There has been a lot of debate in the search engine optimization world over whether it is better to use subdomains or subdirectories to organize your
online content. The reason for the ongoing debate is because there is not one clear right or wrong answer; whether you use a subdomain or subdirectory depends on your situation and what you are trying to accomplish.
Definitions
To someone viewing your website, the only obvious difference between a subdomain and a subdirectory occurs in the URL field. The name of a subdirectory will occur after the domain name, as in example.com/category/. A subdomain occurs before the main domain name, such as in category.example.com. On the server side, though, the difference is more pronounced. A subdomain creates what is basically a separate website, though one that is tied to your main site. A subdirectory, however, just serves to organize pages within the site, the same way you use folders to organize files on your computer. Note that this means you can actually use both methods at the same time: a subdomain will often have its own set of subdirectories.
When to Use Subdomains or Subdirectories
Subdomains and subdirectories each have their own pros and cons. Determining the site structure that will work better for your needs depends on your specific situation. The primary factors to consider are:
- Size. If your site is relatively small, without a great number of pages, it would probably make more sense to organize it using subdirectories. If you were to use subdomains, you would be dividing up your already-small site into a collection of tiny sites. None of those tiny web properties would develop much clout or trust with search engines.
- Focus. The more focused your site is, the less need there is for subdomains. However, if you have at least two areas of expertise that are significantly different from each other, you can use subdomains to create separate sites that each have a different, clearly-defined focus. That way, each subdomain can be seen by search engines as an expert on its topic, rather than having one larger site that lacks a clear focus.
- Geographical targeting. If you have multiple business locations or areas of operation, you can utilize either subdirectories or subdomains to help search engines understand each of the areas you operate in. However, subdomains offer somewhat better geographical targeting, because you can set a different IP address for each subdomain. This can be particularly important if you operate in multiple different countries.
- Management. Subdomains require somewhat more work to set up and manage, because you are operating multiple sites instead of one. If you are not very tech-savvy and want to keep things simple, subdirectories might be a better choice.
In the end, though, what really matters most is that your site is organized--whether through subdomains, subdirectories or both--is well-designed, and provides great content. These are the big drivers of your site's SEO success, and have much more impact than your decision to use either subdomains or subdirectories.
* Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
