{"id":22990,"date":"2021-04-21T15:00:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-21T13:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/?p=22990"},"modified":"2021-06-24T14:41:31","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T12:41:31","slug":"subdomain-vs-subdirectory-wordpress-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/subdomain-vs-subdirectory-wordpress-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Subdomain vs Subdirectory &#8211; Which is Better for Your WordPress SEO?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Often enough, search engine optimization might seem like a game you play without having read the handbook and learning the rules. Sure, you can find a lot about the <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/seo-basics\/\">basics of SEO<\/a>, and even get into fine detail with it. You can learn everything there is about search engines and <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/how-search-engines-work\/\">how they work<\/a>, and you can get some <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/free-seo-tools\/\">incredibly helpful free tools<\/a> to make your website as optimized as possible.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]But you\u2019ll still mostly be working with information other people have figured out about search engines and the algorithms they employ. The companies that run search engines won\u2019t divulge information so readily, because knowing the exact rules of the ranking game would be tantamount to cheating. It\u2019s weird, but it\u2019s true.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]It gets even weirder because, even when the search engines sometimes provide us with some information, you should be really careful when applying it. A case in point is the \u201csubdomain vs subdirectory for SEO\u201d debate. Google says you should be fine with either, but experience shows something else.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Which one should you use? Let\u2019s find out! In this article, we\u2019ll cover:<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;22px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#whats-the-difference\">Subdomains and Subdirectories \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#why-would-one-be-better-for-seo-than-the-other\">Why Would One Be Better for SEO Than the Other?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;5px&#8221;]<ul class=\"qodef-unordered-list-item qodef-toc\">\n    <li>\n\t        <div class=\"qodef-ul-title-holder\">\n            <span class=\"qodef-ul-title-content\"><a href=\"#when-to-use-which\">When to Use Which?<\/a><\/span>        <\/div>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"whats-the-difference\"><\/a>Subdomains and Subdirectories \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"553\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Subdomains-and-Subdirectories-\u2013-Whats-the-Difference.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Subdomains and Subdirectories \u2013 What\u2019s the Difference\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Subdomains-and-Subdirectories-\u2013-Whats-the-Difference.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Subdomains-and-Subdirectories-\u2013-Whats-the-Difference-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Subdomains-and-Subdirectories-\u2013-Whats-the-Difference-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Subdomains-and-Subdirectories-\u2013-Whats-the-Difference-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Subdomains and subdirectories are two different things you can use to structure your website and create a hierarchy within it.<\/strong> With subdomains, you are essentially creating separate sites within the main, root domain. With subdirectories, you are creating what is essentially a folder within your website.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]So let\u2019s say you want to create a blog as a part of your website. If you want to create it as a subdomain, you can do so from cPanel or an FTP client. <strong>So if your website was www.example.com, your blog can become blog.example.com if you add it as a subdomain<\/strong>. You\u2019ll notice that the \u201cwww\u201d part is now \u201cblog\u201d \u2013 both denote a subdirectory, and they\u2019re found on the left from the root domain.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]If you choose to <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/install-wordpress-in-subdirectory\/\">add the blog as a subdirectory<\/a>, you\u2019ll also need to go to cPanel or <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/best-ftp-clients-wordpress\/\">an FTP client<\/a>. The result will appear on the right from the root domain, <strong>and it will look something like www.example.com\/blog.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>The difference in structure and hierarchy isn\u2019t just cosmetic or organizational.<\/strong> Subdomains are often viewed as separate websites within the same root domain, while subdirectories always remain a part of the root domain, or whatever subdomain they\u2019re placed in. <strong>And from the experience of search engine optimization professionals, there seem to be consequences.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=&#8221;new-top-picks-banner&#8221;][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;80px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"why-would-one-be-better-for-seo-than-the-other\"><\/a>Why Would One Be Better for SEO Than the Other?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"553\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-Would-One-Be-Better-for-SEO-Than-the-Other.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"Why Would One Be Better for SEO Than the Other\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-Would-One-Be-Better-for-SEO-Than-the-Other.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-Would-One-Be-Better-for-SEO-Than-the-Other-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-Would-One-Be-Better-for-SEO-Than-the-Other-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Why-Would-One-Be-Better-for-SEO-Than-the-Other-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The concern here is in the different ways a search engine such as Google treats subdomains and subdirectories.<strong> A subdirectory is a part of the root domain, and all the SEO juice coming from the content from that part of the website is attributed to the main website<\/strong>. You put a blog in there, and all the keywords and links and query-answering content you\u2019ve added will contribute to your website\u2019s ranking.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]But what if you put the blog in the subdomain? Well, that\u2019s a good question. Once upon a time \u2013 and this is way back when, in the late 2000s \u2013 people used to add multiple subdomains to try to game Google into flooding the results page because Google used to allow two results per subdomain. <strong>Google addressed the issue back then and revisited it with the site diversity change of 2019 which restricted the number of listings from the same website in the top results to two.