Sub-Domain Google Search Nested under main Domain?

[dogtopiamichigan]

Hello,

I have a strange issue that I have not come across before:My subdomain is: michigan.dogdaycare.com.

Some of the Keyword searches show our subdomain being nested under the main domain for Google searches instead of being indexed individually.

Example search term: Dogtopia Bloomfield

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=dogtopia+bloomfield

-This will show two subdomain links nested under the main domain

Example search term: Dogtopia Birmingham

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=dogtopia+birmingham

-This shows the subdomain showing correctly in searches and not nested.

Any idea as to how to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

[dogtopiamichigan]

Thanks for your advice and tips!

[Netrepid]

I'm wondering if you can correct this with link building. Your domain has some decent authority, so it's probably a trust of the primary domain over the subdomain in this case.

In contrast, I have a subdomain that generated quite a bit of editorial coverage that stands on its own in SERPs, and I believe that is because of the link profile to it.

I'll leave you with a couple ideas...

1. Get rid of the button link on the michigan.dogdaycare.com page to /bloomington/ and instead, link them the other way (ie corporate page to business listing on subdomain).
2. Also, on the corporate domain, if you do any internal linking, switch them to the Michigan subdomain URL instead of /bloomfield/
3. Do something to generate some inbound links to your subdomain listing, and do it without including links to anywhere on the main domain. Honestly, something as simple as Moz Local, a press release that gets picked up by some local publications, and maybe some links to that subdomain URL from some doggy daycare directories will help that, IMO.
4. Moving forward, show no link love to the corporate domain page.

[RyanPurkey]

Within Webmaster Tools you could possibly exclude the subdomain pages from being listed as site links, but Google has stated they're trying to get better at associating when subdomains are similar to subfolders on a site. Rand recently discussed that aspect of it here: http://moz.com/blog/subdomains-vs-subfolders-rel-canonical-vs-301-how-to-structure-links-optimally-for-seo-whiteboard-friday.  Cheers!