SubDomains

[BadaBingo]

What is everyone's thoughts on using subdomains? I have several sites that just need to be configured and they'll be ready to go. I thought maybe to save some money I would use subdomains for them. Is this something that is frowned upon and would hurt page rankings or is it a good money saving idea? - Steve

[Jim Hutchinson]

Hi Steve

That is an excellent question and one that I have wondered for a long time. To test the theory that sub-domains can get listed in the search engines, I set up several blogs using sub-domains and continue to promote them.

Doing a search on Google for the blog topics, I see mixed results. The majority of sites showing in the list are not using sub-domains. Mixed in with those are sites that use them.

Examples of popular sites using sub-domains:
affiliate-marketing-forums.5staraffiliateprograms.com
affiliate-blog.amazon.com
blog.affiliatetip.com

My own affiliate blog has a link to the Technorati listing before a direct link to the actual blog. That may be a round-about way of getting listed, but it still works.

When creating sub-domains, I like to make phrases that would be searched for, such as
help.preventforeclosure.net
learn.affref.com (learn affiliate marketing)

Others, while still indexed, do not reach the top of the search engine results, such as blog.websitemanagers.net

Like others, Ros uses a folder for her blog: netprofitstoday.com/blog and it shows up at the top of the search engine results when I searched for net profits today blog or without blog in the search.

What it comes down to is a matter of preference. I find it easier to manage and organize sub-domains than to have them in folders. The sub-domains are locked into their own space, while folders are a part of the top-level domain.

Also with sub-domains, you can replace the "www" in the URL with the sub-domain name. It allows you to be more creative with the naming.

Any other thoughts on this?