will subdomains help the main domain with seo & ranking

[Christian]

I want to think this out before spending days on it,if I add say 30 sub domains to my domain will it end up helping the main site get more search ranking or is it a waste of time.

[TheButcher]

It is a good thing nothing negative to it, my 1 cent.

[HeidiHoe]

I want to think this out before spending days on it,if I add say 30 sub domains to my domain will it end up helping the main site get more search ranking or is it a waste of time.

The subs are treated as seperate sites, so it most likely will not help your main sites seo. At least that's how it was a couple years ago. I haven't exactly kept up with recent changes.

A better way to go about it is using folders instead (domain.com/site). Doing it that way instead should definitely help your seo.

[gotonudecom]

Maybe ask an expert in subdomains?

[TheButcher]

Maybe ask an expert in subdomains?

Do you know anyone

[CDSally]

Yes Google loves them linked to the root of the domain I see lots of results show up with sub domains.

[DonMK]

Maybe ask an expert in subdomains?

Do you know anyone

Tacnet?

[tacnet]

Google treats subdomains as completely separate entities to your main domain. In other words, its just the same as if the subdoman was hosted on a completely different domain, there is NO SEO benefit to your main domain

My advice is, if possible, to use subfolders instead of subdomains. Subfolders are all part of your main domain which means that any google "hits" to your subfolders will benefit your overall domain ranking.

This is why all our girls websites on https://www.tacamateurs.com/ are in subfolders rather than subdomains

Hope that answers your question

[Zug]

Yes Google loves them linked to the root of the domain I see lots of results show up with sub domains.

I think it is all about how you use them. If the subdomain.maindomain.com are completely on their own, with no relevancy or links to the maindomain.com then no. as said each subdomain.maindomain.com would be on their own. But, you can make it work both ways.

If you use them in a way of focusing on keywords or subjects that branch off from your maindomain.com and link back to your maindomain.com then yes, it would help your se rankings for the maindomain.com. The subdomain.maindomain.com content subject with seo can help pull in traffic to your maindomain.com making your maindomain.com rank higher. The subdomain.maindomain.com sites are just like little keyword feeders if you link from them to your maindomain.com

It would be like say, porn.com. porn.com having all the niches and crannies of everything porn. Then say you had all those niches and crannies in subdomains on porn.com. You name it ..

ass.porn.com
anal.porn.com
bigtits.porn.com
bustybreasts.porn.com
and on and on and on ...

While each seo'd subdomain linked back to porn.com and porn.com linked into all those subdomains, if at all. So yeah, in my opinion, you would be rich. Lot of damn work though and you would need a really good maindomain.com to start such a feat.

[TheButcher]

Google treats subdomains as completely separate entities to your main domain. In other words, its just the same as if the subdoman was hosted on a completely different domain, there is NO SEO benefit to your main domain

My advice is, if possible, to use subfolders instead of subdomains. Subfolders are all part of your main domain which means that any google "hits" to your subfolders will benefit your overall domain ranking.

This is why all our girls websites on https://www.tacamateurs.com/ are in subfolders rather than subdomains

Hope that answers your question

I am all for folders for that reason, I like everything on the domain not off other domains or suddomains, just me not saying it is the only way it should be done

[LuKenGas]

I use both depending on what i am building. For white label sites it has to be a subdomain for site related pages I go directory.

[gotonudecom]

Google treats subdomains as completely separate entities to your main domain. In other words, its just the same as if the subdoman was hosted on a completely different domain, there is NO SEO benefit to your main domain

My advice is, if possible, to use subfolders instead of subdomains. Subfolders are all part of your main domain which means that any google "hits" to your subfolders will benefit your overall domain ranking.

This is why all our girls websites on https://www.tacamateurs.com/ are in subfolders rather than subdomains

Hope that answers your question

There is a shit ton of SEO benefit.

Don't let this Anti subdomainer fool you with his lack of experience.

What tac says works great!

Subdomain work great also, just in a different way.

Tac is promoting his domain and his domain only. He/she/it wants all the traffic for themself.
Even / if Google see your subdomains as different site, how is that bad / good / indifferent?

I manage hundreds of subdomains.

Every single time I build a half ass decent site, meaning content, NOT graphics, Google Search Console shows an increase in impressions to the Domain Property.
This means that the SEO is working. Impression are the first sign of a successful SEO strategy.

A domain property in Google Search Console is a type of property that can be defined without the protocol (the http:// or https:// prefix) and without any path string (/some/path/). It can include subdomains1. For example, example.com, m.example.com, and example.co.es are all examples of domain properties1.

