Another question about subdomain but this time about a whole lot of them.
We are a marketplace site and evaluating giving a "vanity" subdomain (from the root domain) to our suplliers.
Currently, each supplier has its own page below a folder structure.
We are talking between 2.000 to 80.0000 subdomains created....and the 301s in place.
All the subdomains would be linked from the root domain. (all products page has link to its supplier)
Each subdomain would link back to the root. (Logo, home, footer,...)
Some subdomain would link to other subdomain (....other supplier from this sector..)
In a video, Matt Cutts said that using subdomain or folder structure was the same and subdomain did not give anymore advantage.
I do understand it when talking about a couple of subdomains/folders.
But what about when it will be so many of them?
Would this not be considered a link scheme?
We could "nofollow" the links from subdomains back to root domain to avoid any penalty?
How much rank could we loose on the root from moving that content to subdomains?
My gut feeling is don't go for it... But I find it difficult to demonstrate it.
Would you go for it or not and for what reasons?
Many thanks
