Sub-domains & Directories

[Doug]

A new site I am working on will have 4 main sections , i want to put each section on a separate sub-domain eg) sectiona.mydomain.com , sectionb.mydomain.com etc.

Will I be able to submit each sub-domain to directories or will they view it as one domain. Obviously I want submit them all on the same day and I suppose directories all have different rules.

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Logan]

Based on my experiences you are not going to get a listing included for each subdomain. Some directories, especially those charging a fee, provide for multiple urls (business.com off the top of my head does if you are b2b) but a site that uses editors (dmoz.org) probably isn't going to list each subdomain. The exception to this i think is if you are large brand site (amazon) where the directory/editors determine it adds value to their visitors because of the importance.

Typically, no.

[Doug]

Does it make sense from a soe point of view to have separate sub-domains for categories?

[Zafar Ahmed]

Yes ofcourse you will be able to do it and you can even submit deep links to the directories

[cpr]

I'm pretty certain that subdomains are of the same domain, which means they won't all get listed. That's why they're called sub domains. You'd have to create and establish micro sites with similar look and feel for branding, with new URLs, to get multiple locations in directories. You can optimize each subdomain though, this is pretty effective if you follow SEO practices... good luck.

[Debra]

It depends on the depth of the subdomain for the larger directories. Smaller directories don't seem to care and accept them since there's a submission fee tied to it. But larger directory sites look at a subdomain as a full and seperate site so it needs to be fully developed before they'll take it.

For example, PBS is a site that uses subdomains, you'll find their various subs in multiple categories on the DMOZ.

Microsites will need to comply with standard submission rules for individual directories. It might be a microsite to you but to the directory, it's just another website. Be sure it has all the elements a directory lists under it's submission guidelines.

[Doug]

You'd have to create and establish micro sites with similar look and feel for branding, with new URLs, to get multiple locations in directories. You can optimize each subdomain though, this is pretty effective if you follow SEO practices... good luck.

I am not so much concerned about getting multiple domains listed in directories as I am about getting multiple domains ranking in the search engines for various keywords.

[Logan]

Hi Doug, I'm going to jump in here and just throw in my two cents based on what I think you need to hear versus the questions you are asking.

Pages rank in the search engines, not domains or sites. If you are interested in having something rank in the search engines, consider the whole scenario based on the individual page versus the site or domain. Outside of the small factor the subdomain may play, it all comes down to the page itself. So as an seo, I can rank a potential page of content and it may be at one of the following

mydomain.com/page.html
mydomain.com/page/
page.mydomain.com

Which ever way I choose, the differences between the above is so minimal that the issue regarding ranking "page" is not based on the directory or subdomain but instead (a) content (b) links going to the 'page' which includes both internal (from within your site) and external (from other sites).

One of the small benefits of a subdomain is that you 'may' (or may not) be listed separately in the search engines based on your subdomain. If that is your goal, then use the subdomain ... although imo you will have very similar results if you were to use domain.com/page.html or domain/page/ instead. As an extreme scenario, setting up 10 subdomains is not going to get you the top 10 results.

In theory, if you want to achieve that then completely unique/separate domains should be used versus subdomains. but I wouldn't recommend that because there are many pitfalls (a) getting those domains associated together (b) the cost/expense of development (c) splitting your existing resources too thin versus focusing on solid rankings for one page.

Whenever I run into this situation my standard advice is do you have a top 10 ranking for one page. If not then that is the first step. Once you have a better understanding of what that takes, then lets discuss something similar for 10 other domains and the problems that are likely to arise. hth

[Doug]

Thanks Logan - that clarifies the matter

Taking it one step further , once I obtain a top 10 ranking for a keyword - How does one ensure that your home page ranks and not a page lower in the directory hierarchy? Eg) www.mydomain.com and not www.mydomain.com/article-title.

Would it make sense to do a 301 redirect from the article page to my home page if I want the home page to rank?

[torka]

Uhm, maybe I'm missing something. Why would you only want your home page to rank well?

Typically, experienced SEOs optimize the home page and category-level pages for the more competitive, more generic phrases and the site inner pages for more specific, lower competition keywords. It's not possible to effectively optimize a single page (home page or otherwise) for all the hundreds of phrases you'd want the site to rank for.

--Torka