Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Blog On Subdomain - Do backlinks to the blog posts on Subdomain count as links for main site?
-
I want to put blog on my site. The IT department is asking that I use a subdomain (myblog.mysite.com) instead of a subfolder (mysite.com/myblog). I am worried b/c it was my understanding that any links I get to my blog posts (if on subdomain) will not count toward the main site (search engines would view almost as other website). The main purpose of this blog is to attract backlinks. That is why I prefer the subfolder location for the Blog.
Can anyone tell me if I am thinking about this right?
Another solution I am being offered is to use a reverse proxy.
Thoughts?
Thank you for your time.
-
Yes, search engines definitely know that subdomains are hooked to your domain, and there's evidence that search engines will count links toward a subdomain to your domain. However, there's speculation that those links are slightly discounted in the level of authority they pass -- they are a stronger signal to your subdomain -- and it's still best practice for your SEO to put your blog on a subfolder instead of a subdomain.
-
Does that mean that Moz believes backlinks to a subdomain are counted by search engines as backlinks to the main domain.
SOrry I keep asking but to get the blog in a subfolder will require a ton of work on IT's part so I am trying to see if the subdomain will work just as well.
-
Yes, we do. Unless you click the checkbox that says not to crawl subdomains.
-
I am hoping if we put out good content we will get many backlink from reputable sources so spammy links are not a concern.
Does SEOMoz count backlinks to subdomain as backlinks to main site in their reports?
thanks for your post.
-
I actually prefer the blog be on a subdomain if there are going to be several back links on it. It is a way of protecting your root domain from a link that might have seemed good, but has a spammy link neighborhood or turns out to be negative. It is my personal preference. The downfall is that the traffic isn't going to your site, it is going to your subdomain which is why the best practice is to use /blog.
I would double check with your site developer/IT person to find out if it is really necessary to use the subdomain. Is this by change a WP plugin? It is my understanding that there are several eCommerce platforms with no integrated blog and the WP plugin is only compatible on a subdomain.
-
Thanks for clarifying what you mean about 'the main purpose of the blog' - sounds like you get it.
Here's an article I could find on the update back in 2011: https://www.seroundtable.com/subdomains-google-webmaster-tools-13960.html
Reading through it again, the update was more about links from subdomains to main domains being considered internal links rather than external. It's easy to assume that if Google is seeing the subdomain as part of the main domain, then links to the subdomain will help the entire domain - but from my experience, subdomains never perform as well as a directory/folder structure (on their own or in helping the domain as a whole). I would try my best to avoid using a subdomain.
-
Thank you for the response.
- The main thing we will be using the blog for is creating compelling content that our target audience will find useful and then hopefully link to or share. I don't want to put on the subdomain if these earned links are not going to benefit the whole site as it would if I had the blog in a subfolder
SO just to confirm you are saying in 2011 or so this stopped being an issue and now any link I get to pages in the subdomain will benefit the whole site as far as backlinks?
Thanks
-
Hi there! So lots of thoughts came to mind as I read your question, so here it goes:
- Yes, links to subdomains are counted towards the entire domain - I believe it was 2010 or 2011 when Google announced this change, which was to prevent black hat SEOs from using their own subdomain as a link farm/wheel to the main domain- which leads me to my next thought...
- This statement raises an immediate red flag: "The main purpose of this blog is to attract backlinks."
- Generally, it's best to have your blog at domain.com/blog - of course there are sometimes technical limitations preventing this.
I hope this helps!
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
-
Drip Feeding Free Top 10 Blog Sites for Link Building?
Is it a good move to pick 10 free blogging sites to build links. Like drip feeding them. Let's say 10 blogging sites irrespective of its a sub-domain as we get in wordpress or a sub-folder blog as we get in livejournal. Now adding articles related to my money website on those blogs newly created & building links from them. Then drip feeding them by putting 1 article a month at regular intervals with anchor as links in each of them. Do you think its a good move?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | welcomecure0 -
Franchise sites: Should each franchise have a subdomain or subdirectory?
One of my clients has about 40 franchisees who are going to have their own sites on a WordPress multisite installation. The question they're wondering: should these be on subdirectories (thesite.com/this-franchise) or on subdomains (this-franchise.thesite.com)? Which is best for SEO? Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | ideasandpixels0 -
Is it worth removing date from Blog Posts / Articles
Wondering, is it worth to remove date from articles from seo perspective. Am sure, Google search algorithm would like demote a post written a year back, as against an article on the same post (unless a year old post has very strong Authoritative links) May be it can turn out a bad user experience of removing dates, but if can hide date using Javascripts so as to show it as image to user and hide it from search engines, is it a good idea !!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Modi0 -
Redirecting one site to another for link juice
I have two sites with same theme - buying cars. I am going remove one of the sites from being crawled permenantly (ie junkthecars.com) and point domian via 301, to another similar theme site (sellthecars.com). The purpose is to simply pass the SEO link juice from one site to the other as we retire junkthecars.com.... Is a forwarding of the domain OK and the best way for the search engines to increase the rank of sellthecars.com (we hate to wast the link work done on Junkthecars.com)? What dangers should I look for that could hurt sellthecars.com if we do the redirect at a simple TLD?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bestone0 -
IP address guideline for 2 sites on same server linking each other.
Hi Guys! I have two websites which link to each other but are on the same server. Both the sites have a great PR and link juice. I want to know what steps shall I take in order to make google feel that both the sites are not owned by me. Like shall i get different IP and different servers for both or something more? Looking forward for you thoughts and help!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | HiteshBharucha0 -
Link Building Ideas for a health site
Hi, I am trying to rank a health related website. This is the url: www.ridpiles.com Domain age is 1 year 6 months. Done Directory submissions Blog Comments + Forum posts Done Social Bookmarks Article submissions (Not much) I have done competitor analysis. All of my competitors are just had links from directories and some link exchanges. They got links from quality sites like Yahoo dir. I know my site is far better than my competitors and has 100% unique content. I have submitted to yahoo directory inclusion, but still no luck i hadn't accepted into it. I am planning to go for a sponsered review but dont know, weather the link will be valuable for that much of money. I was left with Guest Blogging. I see this is the only option for me to build links. But i have a very tough competiton, i must compete with most reputed sites like webmd.com etc, i need to get more good links. But i cant get what other ways to get authoritative links. If Guest blogging is the only option for me, how many posts do i need to do daily? And can someone suggest me good Guest blogging sites? Anyhelp would be appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Indexxess0 -
Linking Sister-Sites - Diapers.com Example
Many of the big guns like 1800 Flowers, Diapers.com and others all have their sister sites in tabs at the top. Example: http://www.diapers.com/ with their 3 other properties. Since all properties link to one another on every page, it's really a wash, right? No real gain as engines know they are connected and it's the same link multiple times. No real problem either as it's natural for the user experience to have reciprocal links here between the brands. Any additional thoughts here?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | SEOPA0