Flat vs. subdomain web structure
-
I am building a site which sells a product in 50 states and in each state we will have independt partners. From an SEO perspective, what are the tradeoffs in using a single domain vs. having each state a subdomain? Each state also has varying regulatory issues that are specific to that state.
-
I agree that with 50 subdomains i cant see you having enouth content, i was speakng in general.
i was refereing to that link, Rand said it is his personal belief that most of the time it is better to keep to one subdomain.
-
I agree. When I use subdomains, I start thinking about FTP. I also think about the user having the best user experience. If he wants to make one site that markets 50 states, then using a CMS would be the answer. But creating 50 subdomains would be repetitive. I his case I would use folders and if the independent partner needs access to the site, then add them as a user with limited site access.
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites
-
This is an old argument, subdomains v subfolders,
Matt cutts said there is no difference. see comments
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/google web master blog said there is no differnece.
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/01/feeling-lucky-at-pubcon.htmlRand recomends sub folders, but said it was his personal choice.
I have seen SERPS with sitelinks, and in theh site links are links in subdomains, so i would say that google sees them as the same site.
If you register a root domain in wmt, the links from subdomains are seen as internal links. If somone verifies the subdomain under another account, then you will no longer see stats for the subdomain.
i have never seen any evidence that they are any different.
-
Use craigslist.org as an example. Every city has it's own subdomain. It's not in a subfolder where link juice is passed. Using a subdomain is almost like having a different domain.
Your choices will be state.example.com or example.com/state. I personally would use subfolders instead of subdomains to keep link juice. No "if" I was going to GeoTarget each state and I did NOT want to be in other states, then I would use subdomains the way Craigslist is set up.
A better question is this. You state you want to sell "a" product in 50 states. The way I read that is you are going to have 50 pages of duplicate content (whether it's one product or 1,000 products). How do you mean independent partners? You have to explain that a little further. Do you mean affiliates? Do you mean independent contractors like MLMs (network marketing). Your website should be structured around your business objectives. What if you have two partners within one state?
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
-
Working on new link structure
Hello Mozzzzzzzzzzz I'm currently working on the new link structure for our website. We currently organize our content in sub folder =Main category
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | floaumet
= = Sub category
= = =Specialty
= = = Product main name
= = = ==Product specific name
= = = == =Manufacturer Each of them has some potential strong KW and I will be happy to use it on the URL. URL are more than 50 kw long when I use all This are very niche item for which people may refer to them through different names (potential folders) My current concerns will be Should we make long url respecting the structure (Main category)/(Sub category)/(Specialty)/(Product main name)/(Product specific name)/(maufacturer) Should I combine some like (Main category)/(Sub category)/(Specialty)/(Product main name)/(Product specific name)-(maufacturer) Should I keep them simple /(product_main name) Should I keep the main folders just to display the articles belonging to this category (Main category)/(Sub category)/(Specialty)/(Product main name) and then keep the product under a sub folder only? Any other idea?0 -
How can improve Domain Athturitymy web site
Hi;
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | tohid1363b
I have a website that had an authoritative domain of 10 but today it has reached 5. I wanted to know what the reason for these changes was.
need improve my rank in Google my goal keyword . Can you guide my servant? need +5 Domain , and over +50 Page Aithroity .. my site: خریدگیفت کارت0 -
P.O Box VS. Actual Address
We have a website (http://www.delivertech.ca) that uses a P.O Box number versus an actual address as their "location". Does this affect SEO? Is it better to use an actual address? Thanks.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Web3Marketing870 -
Is our Third Party Subdomain hurting our SERPs?
Hello! Our Moz report under the root domain godelta.com displays 696 high priority issues that we cannot control that are all caused by a third party subdomain. promotionalproducts.godelta.com We don’t have any control of the SEO on the third party website. Our blog posts link to the third party subdomain from our blog subdomain. blog.godelta.com Is the third party subdomain affecting our SERP and should we replace the subdomain with its own domain name? Hopefully we can clear this up and end the debate with our internal team and our HubSpot account manager. David
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | wakadaca0 -
Dev Subdomain Pages Indexed - How to Remove
I own a website (domain.com) and used the subdomain "dev.domain.com" while adding a new section to the site (as a development link). I forgot to block the dev.domain.com in my robots file, and google indexed all of the dev pages (around 100 of them). I blocked the site (dev.domain.com) in robots, and then proceeded to just delete the entire subdomain altogether. It's been about a week now and I still see the subdomain pages indexed on Google. How do I get these pages removed from Google? Are they causing duplicate content/title issues, or does Google know that it's a development subdomain and it's just taking time for them to recognize that I deleted it already?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WebServiceConsulting.com0 -
Ecommerce SEO URL Structure Questions
| I am in the process of developing a new Magento ecommerce store. Take for instance this website is in the apparel industry and i have the following main categories. Clothing Shoes Accessories Beauty Sub categories for clothing would be: Dresses Pants jeans Tops Products would be: Kelly Maxi dresses What is the best SEO Structure for this? Main categories obviously: www.example.com/clothing Sub Categories:
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | WayneRooney
www.example.com/clothing/dresses Or www.example.com/dresses (Zappos seem to pursue the second type) Products:
www.example.com/clothing/dresses/kelly-maxi-dresses/ Or www.example.com/kelly-maxi-dresses ? Which one would be the best way to structure your site? Also what about filters that available in category pages? Say if i were to filter by color. what would be the best URL? I am sure canonical tag is needed here. New to Ecommerce SEO so i need some guidance! |0 -
Subdomain for every us state?
Hi, one of our clients has an idea of making subdomains from his main website to sell his online advertisements in all states in USA. f.e: texas.web.com atlanta.web.com He wants to have a subdomain for every state and there to be information related only or mainly to this state? I am not sure about is this a good idea? What is your opinion about it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vladokan0 -
How to do a 301 redirect for url's with this structure?
In an effort to clean up my url's I'm trying to shorten them by using a 301 redirect in my .htaccess file. How would I set up a rule to grab all urls with a specific structure to a new shorter url examples: http://www.yakangler.com/articles/reviews/other-reviews/item/article-title http://www.yakangler.com/reviews/article-title So in the example above dynamically redirect all url's with /articles/reviews/other-reviews/item/ in it to /reviews/ so http://www.yakangler.com/articles/reviews/boat-reviews/item/1550-review-nucanoe-frontier http://www.yakangler.com/articles/reviews/other-reviews/item/1551-review-spyderco-salt http://www.yakangler.com/articles/reviews/fishing-gear-reviews/item/1524-slayer-inc-sinister-swim-tail would be... http://www.yakangler.com/reviews/1550-review-nucanoe-frontier http://www.yakangler.com/reviews/1551-review-spyderco-salt http://www.yakangler.com/reviews/1524-slayer-inc-sinister-swim-tail with one 301 redirect rule in my .htaccess file.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | mr_w0