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. vs /Blog
-
I need to be able to explain to a client the difference from an SEO perspective between Blog. vs /Blog.
www.website.com/Blog vs Blog.website.com
The client wants to know which one will help there website with SEO.
I belive both will but /Blog will more.
I'm looking for a tangible answer only centered around this subject.
Thanks,
-
They definately do pass page rank, it is just if it is internal links or external.
They would nott have pr of 100, becauce each page has its own page rank.
also As i stated above, if google can tell if a sites is on the same subject or on multiple subjects.
Take a look at these 2 results, the first word press conatins a sub domain in its sitelinks, but to the en(english subdomain), they can tell that that subdomain belongs to the root.
Have look at this result and yopu will see that many of these companies subdomains are listed as belonging to the same site
-
Wait, it just dawned on me that sub-domains can't possibly pass on pagerank because if they did, everyone who started a new website hosted on the Wordpress platform would automatically have a PR100. What am I missing here?
EDIT: Doh! I meant DA not PR
-
I totally understand where you're coming from. It's just that Matt Cutts saying something isn't evidence either. We all know the way he likes to dance around issues, keep things obscure, and rarely ever truly answer a question directly. But hey, I'm not so stuck on my position that I'm not open to counter evidence; I'm even willing to admit the possibility of there truly being no difference. All I know is I'd never do my company's blog that way unless we became super-well-known and had a DA of 90 or more. (Then I wouldn't either, because why change the URL of such an established blog!)
-
Yes if the subdomain is verified by anouth user it will not pass, but if you do not verify subdomain google has stated they will count links from subdonmains as internal
-
Hi Alan, See this thread from only April this year: http://www.seomoz.org/q/subdomains-vs-subfolders Rand states: All the testing, research and examples I've seen in the past few years (and even the past few months) strongly suggest that the same principles still hold true. Subdomains SOMETIMES inherit and pass link/trust/quality/ranking metrics between one another Subfolders ALWAYS inherit and pass link/trust/quality/ranking metrics across the same subdomain
-
In the the link i posted Matt says it makes no differnece, and i believe Rand said it is his personal preference.
-
Hi Alan, I have not tested myself but I have read numerous articles and they all point to the same thing. Everything I have read from industry leaders such as rand and Matt cutts says sub folder is preferable. I'm just going by what they say. Thanks
-
All due respect, a vibe is not evidence.
i have looked into this much in the past, and could not find anything to justify the belief that sub-folders are better for seo.
-
correct.
I cant say I know for sure, but google counrts links from subdomsins in wmt as internal links. also it listyes pages from subdomsins as sub links in listings like this
-
Have a read of the links i posted, they are from google, both say there is no difference.
Why do you say google treats them differenct. what seomoz does is not the point
-
Here's the real question: if you acquire inbound links to blog.domain.com do those links add to the DA of domain.com or only blog.domain.com? Answer that and you've answered the question.
-
Even in the first article you posted, Matt Cutts says that blog. works for very large, established websites, but for everyone else, I got the vibe from him that he was leaning more toward /blog
-
Setup a subdomain blog. on your site and a /blog directory and then use SEOmoz competitive link analysis. You will see it shows different DA, Google sees these as completely separate entities.
I do believe there is some value passed on, but from my own experience /blog ALWAYS wins over blog. and I've done numerous tests on this.
-
But brad, what evidence are they using to justify these views, see my above post about what Google has said on the matter
-
Do you have any evidence for this?
I refer to these 2 views from google
Deb, it really is a pretty personal choice. For something small like a blog, it probably won’t matter terribly much. I used a subdirectory because it’s easier to manage everything in one file storage space for me. However, if you think that someday you might want to use a hosted blog service to power your blog, then you might want to go with blog.example.com just because you could set up a CNAME or DNS alias so that blog.example.com pointed to your hosted blog service.
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/What's the difference between using subdomains and subdirectories? When it comes to Google, there aren't major differences between the two
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com.au/2008/01/feeling-lucky-at-pubcon.html -
Hi,
The best practice amongst SEO professionals is using a subfolder (www.website.com/blog).
Here's a few Q+A threads that might help:
- http://www.seomoz.org/q/blogs-are-best-when-hosted-on-domain-subdomain-or
- http://www.seomoz.org/q/setting-up-a-company-blog-subdomain-or-new-url
Here's a couple of other resources on SEOmoz that also point to using the sub folder approach:
- http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites
- http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/domain
Thanks,
Brad
-
My belief is that they are not the same at all. With /blog, Domain Authority and Page Rank are being passed on. With blog. you're starting from scratch.
-
This question has been asked many times, but no one can point to any evidecne that one is better then the other, my belief is they are the same.