A domain property should not be confused with a domain-level property, which is any property that doesn’t include a path string (e.g., example.com)1. A domain-level property is different from a URL-prefix property, which includes a protocol and possible path string1.

If you do not know what a domain property is in search console, then look it up.

If you are not using Google Search Console, get started.

Will it help with SEO, YES if you do proper SEO for subdomains.
Will it help with Rankings, yes, as the number of rankings will increase. The quality of ranking with be determined by the regular SEO ranking parameters, e.g. links to and from your subs and main domains.

I like TO my subs. so far the SEO benefit reported by my subs has been much better than the domains they purchased at the same time and build similar sites on.

If you want traffic to YOUR main domain, that is tricky like any SEO, but if you want traffic, then hell yes subdomains are the way to go.
Unless you want to use folders and only have ONE domain setting the limits of your SEO.

Use folders to profile your subs.

FYI, Tac is correct most of the time and gives great advice, most of the time.
When he/she/it types in
"there is NO SEO benefit to your main domain"

I have to call him out and say that is horse shit.
I have been building adult and non-adult sites since 1995.

This is where you think I am bragging, but I want to be sure new people know that I am not some guy living in his mother's basement, attempting to make enough money to pay my phone bill.

Folders are great... Subdomains are great!
Use them in tandem. Just do it correctly! Start with the basics. Certainly link them together strategically.

[jag]

with any subdomain question my go to person on this forum is gotnudecom

[tacnet]

If you want to keep the content completely seperate then go ahead and use subdomains but bear in mind there are several SEO issues with using subdomains instead of subfolders

• 1. Keyword Dilution - Lets say you had mydomain.com as your main domain and a.mydomain.com, b.mydomain.com and c.mydomain.com as subdomains. If mydomain.com ranked highly for a particular keyword, that WONT help the a,b or c subdomains because each subdomain is treated as a seperate site by google (so they each have their own keywords). Likewise, if a.mydomain.com ranks for a particular keyword, that WONT help your main domain (mydomain.com) or the other subdomains (b.mydomain.com, c.mydomain.com).
  
  Essentially you are diluting your domains keyword authority across different websites. Therefore the more subdomains you have, the less keyword authority each one has and the less likely it is to rank
  
  By using subfolders, all your content will be on mydomain.com so any pages that rank for a particular keyword, will boost all the other pages too and improve your domain's overall keyword authority

• 2. Backlink Dilution - Similar to keyword dilution, backlink authority also gets diluted. So lets say a user shares a page on a.mydomain.com. That WONT pass any link authority to your main domain (mydomain.com) or the other subdomains (b.mydomain.com, c.mydomain.com). Like keywords, any link authority is being diluted across individual websites
  
  By using subfolders, any shares or external links will pass the link authority to your main domain and so boost all your other pages too.

• 3. Internal Linking - Since subdomains are considered seperate entities to your main domain, any links from the subdomain to the root won’t be considered internal linking and may actually do more harm than good because they will be viewed as external links from a low-quality extension of your domain

See https://victoriousseo.com/blog/seo-subd ... directory/

[gotonudecom]

If you want to keep the content completely seperate then go ahead and use subdomains but bear in mind there are several SEO issues with using subdomains instead of subfoldersSee https://victoriousseo.com/blog/seo-subd ... directory/

Great post by Tacnet!

Love how this entire article is based on a video that is what 5 plus years old???


I don't have time to tear this apart in great detail.. tonight.

Keyword Dilution
Hopefully you plan to niche each subdomain in a way it is NOT competing with your main site and instead complimenting it.
Do this and Keyword Dilution is NOT an issue.

If Site a, b , or c start ranking better than the main domain, for whatever reason, then boom, the backlink helps the main domain.
Main gives to the sub domain a little juice and if you build the sub domain properly at some point it should give back.
Backlink Dilution is now NOT an issue.

Internal Linking who cares about this for the subdomain strategy. as you would not care about backlinks in a folder strategy.

Better point from the article is
Why Context Matters for Subdomains
Exactly which content a site owner splits off into a subdomain will significantly impact indexing and ranking.

Implementation Matters
There are as many different ways to implement subdomains and subdirectories as devs who do the work. As I’ll explain below, regardless of the site structure you choose, strategizing for domain authority and link equity, avoiding keyword cannibalization, and using sound technical practices will all figure into your SEO results.

In summary, Google will index a subdomain or subdirectory the same way, but whether or not the average business can achieve SEO success by using subdomains depends on what content goes where, how it implements the structure, and the available budget for SEO strategy and maintenance.

This means lazy people should NOT use subdomains!