4 min read
Last Updated on July 25, 2022 by Ibe Princewill
Building and maintaining one website is already a big enough job on its own, but some brands and companies actively choose to have more.
And you might not even realize they’re completely separate websites.
But before you decide whether you need one or not, let’s talk about subdomains versus subdirectories.
Starting off with, what is a domain?
What Is SEO?
SEO, or “Search Engine Optimization”, is the process of improving the visibility and ranking of a website or web page in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is a means of increasing the quantity and quality of traffic to a site from search engines, ideally resulting in increased revenue.
There are a number of factors that can influence SEO, including the use of keywords, the quality of content, the structure of a website, and the strength of inbound links. SEO is a complex and ever-evolving field, and it is important to keep up-to-date with the latest trends and developments in order to ensure that your website is as visible as possible.
While SEO can be a complex and time-consuming process, it can be extremely rewarding, both in terms of increased traffic and revenue.
What is a Domain Name?
The domain name of your website is the address that visitors put into the URL bar of their browser to access it.
In basic terms, your domain name is the URL of your website.
One should not confuse a domain name with web hosting because, while a domain name serves as an address where Internet users can access your website. A web host operates by maintaining stable and secure storage spaces for your website files and folders.
What is a Sub Domain?
A subdomain or subdomain name is an optional part of a URL that creates a completely separate section of your website.
If a URL has a subdomain, It will come before the domain name with a period.
Websites might use subdomains to test or stage web development, to create new directories to separate and store web files.
I mean, for example, Aceprime uses a subdomain for their Blog,
blog.aceprime.com.ng, which is separate from their website, aceprime.com.ng.
Both websites use the same domain name with a unique subdomain.
I mean, in fact, did you know www is actually just a subdomain and the normal domain is called a naked domain when it does not have a www attached to it?
A little fun fact for you.
Aceprime also uses a subdirectory aceprime.com.ng /contact
For their contact page.
What is a Sub Directory?
A subdirectory is a sort of website structure that uses folders to organize content on a website under a root domain.
One of the best ways to think of these subdirectories is like a folder inside your computer hard drive.
And the subdomain is like a different hard drive on your computer.
So why does he use a subdomain for his blog and a subdirectory for his contact page?
Well, I mean, subdomains can be ideal if your website has a lot of content.
If you need individual landing pages for your sales funnels or if you have an e-commerce page built on a different platform than your website.
And while he (Edward) is offering a lot of advice on the current health issues affecting people in his community through his blog on his subdomain, his primary business is graphics design.
Having that subdomain separates his primary business from his blog (which was created to help people facing some form of health challenge).
It makes it easier for his team to promote the two sites individually, Aceprime-Graphics Design and OCD-Blog.
I mean basically, you’d use subdomains to separate content entirely and subdirectories to just branch off from the subdomains they belong to.
But if you’re looking for a deciding factor on which is the better path, you need to understand how it will impact your SEO.
According to Google, they crawl index and rank subdomains the same as subdirectories.
And they’re able to understand that your main domain and subdomain are connected.
However, if you’re a blogger or a small business with limited time or resources using subdirectories will help you rank your website faster than using the subdomain since you want as many links as possible going back to your main site.
The choice between subdomains and directories can get confusing, but I’ll advise that you should always be focused on the keywords and SEO of your root domain.
Rather than trying to maintain authority over several subdomains which will take a lot of time.
Conclusion
So what’s the action item with regards to subdomains?
Indeed, basically, except if you’re a medium-sized business (or greater) that is beginning to grow your products, services, and market, then, at that point, you’re most likely good at utilizing subdirectories.
The focus should always be on the catchphrases or keywords, as well as the SEO of your main or root domain, which provides you a greater overall ranking ability and authority.
When compared to spreading your site’s authority across multiple subdomains, which isn’t a fantastic SEO approach if you’re just getting started.
