Subdomain in another language and share serp

[chainazo]

Hi everyone

My site has pure html and css (no responsive, no js, no wp). "2005 style".

1) Can I create on cpanel a wordpress subdomain for that site but without changing anythingfrom my original site? (ie the original site will still have the "old style" layout).
2)Will that subdomain be able to rank over time and sharing serp with my original site?

Thanks

[not2easy]

You can create a WP subdomain but be careful about duplicate content if "both" share the same content. It is better (if that is the case) to 301 (permanently) redirect your old content to the new and get rid of the old. You don't need a subdomain, you can install WP in a folder and access it from the home page when it is ready.

You cannot share serp with different URLs for the same content in a different layout/platform.

[not2easy]

If these sites are in different languages for different visitors Then they would serve different serps because of their different languages. In that case you would want to use hreflang metatags.

To learn more about how to do that, Google and Mozilla Dev offer good information:
Mozilla Dev: [moz.com...]
Google: [developers.google.com...]

[chainazo]

Thank you for your answers not2easy

By a translator error, it was written as if it was in another linguistic language, but reality I was referring to another programming language, i´m sorry.

So being that the subdomain will be in the same language as the original site and will not have duplicate content but complementary, could they share serp?

[not2easy]

OK, that makes a difference. If the contents are in addition to your old content, they are more likely to compete (rather than assist) if it is a true subdomain. The term of subdomain is not always referring to the same thing. A separate registered domain might be added to the hosting account of an existing domain. A "subdomain" might refer to a directory on an existing domain that can be set up as if it were a separate domain in some respects but that is incorrect usage of the term.

To clarify, are we talking about example.com/example.net/ or widgets.example.com/ ? Meaning - are there two separate domains registered or is WP to be installed in a directory of example.com/ ?

[lucy24]

it was written as if it was in another linguistic language, but reality I was referring to another programming language

How does the search engine know what programming language was used? Does each part use different extensions? If it isn't too late, this is the time to either go extensionless all over the site, or rewrite everything to the same extension. Just because an URL ends in html doesn't mean the page really is hard-coded html. (Consider the present forum. I do not believe the WebmasterWorld site files contain a physical file called “5070329.htm”.)

<tangent>

pure html and css (no responsive...)

You may have been misinformed about what “responsive” means. It is absolutely possible for a pure html-and-css site to be fully responsive. In fact at this point it should be, in view of Mobile First indexing.
</tangent>

[phranque]

here's what i would suggest:
- create a development subdomain (e.g. dev.example.com) as a WP site.
- protect this subdomain from being crawled by search engines or any unwelcome visitors using something like HTTP Basic Authentication.
- migrate all your existing content to the WP platform, keeping the same path for each url as the existing site.
- after all looks good, sunset the existing server, remove the authentication from and point your main site's DNS to the (previously) development server.
- start adding new content to be indexed alongside the existing content (still at the original urls but with a "new look") and which looks consistent across the site.

[chainazo]

To clarify, are we talking about example.com/example.net/ or widgets.example.com/ ? Meaning - are there two separate domains registered or is WP to be installed in a directory of example.com/ ?

It would be a widgets.example.com/, not because I prefer it that way (I would prefer an example.com/widgets) but I don't know much about coding and the installation if it was a subdirectory seems to me more difficult and like I can "break something".
It is true that it seems to take much longer to rank a subdomain (and if it does rank), but it gives me more peace of mind.

If the contents are in addition to your old content, they are more likely to compete (rather than assist) if it is a true subdomain. The term of subdomain is not always referring to the same thing. A separate registered domain might be added to the hosting account of an existing domain. A "subdomain" might refer to a directory on an existing domain that can be set up as if it were a separate domain in some respects but that is incorrect usage of the term.

The case for which I would use it would be simply as a kind of "contact us".
So I guess it wouldn't compete in the sense that it doesn't give much information. It will have little text, but I need to position the word that would go in the url (to which I would also refer in the text, and within a context).
The website has not had any aesthetic change since 2005 and the text only changed in 2014, so I thought that maybe even with a "bad positioner" like a subdomain, at least google will say "well, here is something new, I'll see if it interesting".

How does the search engine know what programming language was used? Does each part use different extensions?

As for the extensions, they are not .html. I meant that the domain is in html/css and the new subdomain would be in php (wp). That "discrepancy" led me to think as a non-technical person, that there could be some compatibility problem in having a site with one encoding and its subdomain with a different one. But now I see that there are no problems with that.

You may have been misinformed about what “responsive” means. It is absolutely possible for a pure html-and-css site to be fully responsive

Yes but in this case, when shrinking the site the photos and texts are cut.

here's what i would suggest:

Well that would be what I should do actually. But the problem is that I need to position that word now and i dont have the knowledge (I have to google a lot of those things to do them, trial and error, and that takes a lot of time). But this what you list is a roadmap for the future.

It is true that the subdomain option is not the optimal one, but it is what I thought I could do faster without breaking anything and with a (hopefully) moderately immediate effect.

[not2easy]

WP is easy to use, also easy to set it up poorly and spend a lot of time on rework. If you can spend a little time reading, the WordPress site offers clear guides on doing it right the first time - and their guides are available in most languages. All Free at [learn.wordpress.org...]

[nickZ]

only way to to posotion up fast is adwords.

Well that would be what I should do actually. But the problem is that I need to position that word now and i dont have the knowledge

SEO is not something you learn, appy and have instant success. Any change can take up to a month to be seen.

[chainazo]

WP is easy to use, also easy to set it up poorly and spend a lot of time on rework. If you can spend a little time reading, the WordPress site offers clear guides on doing it right the first time - and their guides are available in most languages

Sorry for the delay in answering (but the moment you wrote it I read it and it helped me because I systematized some things, thanks).

SEO is not something you learn, appy and have instant success. Any change can take up to a month to be seen

Yes, I learned it the hard way