Blog on a subdomain vs subfolder?

[sportstvjobs]

Hi,

Does anyone have data to show that a subfolder is better than a subdomain for a blog? From what I've read, it sounds like both are a viable option but you choose subdomain if you want to build your blog as a distinct entity. Do you get ranked more quickly with a subfolder? Do you see X% more lift? Has anyone tested or seen tests around this subject?

Any input is appreciated! Thanks in advance.

[sportstvjobs]

Thanks for the insight, I appreciate the well-thought response.

[RyanKent]

A subdomain is viewed as a separate domain. A subfolder is viewed as your existing domain.

If you owned "domain.com" you could sell a subdomain to others for any and all possible combinations. This is basically what wordpress.com does, for example. When you make yoursite.wordpress.com, you don't get any the benefits of wordpress' domain authority.

From a SEO perspective, there isn't much difference between yoursite.wordpress.com and www.yoursite.com. It's a different domain. It's really difficult to say if Google has any extremely minor boost in any way to a subdomain, but I am not aware of any.

When you offer a blog in a subfolder, it is part of your site. It inherits your DA, and any links to the blog can add to your site's overall DA.

The bottom line is, if this blog is directly related to your site and will be focused on the same topics as your site, you would most likely prefer it to be a subfolder. If this blog is not related to your site, or will discuss off-topic issues, then you would prefer it as a subdomain.

This topic has been discussed many times and Google is your friend (in this case). You can take a look at the SEOmoz article: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/understanding-root-domains-subdomains-vs-subfolders-microsites or use Google to search the many articles on this topic: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=blog+subdomain+vs+subfolder

Do you get ranked more quickly with a subfolder?

Your site's ranking would be based on your DA factors. The higher your DA, the more important your site's content is to Google, the more often you should be crawled. The subdomain would be seen as a brand new site. Even to submit a sitemap for it you would have to first verify it as a new site with Google. Based on these factors I would say Yes, if you had an established site your blog would be ranked faster as a folder on the existing site as opposed to a new subdomain.

Do you see X% more lift?

That is the definition of DA. How likely pages on your existing site are likely to rank well. If you have an established site with good DA, and you add a blog then yes your pages should rank better on the main site when compared to the same article on a newly created subdomain.