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
-
Blog post outreach for backlinks
Hi all, My understanding of obtaining backlinks by way of blogpost outreach is that it's best to include several outbound links to related high domain websites within blog post copy (as well as a link to the website you're marketing, obviously) such as this post https://www.scoopearth.com/why-should-you-use-royalty-free-music-for-youtube-videos/ or this one https://small-bizsense.com/how-to-create-quality-content-for-your-business/. However, I've recently read a few articles that suggest that from a human perspective only having one clear link in the copy, such as this post https://www.clichemag.com/entertainment/movies/the-benefits-of-royalty-free-cinematic-music-for-your-videos/, increases the chance of the reader visiting the site in question. I guess the thinking is that if there's only one link to be clicked on it increases the chances of click-thru, as opposed to the reader possibly clicking on another external link that's only there because of current SEO advice. So is it best to follow SEO guidelines and include several outbound links within guest blog posts, or is it better to only have the one link to your client's site (to focus the readers attention on it)?
Link Building | | JCN-SBWD0 -
Why are there less backlink domains in Moz vs. Semrush?
For our domain studyville.com, Semrush is reporting 46 linking domains, and Moz is reporting 7. Does anyone know where there is such a large discrepancy?
Link Building | | shelbythomas0 -
Best Name for Business and Backlinks / SEO
Sorry if this is a basic question I should know the answer for. We have just acquired the .org for a moderately well searched keyword set. Our objective is to fight for rank specifically on this one set of two keywords. We want make sure our site is setup and business named optimally for this. Here is my question. What is the best business name for SEO and keyword rich backlinks, or anything else I'm not thinking of? KEYWORDS: Blue Widget DOMAIN: BlueWidget.org BUSINESS NAME OPTIONS: A) simply BlueWidget.org. We like this but do we lose some benefit of "Blue Widget" with a space on backlinks? **B) Blue Widget Foundation. Is this better because people will reference us by the keywords with a space "The Blue Widget Foundation", instead of "from the people at BLUEWIDGET.org"? ** Am I missing anything important here in the name? We just want to start everything off on the right foot. Thank you Moz. Just joined and my first post.
Link Building | | RetBit0 -
Guest Blogging Question? How many links in an article?
I am being offered by a blog to have more than 5 links in an article that points directly to our money sites. The blog is in the same niche. This is the first time i am being offered more than 2-3 links in an article. Should i do it? How many links should be in an article so not to be penalized by Google? Does it look unnatural to have more links in an article that points to the same site but different pages? Thanks
Link Building | | WayneRooney0 -
Has anyone used Fat Joe as an outsource solution for blog links?
Hi guys, I have seen a company on social media a lot recently who offer a guest blog posting service. It seems to be reasonable quality from the reviews and the blurb they give as they at least seem to find you a relevant blogger to match up with, actually write good content with as many reviews as is needed and then post it to just that one page. I noticed on their site they have claimed that their service is Loved by Moz but I couldn't find any reference to them anywhere on the Moz site. My question is - has anyone used them and are the links going to be any good for my site?
Link Building | | OrderBlinds1 -
DA vs PA when building links
When building links to your site from other sites, what is more important or what weights more heavily? Say a site has a DA of 20 and PA of 34 for that page I want a link from. Say another site has the revese, a DA of 34 and a PA of 20. All things being equal, which site's link to me would be better? The one with a higher DA or the one with a higher PA for the on the specific page I would get a link?
Link Building | | studio35design0 -
Subdomains vs Subfolders
I've had a good read on this one and just wondered whether the info on the below link is still valid 3 years on: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites My main site is a forum but I want to add further content in the form of a blog. It seems logical to me that domain.com/blog/ would make more sense than blog.domain.com as the the content and inbound links to the blog would also help the forum where it's on the same subdomain, however I just wanted to make sure that was still the case as I've also read that Google now see a subdomain and subfolder in the same way if set up correctly in webmaster tools and this solution would look neater if that was the case. Thanks all.
Link Building | | Optimise0 -
Separate blog url helpful?
I am managing a website for a hotel brokerage firm. The main URL is www.hotelassetsgroup.com but we started a new blog with the URL www.hotelsforsaleblog.com. We chose the blog URL because it has the words "hotels for sale." The main website has a tab at the top titled "Blog" which links to the blog URL. I am not sure if this is helping us or not because the main URL and blog URL are both competing for the name of the business "Hotel Assets Group." The blog has very little interlinking within the same URL because it mainly links to the main website. Should we combine the two URLs together and just have the blog URL be the same like- hotelassetsgroup.com/blog or something like that?
Link Building | | lwilkins0