Sub-directories or Nah
-
Hey MOz Squad,
So I have a locksmith company with 7 locations all up and down the west coast. We set up each location in a sub-directory (mainly because they used to have other websites for these locations and we wanted to try and keep the juice so we 301 redirected back to these subdiretories)
But it's making our efforts so tough because every time I want to change something I have to do it seven times!
DO the sub directories really matter that munch for rank? One of my partners says google treats it like it own website and trying to rank just a page on a website for a certain city is harder. What do you guys think Keep the subs or ditch em?
-
Hi Meier!
Very good feedback from the community, and scenario you are describing is why most Local SEOs would recommend the approach of a single domain with landing pages on it for each of the 7 locations. This way, every single thing that you do to build up the brand simultaneously benefits all the locations, instead of this requiring 7 separate efforts every time you want to make a marketing decision.
-
Hi Meier,
I completely agree with Matt. In theory, you can get a better focus by having a separate domain for each location. In practice though, the amount of work required to do this just isn't worth it.
As Matt mentioned, you'll need to build 2 link profiles, write 2 sets of content (without them being duplicate!), manage and optimise 2 sites etc.
Just create and optimise a separate page for each location and make sure the site structure/nav makes sense.
-
Hi Meier,
Since Google will recognize each subdomain as effectively its own site, each one will have to rank on its own terms. la.website.com won't get any benefit from links pointing at sf.website.com, for example.
Personally, I think the subdomains just make things harder.
-
I like where you are going with this.
So would it help SEO if google treated these as separate entities though? I have had websites where I am trying to rank for other location by making a page for that city and it just seems tougher.
-
What your friend is talking about is actually a subdomain, not a subdirectory. If you had subdomains like sf.website.com and la.website.com then yes, they're be treated as separate entities. Subfolders aren't that much of a big deal.
That said, the simpler your site structure, the better. It's going to help your crawl budget and if you have the opportunity to simplify a site you plan to work on for years, why not spend a few hours doing it now and save yourself the heartache for years to come?
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
-
Is there any significant benefit to creating online directory listings that only provide nofollow links to our domain?
Is there any significant benefit to creating online directory listings that only provide nofollow links to our domain? For context, whilst doing link gap analysis I've found our competitors are listed on local government directories such as getsurrey.co.uk and miltonkeynes.co.uk. Whilst these aren't seen as spam directories, it's still highly unlikely we'll receive much traffic through them. The links they provide to our domain have the nofollow tag. So I wonder whether there's any other benefit to investing the time in creating these listings? Would be interested to hear your thoughts Many thanks in advance
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Opera-Care1 -
What are best page titles for sub-folders or sub-directories? Same as website?
Hi all, We always mention "brand & keyword" in every page title along with topic in the website, like "Topic | vertigo tiles". Let's say there is a sub-directory with hundreds of pages...what will be the best page title practice in mentioning "brand & keyword" across all pages of sub-directory to benefit in-terms if SEO? Can we add "vertigo tiles" to all pages of sub-directory? Or we must not give same phrase? Thanks,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
Linking from & to in domains and sub-domains
What's the best optimised linking between sub-domains and domains? And every time we'll give website link at top with logo...do we need to link sub-domain also with all it's pages? If example.com is domain and example.com/blog is sub-domain or sub-folder... Do we need to link to example.com from /blog? Do we need to give /blog link in all pages of /blog? Is there any difference in connecting domains with sub-domains and sub-folders?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | vtmoz0 -
Sub-domain vs Root domain
I have recently taken over a website (website A) that has a domain authority of 33/100 and is linked to from 39 root domains. I have not yet selected any keywords to target so am currently unsure of ranking positions. However, website A is for a division of a company that has its own separate website (website B) which has a domain authority of 58/100 and over 1000 legitimate linking root domains. I have the option of moving website A to a sub-domain of website B. I also have the option of having website B provide a followed link to website A. So, my question is, for SEO purposes, is my website better off remaining on its own existing domain or is it likely to rank higher as a sub-domain of website B? I am sure there are pros and cons for both options but some opinions would be much appreciated.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BallyhooLtd0 -
Should I switch all paid-for directory backlinks to nofollow backlinks?
Hello Mozzers, I'm looking at a niche party services directory (b2c), established for over 8 years. They're not using nofollow tags on backlinks from their paid entries (free entries only get phone numbers and not backlinks). If they suddenly switch all the paid-for backlinks in their directory to nofollow backlinks, might that have some kind of negative impact. Switching sounds like the best way forward, but I want to avoid any unintended consequences. Perhaps I should only implement this change gradually? Thanks in advance, Luke Edited 30 minutes ago by Luke Rowland
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | McTaggart0 -
On-Site Directory - Delete or Keep?
We have 2 ecommerce sites. Both have been hit by Penguin (no warnings in WMT) and we're in the process of cleaning up backlinks. We have link directories on both sites. They've got links that are relevant to the sites but also links that aren't relevant. And they're big directories - we're talking thousands of links to other sites. What's the best approach here? Do we leave it alone, delete the whole thing, or manually review and keep highly relevant links but get rid of the rest?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingof50 -
CSS gallery, directories, infographic anjd video sites?
If we have some good content (info graphic and video) is there anything wrong with submitting to as many video and info graphic directories and video hosts as possible or are 99% of them as bad as submitting to directories and would we be looking at a penalty? Also another side question, are CSS gallery's and niche pacific directories such as running a printing company and finding directories on (graphic design, craft and art) a bad idea to submit to.in any quantity are they as bad as the free for all directories that Google doesn't like. We compete in a not very hard niche and need to build a few low authority links (build out our link graph) but not low enough to be classed as low quality (Google penalty's in the future). Most of our competitors are happy to submit to anything but we wan the site to last.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BobAnderson0 -
Duplicate content on sub-domains?
I have 2 subdamains intented for 2 different countries (Colombia and Venezuela) ve.domain.com and co.domain.com. The site it's an e-commerce with over a million products available so they have the same page with the same content on both sub-domains....the only differences are the prices a payment options. Does google take that as duplicate content? Thanks
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | daniel.alvarez0