[Need advice!] A particular question about a subdomain to subfolder switch
-
Hello Moz Community!
I really was hoping to get your help on a issue that is bothering me for a while now. I know there is a lot of about this topic but I couldn’t find a good answer for my particular question.
We are running several web applications that are similar but are also different from each other. Right now, each one has its own subdomain (which was mainly due to technical reasons).
Like this: webapp1.rootdomain.com, webapp2.rootdomain.com etc.
Our root domain currently points with 301 to webapp1.rootdomain.com.
Now, we are thinking about making two changes:
- changing to a subfolder level like this: rootdomain.com/webapp1 , rootdomain.com/webapp2 etc.
- Changing our rootdomain to a landing page (lisitng all the apps) and take out the 301 to webapp1
We want to do these changes mainly for SEO reasons. I know that the advantages are not so clear between subdomain/subfolder but we think it could be the right way to go to push the root domain and profit more from juice passing to the different apps.
The problem is that we had a bad experience when we first switched from our first wep app (rootdomain.com) to an subdomain (webapp1.rootdomain.com) to set them equal with the other apps. Our traffic dropped a lot and it took us 6 weeks to get back on the same level as before. Maybe it was the 301 not passing all juice or maybe it was the switch to the subdomain. We are not sure.
So, I guess my question is do you think it is the right thing to do for web apps to go with subfolders to pass more juice from root to subfolders? Will it bring again huge drops in traffic once we make that change? Is it worth taking that risk or initial drop because it will pay off in the future?
Thanks a lot in advance! Your answers would help me a lot.
-
Thanks a lot for the answer SMG. I really appreciate it.
The one thing that is special about our case is that we actually only need organic traffic on the individual apps not on the root domain. Therefore we mostly care about the strength of the individual apps. I simply assume that a lot of people will link the landing page (rootdomain.com). So, with a subfolder system I hope to get more juice from the root domain to the apps and also that app1 for example can better support app2 with a better distribution of the root domain strength.
Well, I guess there might be no other way than to try it. If anyone else has another opinion I would love to hear it before I make the changes tomorrow.
-
Hi,
Whereas I can agree that having the webapps in the same domain WILL help push the root domain, I also agree care will have to be taken as to how it is done.
For instance, you mentioned you will be changing your root domain to become a landing page, this automatically affect the traffic that will go to webapp1 as you are offering people the choice. Webapp1 traffic will decrease from the 100% (albeit 301) traffic.
Also ensure the subdomains are 301 to the /webapp folder, but this too will cause a leakage (initially) as juice will need to be passed from the subdomain to the root. Root domain traffic and content will increase though which is a positive.
Ensuring any newly moved page has an equivalent 301 there should be no need to lose traffic as the traffic is simply being redirected, but without knowing what specifically happened the first time, it is hard to advise what to avoid I'm afraid.
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
-
Question on AMP
I'd like to utilize AMP for faster loading for one of my clients. However, it is essential that this client have chat. My developer is having trouble incorporating chat with AMP, and he claims that it isn't possible to integrate the two. Can anyone advise me as to whether this is accurate? If it is true that AMP and chat aren't compatible, are there any solutions to this issue? I'd appreciate any leads on this. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Joseph-Green-SEO0 -
Schema question
Hi all, We have two Trustpilot schemas (Local Business) on our web pages ( One on desktop / one on mobile) but we are finding that it is not updating the number of reviews in the search results. When using the tool : https://developers.google.com/structured-data/testing-tool/ , the test results are coming back ok. I have two ideas as to why it may not be working; 1) The duplication of the schema code is causing issues 2) We had to change the html code for all of our 50+ backend pages using a search&replace WordPress plugin to save a vast amount of time. Maybe this is plugin related? The fact that the google testing tool gives back positive results adds to the confusion. I test both of the theorised issues to see if it provides a fixes. Can anyone shed some further light on this issue? Is there something obvious I am missing? All responses are greatly appreciated! Thanks, Tom p.s. Example Page: https://www.allcleartravel.co.uk/asthma-travel-insurance/
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AllClearMarketing0 -
New g(TLD) advice needed
Hey all, I'm a bit confused by conflicting advice, need some direct input. We're quite experienced in SEO but that doesn't mean we can't get better 🙂 I manage a very old, well established, very generic TLD portal that ranks very highly in MANY keywords. (If you know our domain, I'd appreciate not naming it here) (145 1-3 ranks, 342 1-20 ranks) but there are also many topics we want to improve upon. Lets say, for example, I own gold.com, but I've failed to rank for 'gold events' and I acquired gold.events. What is the thought as to using some of the g(TLD)s versus the original .com? In the example events.gold.com or gold.events or gold.com/events/? I really can't find a consensus on which would bemost effective for SEO purposes. In a more general aspect of the same question, we own MANY "gold.newg(TLD)" domains and are conflicted as to best use of all of them. All advice greatly appreciated. Nat
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WorldWideWebLabs0 -
Traffic impact from switching hosting.
Good Afternoon! Does anybody know what sort of impact I can expect to see from switching hosting? Not only that but how long it takes to come back from that sort of thing? Our website has steadily been dropping since I took it over about a month ago. I have been slowly, tediously trying to prune the bad stuff, and one of our issues is with out host. Any thoughts would be great! Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HashtagHustler0 -
Using subdomains for related landing pages?
Seeking subdomain usage and related SEO advice... I'd like to use multiple subdomains for multiple landing pages all with content related to the main root domain. Why?...Cost: so I only have to register one domain. One root domain for better 'branding'. Multiple subdomains that each focus on one specific reason & set of specific keywords people would search a solution to their reason to hire us (or our competition).
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nodiffrei0 -
Duplicate Content Question
Hey Everyone, I have a question regarding duplicate content. If your site is penalized for duplicate content, is it just the pages with the content on it that are affected or is the whole site affected? Thanks 🙂
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jhinchcliffe0 -
Help needed on Google Webmaster tools
Hi I notice that one of my oldest sites , even if I put hundred of backlinks (good or bad) google webmaster tools never index more like 20 per day. Why is this happening? They control it? I mean they dont let them all to get indexed and they take it slowly slowly? If I put just 20 per day is the ideal link building amount? Thnk you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nyanainc0 -
Another Guest Blogging Question!
If you had 1 blog with good mozbar stats but hosted in the US and another with lets say 75% of the mozbar stats of the first but hosted in the UK, and your website is hosted in the UK which one would benefit SEO the most?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | activitysuper0