A subdomain is an extension of your domain that helps you organize content and expand your business offerings.
It allows you to create standalone pages or functions, such as a blog or online store.
How to use a subdomain
While a subdomain is part of the main website, it’s considered a separate entity by search engines. People recognized this and decided to use subdomains to organize their website, without allowing certain parts of the site to be indexed by Google.
Companies use subdomains for a variety of reasons. Mainly, it’s to give a webpage a separate identity in search engine results while also keeping it a part of the main website.
What is a subdomain used for?
Subdomains are often used to organize a website’s content into different sections. For example, a company might use a subdomain for its blog, another subdomain for its support forum and another subdomain for its online store.
Subdomains can also be used to create sub-websites that are related to the main website. For example, a university might use a subdomain for each of its campuses, or a news website might use a subdomain for each of its different sections, such as sports, business and entertainment.
Here are some of the benefits of using a subdomain:
- Organization: Subdomains can help organize a website’s content into different sections, making it easier for visitors to find the information they are looking for. For example, a company might use a subdomain for its blog, another subdomain for its support forum and another subdomain for its online store.
- Branding: Subdomains can be used to create sub-websites that are related to the main website, which can help to strengthen the brand. For example, a university might use a subdomain for each of its campuses, or a news website might use a subdomain for each of its different sections, such as sports, business and entertainment.
- SEO: Subdomains can help to improve a website’s search engine ranking (SEO). For example, if a website has a subdomain for its blog, the blog posts can appear in search results independently of the main website. This can help increase the website’s visibility in search results and drive more traffic to the website.
- Security: Subdomains can be used to isolate different sections of a website from each other. This can help to improve the security of the website, as a hacker who gains access to one subdomain will not necessarily be able to access the other subdomains.
When to Use a Subdomain
Subdomains are used to:
- Streamline site hierarchy
- Improve user navigation
- Create a prototype or test version of a website
- To use two different themes with different functions for one domain (e.g., a blog, forum, e-commerce store, etc….)
- Create location- or language-specific sites
- To create a mobile-specific site
Subdomain vs. Subdirectory
There is some confusion around subdomains vs subdirectories, and rightfully so. The two are seemingly very similar, yet each has a different structure, site organization and impact on SEO. A subdirectory uses folders under the primary domain name to organize content on your website. A key difference is that subdomains are treated as separate websites and do not inherit any domain authority of the parent website. Its SEO has to be built from scratch.
Subdomains vs subdirectories at a glance:
- Subdomain: blog.yoursite.com
- Subdirectory: yoursite.com/blog
Both subdirectories and subdomains have their own advantages and disadvantages, and ultimately it’s your decision what your website needs.
