” and your new subdomain appears. 

If you use WordPress for your website, you can install WordPress Multisite, which will help you create and manage multiple websites from one WordPress dashboard.

You can use a multisite with subdomains. You’ll generate wildcard subdomains from your cPanel dashboard.

Need Help With Website Optimization?

Using a subdomain or several subdomains is not the most effective SEO marketing strategy for your business. 

But fear not; at Bloom Digital Marketing, we’ll provide your business with a complete SEO marketing strategy. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your company with SEO.

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