Sub-domain or not???
-
Hi,
We're setting up a forum for our users (our target audience responds extremely well to forums).
I was wondering if it should be set up on a sub-domain or not. I'm leaning towards sub-domain, but our devs say this will impact how they approach it so I'd like to give them an answer asap so we can proceed with planning it!
Thanks,
Amelia
-
Jimmy, this is why I am leaning towards a sub-domain. Though the previous posters seem to have very valid points about why a subfolder may be better for us...
As for making it easier for the devs, that wasn't exactly what I meant... They've said they need to know which way we want to go in order to put together a plan. I think it will impact how they set certain things (I don't understand) up so will make a difference to the time scales etc - which is what our boss is asking for!
-
The forum will be a place for UK landlords to discuss their businesses.
We sell landlord mortgages. So I think this is pretty close. We also provide advice articles.
I want to carve a bit of a niche for us in terms of subject though, and try and veer towards finance for landlords as much as possible.
-
Hi Tom,
Thank you for your quick response!
I was leaning towards the sub-domain rather than sub-folder simply because I'm anticipating that we will at some point get hit by spam. This is inevitable I think, and I'm putting a plan in place to try and limit it as much as possible, but I am pretty sure it'll happen - it always does! The forum will be moderated by a human as well. I was thinking that if some bad links got posted in the forum they would be less likely to affect the main domain. This may be daft. Please say if it is!!!
-
Hi Amelia,
Making things easier for the devs is certainly not a bad thing!
However it is important to consider what type of content will be on your forum in terms of SEO, whilst a folder on a subdomain will increase your sites size in terms of indexed pages, it is going to be doing so with content not written by yourself, and could include content that could be detrimental, in terms of both context and keyword density.
Having it on a subdomain is the safest way to keep control of content on your website, and should be just as easy to install than a subfolder, (though obviously that's not accounting for your personal server and website set up).
Kind Regards
Jimmy
-
To answer this question, I think we'd have to know how closely the forum relates to your main site's content. If a forum is something more strongly ingrained in the kind of service/product/culture your business provides, then I would advise you keep the forum in the same domain. If not, then it's a question of how closely related it is and whether users would/should see it as extraneous content.
-
Hi Amelia
Would a subfolder not achieve the job equally as well? If we take out the SEO perspective (I think any links the forum eventually gets you would have virtually the same benefit in a sub domain or sub folder), let's look at it from a user POV.
As you say, your audience responds very well to forums. How do you think those users usually find them? Would they be more likely to type in www.example.com/forum/ or would they type: forum.example.com? My gut feeling (based on no data) would be the subfolder solution - as it's the same way you might go about finding a contact page or an about us page.
You could attempt to quantify that by doing a google search. Try this Google search:
inurl:forum "keyword"
Replace keyword with your industry keywords, of course.
Take a look at some of the results that come up and note which ones use a /forum/ structure or a forum.site.com structure. Both variants have the chance of turning up (like in this search). That will give you some idea on what the typical structure is. Now, that doesn't mean you have to be typical! But it might give a slight correlation between what structure users in your niche might expect.
Ultimately, I don't think it would make a huge amount of difference - so maybe giving the devs an easy ride could be a good shout!
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
-
Forecasting DA increases after merging domains?
Hi all, I wondered if anyone had any suggestions for forecasting DA changes after merging two domains. The context is that we have two sites and there is argument to combine them into one. To cut a long story short, one of the considerations is how much DA might increase if we migrated one domain into the other. Domain 1 has a DA in the 30s. Domain 2 (which we'd redirect) has a DA in the late 20s. Around 90% of the LRDs are 'incremental'. Surely there is a way to forecast what the increase in DA would be if we decided to combine? I haven't found anything online...
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | rl_uk0 -
301 Old domain with HTTPS to new domain with HTTPS
I am a bit boggled about https to https we redirected olddomain.com to https://www.newdomain.com, but redirecting https://www.olddomain.com or non-www is not possible. because the certificate does not exist on a level where you are redirecting. only if I setup a new host and add a htaccess file will this work. What should I do? just redirect the rest and hope for the best?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | waqid0 -
Using a Sub Domain as a Main Domain?
Hi, I'm working on a site at the moment and the sub domain is acting as the main domain. This occurred when the site was redesigned and built on a sub domain for testing but it was never moved to the main domain when it went live (a couple of years ago). So little or no pages are live on domain.com but all on sub.domain.com. It's a large company but they have very poor rankings. Would you recommend that they move the sub domain back into the root folder? Does this involve renaming/re-pointing URLs? Thanks Louise
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | MVIreland1 -
Domain Migration of high traffic site:
We plan to perform a domain migration in 6 months time.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | lcourse
I read the different articles on moz relating to domain migration, but some doubts remain: Moving some linkworthy content upfront to new domain was generally recommended. I have such content (free e-learning) that I could move already now to new domain.
Should I move it now or just 2 months before migration?
Should I be concerned whether this content and early links could indicate to google a different topical theme of the new domain ? E.g. in our case free elearning app vs a commercial booking of presential courses of my core site which is somehow but not extremely strongly related) and links for elearning app may be very specific from appstores and from sites about mobile apps. we still have some annoying .php3 file extensions in many of our highest traffic pages and I would like to drop the file-extension (no further URL change). It was generally recommended to minimize other changes at the same time of domain migration, but on the other hand implementing later another 301 again may also not be optimum and it would save time to do it all at the same time. Shall I do the removal of the file extension at the same time of the domain migration or rather schedule it for 3 months later? On the same topic, would the domain migration be a good occasion to move to https instead of http at the same time, or also should we rather do this at a different time? Any thoughts or suggestions?0 -
Sub-domain or new domain for new location
I have a small law firm in Dallas, TX. I will be moving to Austin, TX in the next 2 years. My website is doing great here in Dallas, but I have focused on keyword phrases that include the word "Dallas." I would like to leave my current website as is and maintain a Dallas office to keep the business flowing from this website. I am trying to determine the best way to get Austin business from a 2nd website. I know I will need new content that includes the use of the word "Austin". My question is: Should I put the new content on (1) a subdomain (i.e. austin.copplaw.com) or (2) a new domain (i.e. copplawfirm.com). I really want to be a player for the google local search results in both cities. I can use a different name for my law firm in Austin, if necessary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Regards, Zac
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seozac0 -
Setting Up Google Analytics for domains with 301
I have a client with a google analytics account that is a mess. domaina.com domainb.com 302's to domaina.com domainc.com 302's to domaina.com domaind.com 302's to domaina.com I thought the client was doing 301s on all these domains to the primary domain. I have logged into there analytics account and found data is being tracked on the other domains i.e domainb,c,d.com etc. How is it possible that google analytics is tracking data on these domains when no analytics code has been created and the urls are redirecting to domaina.com? Also there are not sites on these domains so for webmaster tools should I enable domain verification through a cname on the dns? Also I can I best setup a way to track traffic coming from say domainb.com? Whats the best step by step guide to use to set this up.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | JohnW-UK0 -
Does a dash in your domain name effect your ranking?
Does a dash in your domain name effect your ranking? or it dosen't really matter?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Radomski0 -
How Many Results Does Google Show From The Same Domain?
Hi, From a few years ago I know 'double listings' were considered prime real estate. These days I can see triple listing, google places, PDFs all from the same domain. Im confused as the what the standard is now. I have been asked for some reverse SEOing to push down some bad press (keyword is the brand name) and am curious to know whether I still can get some high results by making a sub domain, optmising some more internal pages etc. Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | DigitalLeaf0