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">This site diversity change means that you usually won&#8217;t see more than two listings from the same site in our top results. However, we may still show more than two in cases where our systems determine it\u2019s especially relevant to do so for a particular search\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/searchliaison\/status\/1136739064193998848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">June 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]In the same announcement, Google said that they\u2019ll be <strong>treating subdomains as part of the root domain unless it makes sense to treat them as separate websites \u2013 and that none of these changes apply to ranking<\/strong>. Google doesn\u2019t mix domains.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">In some cases, we may decide to treat the subdomains as their own sites, if it seems really relevant to. And none of this involves ranking. We don&#8217;t mix the domains together or anything. It&#8217;s just about the roll-up when we decide for display.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dannysullivan\/status\/1136793460998955009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">June 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]Here\u2019s the thing \u2013 <strong>we know from previous announcements from the good people over at Google that they\u2019re fine with you having either on your website<\/strong>. The way things look to the SEO community, however, is that this means your website won\u2019t suffer penalties if you put a particularly SEO-beneficial chunk of your website behind a subdomain. <strong>But you will experience a couple of issues.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]For example, because subdomains are treated as separate websites for ranking, <strong>you might end up competing against yourself for rankings if you optimize the content for the same keywords.<\/strong> Also, <strong>any authority you build with your overall content will be diluted<\/strong>, i.e. split between the parts of your website hosted on different subdomains.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]You\u2019ll see this in practice if you look up what happens when people migrate their blogs from subdomains to subfolders. <strong>Usually, the result is the same \u2013 a significant spike in the search engine performance of the website.<\/strong> But does this mean you should always structure your website so that everything is under the same root domain? Of course not.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\"><a id=\"when-to-use-which\"><\/a>When to Use Which?<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;21px&#8221;]<div class=\"qodef-single-image-holder    \">\n    <div class=\"qodef-si-inner\" >\n                                    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"969\" height=\"553\" src=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/When-to-Use-Which.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"When to Use Which\" srcset=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/When-to-Use-Which.jpg 969w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/When-to-Use-Which-300x171.jpg 300w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/When-to-Use-Which-768x438.jpg 768w, https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/When-to-Use-Which-620x354.jpg 620w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 969px) 100vw, 969px\" \/>                        <\/div>\n<\/div>[vc_empty_space height=&#8221;38px&#8221;][vc_column_text]The real problem with the whole subdomain-vs-subdirectory-for-SEO conundrum is that there are no exact and precise rules you can follow. <strong>For example, you have all those accounts of websites seeing a boost when migrating their blogs to subdirectories.<\/strong> Then again, you might visit a <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.hubspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blog such as HubSpot\u2019s<\/a> and notice that it\u2019s located in a subdomain. It\u2019s very unlikely that the folks over at HubSpot did this by mistake.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>They didn\u2019t, of course. Their blog is large enough to have its hierarchy.<\/strong> They might have also concluded that keeping it separate from the root domain helps them establish their blog separately from their other products, and it might also be that any benefit the user experience gets from easier navigation is enough to offset any losses from using a subdomain instead of a subdirectory.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]What you should do is what makes the most sense for your website. Sure, you could put a blog in a subdirectory. But would that make the website easier or harder to navigate?<strong> In some cases, like when you\u2019re using WordPress for the blog and another CMS for the rest of the website, you might have no other choice than to use a subdomain.<\/strong> Technical requirements will pose restrictions.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>Then, there are parts of the website that simply don\u2019t add to the search engine rankings enough to matter.<\/strong> A support center is a common example, and you\u2019ll often see it hosted in its subdomain. Different branches of a large company might merit their subdomains on the company website, as well. <strong>The same might go for different language versions of the website.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;28px&#8221;][vc_column_text]<strong>But an online shop might be better suited for a place in a subdirectory.<\/strong> All the products and descriptions and meta-content that are part of an <a href=\"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/theme-category\/online-store-wordpress-themes\/\">online store<\/a> make for some great content that could help with your website\u2019s search engine rankings.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=&#8221;68px&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"qodef-h4\">Let\u2019s Wrap It Up!<\/h2>\n<p>[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]While there\u2019s no clear-cut winner in between subdomains and subdirectories when it comes to SEO benefits for your WordPress website, the smart money is on putting the SEO-juicy content in a subdirectory. However, if this causes more trouble than harm, or if you\u2019re producing enough content to merit a separate hierarchy, looking into a subdomain might be a good idea. For the parts of the website that aren\u2019t that rich with content, or those that have a structure that makes placing it into the same root domain a navigational nightmare \u2013 much like this sentence \u2013 a subdomain might be the more obvious choice.<br \/>\n[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not sure what&#8217;s impact subdomains and subdirectories might have on your WordPress website&#8217;s SEO? It&#8217;s a bit tricky, but we&#8217;ll get to the bottom of it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9295,"featured_media":23132,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[25,4,13],"class_list":["post-22990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-resources","tag-seo","tag-tips","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9295"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qodeinteractive.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}