subdomains vs. subdirectories

Question about subdomains

[Spogum]

I'm just getting onboard with subdomains (new guy). I'm setting up a few small sites sharing the same hosting service. I see there are two ways to divide the service: subdirectories or subdomains. In either case, my plan is to guy a domain name and redirect it to the subdirectory or subdomain in which the files reside (in either case, these are self-contained, with index.htm file, etc.)

Question: from the SE's point of view, does it make a difference? One theory is that a subdomain is viewed by (google?) as a more 'legitimate' independent entity in some ways. BTW: I have had success in the past in using sites that exist as subdirectories on other sites, and that have a domain name redirected to them.

[killroy]

If you use subdirectories, they will be grouped in google SERPS and at most show two pages (if filtered). If you use sub domains, each sub-domain gets it's own to slots in the SERPS. MUCH more desirable if the "sites" are really independent.

SN

[Imaster]

If all subdomains are crosslinked from all the other subdomains, does google see this as spammy crosslinking and penalize it?

[Spogum]

Imaster,
Do you mean crosslinking of subdomains on the same IP address -- or crosslinking of one or more subdomains with subdomains on other hosts/IPs?

[claus]

This is a topic that comes up often. Personally i have no problems with subdomains, in fact i have often advocated use of them for the right purposes. At the moment i am researching for a new project that would benefit from subdomains (from a user perspective) and i have found that the site search brings up a lot of good threads:

[searchengineworld.com...]

>> there are two ways to divide the service

I'm a little bit confused, as actually there are four. Do you mean on the server side (the folders that you ftp your files into) or do you mean on the web side (the address line of the browser)?

Killroys post relates to the address line of the browser, as this is what the search engines look at. They don't know how the setup is on your server - this is also why the server side setup makes no difference.

The reason i'm confused is because you write this:
>> In either case, my plan is to buy a domain name and redirect it
>> to the subdirectory or subdomain in which the files reside

Technically these two URL's can be two totally different sites, just as well as they can both be part of the same site:

a)

http://sub1.example.com/

b)

http://sub2.example.com/

Then again, so can these two:

c)

http://example.com/folder1/

d)

http://example.com/folder2/

... there are free hosting services that use both models. Free hosts are a god point of reference in domain issues, as there are so many sites on such hosts, so of course the search engines need to be able to handle both cases.

Marcias starting post in this thread is very good, and the reply from pageoneresults also hold good points: [webmasterworld.com...]

The "proper" way to separate two distinct sites would be to give each of them their own subdomain, as in case a,b, or a domain each. A subdomain or domain is a "harder" separator than a folder (see below).

So, when you say the above, do you mean that you intend to use either of a,b,c,d in the address line of your browser, or is this a server side only issue, as your sites will be given individual domains like this:

e)

http://www.example1.com/

f)

http://www.example2.com/

Using model e,f will have (close to, if not entirely) the same effect as using model a,b.

>> a subdomain is viewed by (google?) as a more 'legitimate' independent entity in some ways

That's a question that can mean quite a few things.

Google first. Google's main business is to enable people to find pages - not sites. Google really don't care what domain, folder, or subdomain a page is on; if the page is the most relevant for the search query it will be shown.

>> ranking?

Yes, a subdomain page can rank fine in Google.

>> 'legitimate'

Subdomains can be punished, spammy and bad just like any other types of domains. It depends on how you use them.

>> Independent entity

It is. Subdomains are controlled at the DNS level, while folders are controlled at the server level. The exception from the rule is subdomain wildcards, that allows subdomains to be configured at the server level.

>> from the SE's point of view, does it make a difference?

In this thread, Brett_Tabke points out that Inktomi has an odd policy toward subdomains (post #2). I don't know about the current state of affairs with INK; the thread is from Feb 4, 2002: [webmasterworld.com...]

Afaik, the INK policy is not the common one, and they might have changed it later. Then again, they might not. As you see from Paynts starting post there seems to be no problems elsewhere (you might want to retry the test).

/claus