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.
Root-Domain vs Subdomain Linkbuilding
-
Hello Mozzers!
Couple of days ago I received a request to start optimizing a wordpress website, the domain itself has been around for around 10-12 years so it's it can be considered as one that has real history behind it. The page has been moved from HTML/FLASH to wordpress about 3 - 4 years ago and hasn't been any SEO maintenance on it. The site used to rank for first position with several keywords, but now understandably, it has greatly decreased.
My main question would be, that when I've checked the root domain's and the subdomain's metrics with MOZ Open Site Explorer, the sub domain (with "www.") showed a PA 40 and 90 external links while the root domain (without "www.") only has 27 PA and 6 External links.
I know that the 301 or server redirects only transfers about 90% of the link juice to the targeted URL but the difference between the 2 results seem way too big for me.
What do you think? Is this normal?
During future link building is it more beneficial to target the root domain so the page won't lose that "10%" by redirecting the new link from sub-domain to root domain?
Is it possible to get more juice transferred?Thank you very much,
Adam -
Hey
I'm a bit confused - not the first time! Would very much appreciate if you good folks could shed some light on a couple of questions.
Our site in the search console is inputed as www.domain.co.uk
Is this our subdomain?
When I'm using Open Site Explorer and filter by Target, say "this root domain" is it now showing me inbound links to domain.co.uk instead?
Lastly how does this affect rankings i.e getting links to www.domain.co.uk or domain.co.uk as whoever types in either domain gets to the correct site.
-
Thank you CKG for your answer, it's much appreciated.
I have already started to move to www. , I changed in WordPress settings, from non-www to www version, also selected the preferred version www. in webmaster tools and contacted the server administrators about the change. My only last problem is the battle with the htaccess to redirect the rootdomain to the www. subdomain but I should get it sorted out pretty soon
Cheers,
Adam -
Hey
I think you should go through both for analysis purposes however in order to moving forward you should be focusing on one URL which contains www.
here are the link for you to help yourself to understand the difference between these.
http://moz.com/community/q/root-domain-and-subdomain-links-opensite-explorer
-
I have just come across the same issue for a site I am optimising. For me, when www is used the page authority in OSE is 42 compared to 33 when there is no www.
It would be really good to hear what people's views are on this.
Billy
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
-
linking domain issues
Hello guys. I am having issues with my linking domains. These domains are made outside of my website. I have tried to disavow these links but not able to do it. These are mostly from google redirects links. Here is the```
Link Building | | Rom1988z
code_text0 -
Ahrefs Backlinks VS Moz Backlinks
HI Team and members We have website related to jobs in Pakistan and we purchased 5 niche edits backlinks to a specific page " MES Jobs 2021" In ahrefs it show only 2 backlinks to that page but in moz 0 backlinks but in actually there are 5 links. Why this happen in moz? We actually love this tool used for Keywords research for jobs in Pakistan find some cool keywords using moz but we facing backlinks issues in it.
Link Building | | AliHassanbinali1 -
Redirecting dofollow, high-domain-authority links from one site to another: good idea?
I have two sites that offer help for freelance writers. The first gets almost no search traffic and is very low priority for me. The second is my main priority and gets substantial search traffic. The low-priority site has a significant number of dofollow backlinks from high-domain-authority sites. Is it a good idea to 301 redirect these links to similar/related posts on my high-priority site? Would this potentially boost the SEO of my high-priority site? Thanks for any help!
Link Building | | John88990 -
Would you consider these domains spammy or at risk for penguin penalty?
I'm doing a bit of competitor backlink auditing and am curious how you view these domains? I also am doing this for others as a comparison and growing reference maybe of domains that they can crosscheck with their own backlink profile and make sure these aren't on there, in preparation for penguin algo release to core. Either chime in with known domains to be spam, and I will create a live list based on answers here. Domain Domain Rating directoryworld.net 64
Link Building | | Deacyde
prlog.ru 60
torchbrowser.com 60
jzip.com 58
localbiznetwork.com 58
gimpsy.com 54
pageonepower.com 52
nashvillelife.com 49
2thetopdesign.com 49
seocounsel.com 48
healthywealthyaffiliate.com 48
hollinslegal.com 48 On a working Disavow list either in root domain or extended url form seocourt.com
wldirectory.com
onpaco.com
lostdirectory.com
ligginit.comligginit.com
alivedir.net
tiptopdirectory.com
onemilliondirectory.com
submittolinkdirectory.com I've read that sitewide footer links even from parent company sites will only count as one, regardless of how many links they have, I was wondering if that was true as well?0 -
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 -
Unique Domains vs. Total Links?
At what point is there diminishing returns from getting multiple links from one website? Edit: To clarify, when doing competitor research I come across lots of sites that have say 500 linking domains with 5000 total links. When setting goals and calculating the types of links I should go after, I'm not certain which number is the one actually helping the site to rank.
Link Building | | ErikDster0 -
Domain Authority and nofollow links?
Hello, I'm wondering, are 'nofollow' links from websites with high domain authority beneficial? Would they boost our own DA? In essence, I'm wondering if there is added value (other than visitors clicking the link) to being linked to by a 'nofollow' link. Thanks!
Link Building | | yacpro130
