When it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), a common question for developers and site owners is: Should I use a subdomain or a subfolder? Both options have their strengths, but the choice you make can directly affect how your site ranks in search results. In this article, we’ll break down the pros and cons of each approach to help you decide which one might work best for your main site’s SEO.
What’s a Subdomain?
A subdomain is an extension of your main domain that search engines treat as a separate site. It looks like this: blog.example.com. This setup is great when you need clear separation between different parts of your site.
Pros of Using Subdomains
Niche targeting: Subdomains shine when you’re dealing with distinct audiences or products. They let you craft tailored SEO strategies for each segment, which is handy for sites with diverse content.
Geographic targeting: If your site serves multiple regions or languages, subdomains can be a perfect fit. Global companies often use them to deliver localized experiences, like
us.example.comorbr.example.com.Organization: For large sites, subdomains can improve user experience by keeping navigation clean and avoiding a cluttered or confusing structure.
Cons of Using Subdomains
Split domain authority: The biggest downside? Search engines see subdomains as separate entities. That means backlinks and authority built on a subdomain don’t directly boost your main domain (
example.com). This can slow down your overall SEO progress.Extra SEO effort: Since subdomains are treated as standalone sites, you’ll need to optimize each one individually. That takes more time and resources—tough if you don’t have a dedicated SEO team.
What’s a Subfolder?
Subfolders (or subdirectories) are part of your main domain, structured like this: example.com/blog. From an SEO perspective, they keep all your optimization efforts tied to a single domain.
Pros of Using Subfolders
Brand consistency: Want a unified brand experience? Subfolders are the way to go. By keeping everything under your main domain, you ensure a seamless and cohesive journey for visitors.
Stronger domain authority: Unlike subdomains, all traffic, backlinks, and authority from subfolders feed directly into your main domain. This can give your search rankings a faster boost.
Simpler SEO: Managing one SEO strategy is already a big task for most sites. Subfolders keep everything centralized, making it easier to create content, earn backlinks, and track performance.
Cons of Using Subfolders
Harder to target diverse audiences: If your site serves multiple products or groups with different needs, subfolders might make it trickier to focus on specific niches. A unified structure can dilute your targeting efforts.
Complex navigation: For sites with tons of content, cramming everything into subfolders can make navigation messy. That could hurt user experience and, indirectly, your SEO.
Which Works Best for Your Site?
If your main goal is to boost the ranking of your primary domain (example.com), subfolders (example.com/blog) are usually the better choice. They consolidate your site’s authority and amplify the impact of backlinks and optimized content.
But if you’re targeting a diverse audience or need separate SEO strategies for different markets, subdomains might be the way to go. They give you flexibility to tailor content and keywords for specific groups without affecting other parts of your site.
Final Thoughts
The subdomain vs. subfolder decision hinges on your site’s type and SEO goals. For simplicity and a quick way to build domain authority, subfolders are the most efficient option. But if you’re juggling distinct niches or need flexible organization, subdomains could be your best bet.
Now that you’ve got the pros and cons, pick the approach that fits your site’s needs and start optimizing your online presence!
Got questions about boosting your site’s SEO? Drop a comment! ✌️
Top comments (1)
I was trying to think of a less obvious best practice which is still common. It would be good to hear if you agree with this practical example. A blog is a great tool for SEO because it allows for you to keep your site dynamic and relevant. If you are doing a blog which is irrelevant, off topic, or a dramatic edge case compared to what you do as a parent site then you can control whether it should be crawled using robots.txt. If building a strong brand is more important than keeping things clearly targeted it gets a bit more blurry.
A forum however often has too many rapidly updated and irrelevant posts. For a forum where any user can sign up and post thoughts, off topic rants etc it is a good idea to consider a subdomain so that you can keep your main site targeted. Forums can generate spammy irrelevant content. This should be sepearate from the parent site . A blog post should be relevant to it's parents sites niches. There is generally a clear right path for these cases.
Another example would be a online store. If you have a parent site to sell a flagship product online I would suggest keeping the store as a folder, whereas if you are selling a variety of products which don't necessarily have a clear link except that you are hosting the store under your brand, a subdomain would be a better choice so that you can keep your main domain targeted and relevant to user journey and brand.
Say you have service1.site.com, service2.site.com with site.com targeted to directing users to the right subdomain using a pushing the niche or flagship product for this case do I have one blog or 3 separate blogs? If you have a real variety of services with the main link being your brand it could be beneficial to have site.com directing your users as quickly to the content they are looking for and still having your blog as a subfolder.
I wanted to think as abstractly as possibly here because there are a lot of sites out there which have overly used subdomains to try and gain SEO in short term. If you are ever thinking that you should do something for search engines instead of user friendliness even if you have short term gains it **will **cause issues over time.