Should I use a subdomain our primary domain for this content?
-
Hi,
We have an eCommerce site www.refreshcartridges.co.uk and currently publish videos, unique articles, troubleshooting advice etc. on a subdomain igloo.refreshcartridges.co.uk. The hope is that the content on igloo will prove sufficiently useful for someone to either link to or bookmark for future reference. Eventually this will hopefully result in sales through the main site.
We were assured several years ago that we should host this content on a subdomain but the more I think about it, the more I think that this content should be hosted as part of the main site (for example www.refreshcartridges.co.uk/igloo/).
My logic is that this would extend a couple of advantages, not least that any links built to this unique content would be attributed to the primary domain rather than the subdomain. Although I appreciate the subdomain does link back to the primary domain I can't help but feel this dilutes the potential strength of any link. Post Penguin I think it would be nice to get genuine, natural links appreciating content on our primary domain rather than a separate subdomain.
It should probably be pointed out that we only publish articles related to our key business activity (printing, cartridges, technology) on igloo. There is no unrelated content designed simply as link bait.
If we were to make the move we would of course 301 all the old pages..
I would really appreciate your opinion on whether you agree or whether you would be tempted to keep the content on a subdomain.
Thanks for your help!
Chris
-
NP! Best of luck to you
-
Hi Rebekah,
Many thanks for your response - It's always nice to get a second opinion before spending your day doing something that could potentially be detrimental!
We're about to write a few dozen 'how to' guides and suddenly it struck me that the primary domain would be getting very little benefit from any people that potentially link in to the content.
Thanks again for your help. I’ll get cracking on the move now.
Chris
-
Tricky situation, and individual opinions may differ...but here is mine.
Ultimately, yes it would be more beneficial to have the subdomain part of the main domain. Right now your subdomain is generating a good amount of links, and the authority from those links aren't transferred to the main domain at all because a subdomain is considered a completely separate website.
I am also assuming that the subdomain and the main domain are on the same C-Class, and in that case any links you have coming from the subdomain to your main domain are probably not getting all the authority it can from those links.
301 redirecting the pages on the subdomain to their respective pages on the main domain would be the best option, but remember that there is some degradation of page rank so this won't be as strong of a signal as it was previously. After transferring content and adding in 301s, I would continue concentrating on providing valuable content that would earn links to make up for the loss of PR when transferring it over.
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
-
How to use LinkedIn as marketing tool
Depending on what market you're in LinkedIn seems to be extremely powerful, does anyone have any experience of marketing using LinkedIn as a platform? All suggestions and tips welcome...
Social Media | | seoman101 -
How do i change primary mail in Google?
By a mistake, Google have added on of our employeers gmail as the primary mail, that are attached to our YouTube channel. We want to delete that gmail, but without loosing our data, and all the information we have on our channel. We also want to connect to G+ with a new gmail, but now it seems that Google have created a G+ profile related to the "wrong" gmail. Have anyone got experience with this problem, and have a solution for this?
Social Media | | Petersen110 -
MyBlogGuest releases 'Viral Content Buzz' website
Hi, Looks like Ann over at MyBlogGuest has released a very interesting side project called 'Viral Content Buzz' (www.viralcontentbuzz.com). I have had a quick look and it seems to be something that could be very useful regarding social sharing of content. Basically you can put your article into a category to gain exposure for it (this costs 'points'), once in the gallery others can tweet the link to the article to gain themselves points - and it goes round and round. It does look like a good way of building up followers and exposure but in order to pick up points you need to tweet and you can not tweet until you have a certain number of followers (just so you know I like this). The only thing I can think of negatively is how real are those lists? I guess the proof would be in the retweeting and visits to the article. Anyone else looked at this service?
Social Media | | activitysuper1 -
Content marketing for fake snow website
Hi there I have taken control of a webshop that sells fake snow and winter effects products. www.snowsupermarket.co.uk I am going to start a blog & in addition to paid and organic search practices, what other content marketing ideas does anyone think could increase traffic. Cheers, Ben
Social Media | | SnowFX0 -
Why isn't SEOMoz using Wistia's social sharing feautes?
I noticed that SEOMoz does not make use of Wistia's social sharing buttons such as a Facebook Like button. Is there any disadvantage to using the like button via Wistia rather than copy/pasting it in static HTML?
Social Media | | TheDude0 -
Should each domain have it's own social media ?
Hi, were in the process of creating multiple domains and sites for each country we plan to operate in, should each site site have it's own set of Facebook, twitter you tube accounts etc? I realise this will create more work in administrating each site and corresponding set of social media accounts, but does it have benefits ? As we'll need to do it anyway in different languages, does separating the English languages accounts make any difference carry any benefits? Thanks,
Social Media | | opoczno0 -
Google+ What account to use for business?
Ok, we have been pretty dismissive of Google+ but having read more and more about how it is now directly influencing search results (currently in the USA) we are going to suggest setting up accounts for business. The question is, which Google Account should be used for the business page? In the nice presentational video on Google+ the example business is a nice local bike shop, which is simple right? Just use the small business owners account. But what about larger clients? Who in the org should have the business page on their account? What if that individual leaves? Can the page be separated from that account? Should you use maybe a Google Apps for Business account? But the issue with that is you will obviously have no one in any circles to share that page with. It all seems to be too closely tied to the personal side of Google+ Any help would be great. Thanks.
Social Media | | CarlE0 -
Google Plus for Website - Should the button be available on the homepage or just blog posts and other sticky content?
I am trying to understand if I should add the Google +1 button to my client's homepages in addition to "sticky" content. Any insight here would be greatly appreciated.
Social Media | | MattAaron0