Nope. We still don't believe them and still have overwhelming evidence that Google doesn't consistently treat all pages on multiple subdomains the same way they do URLs on the same subdomain. They've said for years that it doesn't matter, but the evidence and data are clear. Putting content on multiple subdomains will almost certainly cause it to perform worse in Google than keeping it all on the same subdomain.

The comments here show some nice examples of folks who have moved their content to a single sub/root domain and seen big traffic bumps from search as a result: https://moz.com/blog/subdomains-vs-subfolders-rel-canonical-vs-301-how-to-structure-links-optimally-for-seo-whiteboard-friday

See the attached image, showing a comparison of SEOmoz.org's search traffic from Google over the past 6 days and the prior week.

farmer-3x.gif

Our scores for DA are only calculated on the root domain, but that doesn't mean different subdomains inherit all the ranking abilities of the root domain they're on. In fact, quite the opposite is true, which is why we still strongly suggest using a single subdomain on your root domain to host all the content, rather than splitting things up on multiple subdomains.

I'm surprised at how well this still works, but it does:

1. Use an incognito browser window to remove account personalization
2. Use a query string like this: https://google.co.nz/search?q=your+keyword+terms&gl=us

With 2) above, you're removing the geographic bias of any particular region/IP address by searching in Google New Zealand, then re-geo-locating the search to the US. This will give you non-geo-biased results.

If you want to see how specific results look from a particular region, there's two semi decent options:

A) Use Google's Ad Preview Tool: https://adwords.google.com/apt/anon/AdPreview?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000
B) Use the &near parameter, e.g. https://google.co.nz/search?q=your+keyword+terms&gl=us&near=seattle+wa

The shortened URLs will pass any link equity they have to their target, but using a shortener to link to has no added benefit, and the 301 redirect will actually cost you some PageRank leakage according to Google.

Hi Sandi - Moz won't know about all the links to your site. We don't crawl as fast or comprehensively as Google, so Open Site Explorer will always be showing a sample set rather than a complete picture of every link.

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

Thus, having a single subdomain (even just domainname.tld with no subdomain extension) with all of your content is absolutely ideal from an SEO perspective. It's also more usable and brandable, too IMO.

I would do it only for the most trusted of brand name directories - Yahoo!, Better Business Bureau, and maybe Best of the Web, but probably very little else.

Yeah - that's likely a combination of the new index being smaller and of us cutting out stuff that we think Google may not have been counting. In future indices, you should see it go up again. My advice is always to watch your competition's numbers, too, as relative indices like Mozscape will reflect those changes best in relative numbers.

Hi Deacyde - that shouldn't be the message you're taking away from this post at all! As I noted above, you could improve the SEO, improve your link profile, and still see a reduction in Domain Authority as as a score due to how DA is done (on a relative scale, not an absolute scale). We could find more and better links to your site, and you'd still see a lower DA.

If a number of smaller sites in your field have all seen lower DA score in this index, that's indicative that it's nothing you've done, but rather, an indication that DA has been shifting across the board. If you're seeing rankings stay high and organic search traffic stay high, then there's nothing to worry about, and DA should still work just as well as a relative metric across sites (actually, slightly better given the improved correlations).

Hi Joe - yes, it's most likely the fluctuations are because you're in that lower range. Remember that Moz can't see links you've disavowed in Google Webmaster Tools/Search Console, so we wouldn't be lowering DA/PA based on those (although, it's possible that, over time, as Google stopped counting links like that, our algorithm for PA/DA would "learn" and evolve, but that would take a while).

No, that's not correct at all. As you can see from the other folks replying in the thread, and from reading my post and responses, we're simply saying that DA is a relative measure, not an absolute one. It's like ranking websites based on their visits rather than showing their raw number of visits. You could grow your site traffic by many thousands of new visitors, and still have a lower "rank" because others grew their traffic even more. That's just how relative metrics work.

Hi Bijana - that's really frustrating and you have my apologies. When I reviewed Squarespace (which, granted, was 18+ months ago now), I didn't encounter that issue, but I also don't remember how deep I dove trying to update Meta Descriptions. I'd say it's definitely worthy of bringing up to their support folks, and for what it's worth, you can tell them I'd strongly endorse/recommend making that change, too.