Why are my sub-domains ranking higher than my Root Domains?
-
I have just noticed that my sub-domains are ranking higher in Mozrank and Moztrust than the root domain - that seems nuts. Am I doing something wrong?
-
Glad to help anytime Simon.
I know it's probably hard to believe right now, but I'm sure it won't be long and you'll be explaining stuff to others here in Q&A!
Once all the pieces start to fall into place everything becomes much easier to understand and if you spend some time around the SEOmoz community you'll be flying in no time!
Here's a post with links to all of the most important resources here are SEOmoz which might help you find your way around.
Look forward to catching up with you around the community
Sha
-
Thankyou Chris and Sha for your feed back - I now have it clear in my head. You have been of great help. Thank you also for the link Sha.
Warm Regards
Simon
-
Hi again waspman,
No worries...it takes a little getting your head around when you start out
As Chris confirmed, the root domain is waspkilluk.co.uk.
The most common subdomain is the www, which is standard, but you can also create other subdomains if you wish.
Perhaps the most visible real world example of a site that uses subdomains is Google - which uses subdomains to manage each of its specific products within the site. If you take a look at the URLs when you are using Google products you will see examples like places.google.com, maps.google.com, blogger.google.com, webmasters.google.com, www.google.com etc.
A subdomain is referred to as a "third level" domain, created within another domain. As a rule, each level of a domain is defined by the dots (.) appearing in reverse order within a URL.
So, in the Google Maps example:
the Top Level Domain (TLD) is .com
the second level domain is the chosen domain name google
the third level domain (or subdomain) is maps
In your case it is a little more complicated. You have an extra level in your domains because your Top Level Domain is the country designator .uk so your second level is actually .co, but for the purposes of understanding subdomains it won't hurt for you to think of .co.uk as your top level domain.
Generally, most small sites don't require extra subdomains, so often the only subdomain in play is the www.
Matt Cutts has a simple tutorial on the parts of a URL that makes it much easier to understand what is going on at a glance.
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
That's right wapkilluk.co.uk is the root domain and www.waspkilluk.co.uk is your sub-domain
-
Thank you Sha for answering.
I am new to this - but I thought "www.waspkilluk.co.uk" was my root domain.
So have I got this a little mixed up - is "waspkilluk.co.uk" my root domain and "www.waspkilluk.co.uk" classed as a sub-domain?
Sorry if this sounds a little basic - be gentle.
-
Hi waspman,
No, you are absolutely not doing anything wrong
The simple answer is that you are acquiring links primarily to the sub-domains and not the root domains.
To explain:
"mozRank is SEOmoz's global link popularity score. It compares the relative link value (ranking power) between URLs on the Internet. It is similar in premise to Google's original PageRank metric but is updated more frequently and offers greater precision."
You can read more about all of the SEOmoz Metrics at the Open Site Explorer explanatory page.
So, if you go to Open Site Explorer and run a query for your sub-domain you will see the number of external links to that URL. If you then remove the www and run the query for the root domain you will see that there are 0 links to that URL.
Since mozRank = link popularity - it should be higher for the sub-domain because that is where the links are pointing, and of course you want to ensure that your links are always consolidated to just one domain. So, things are exactly as they should be.
Hope that helps,
Sha
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Rank Tracker report truble
Hello, I am new at SEOmoz, and I am having some troubles setting up my rank tracking report. Last week I set up e-mail notifications, but it hasn’t been delivered to this day. Can anybody tell me when do you usually receive the report via e-mail? Thank you.
Moz Pro | | Spletnafuzija0 -
Video SERP and Seomoz ranking
It seems that my keywords that lead to videoresults in SERP, is not being ranked on Seomoz! How come when i rank #3 on a certain keyword with a videoresult Seomoz is displaying me as #15 (which is the second of my pages in SERP)? What is the reason for not counting the video-result in the ranking-tool?
Moz Pro | | alsvik0 -
Mobile ranking
Is it now possible or do you plan on making it possible to see your mobile ranking in the Ranking Report?
Moz Pro | | peterkaad0 -
Domains and sub domains - newbie
Hi Recently set up my SEOM MOZ account so any help would be great! On the competitive domain analysis page the sub domain metrics appear as good (if not better) then the domain.The Moz rank and trust are better on the sub domain. I know the website copy is appearing on both non-www and also www (which I assume is being referred to as the subdomain) on the competitor domain analysis page). Should I now 301 the WWW site to the non-www.... which will then concentrate the SEO and SEOMoz then will only have the root domain metrics appearing? Many thanks for your help in advance!
Moz Pro | | Richard5550 -
I made a mistake on my root domain, how can I change it.
I just signed up for SEOmoz and already goofed up on setting up my root domain, I left out www. part. I can't find a way to edit it. Can I change it, or do I need to start a new campaign and delete this one?
Moz Pro | | ArenaS0 -
Rankings Report Visits Number timing?
I linked up the reports to my analytics account, and wanted to double check the period it uses for that number. When showing visits what time period is the report showing me? If I double check my stats in GA it looks like the past week but wanted to double check. Thanks!
Moz Pro | | SL_SEM0 -
Best Keyword Ranking Report Tool
What's the best keyword ranking report tool that anyone is using currently? I have used CuteRank (booo), Rank Tracker, SEOBook.com Rank Tracker, etc. Cost isn't an issue - I'm looking for a free or a paid tool. I need to be able to export resutls in PDF and Excel format. Thanks for the feedback!
Moz Pro | | ezclickmedia0 -
Domain Authority: Sites with lower numbers get higher ranking.
We had a question about your online tools for http://pro.seomoz.org/campaigns/30642 The Domain Authority for http://pucherinsurance.com/ is 67: Higher than most of our competitors such as <cite><cite>bluecross.ca which has a rank of 54. </cite> </cite> We show up lower in the actual search results. An example phrase would be Visitors to Canada health Insurance. We get an A grade for onsite reports and we are working on the duplicate content and titles. We appear to be doing everything right but still rank lower than expected. Any thoughts?
Moz Pro | | northerncs0