As indicated by Google, subdomains, and subdirectories are viewed as equivalent with regards to ordering and positioning. All things considered, certifiable contextual analyses show that subdirectories will generally rank quicker and more effectively than subdomains on the primary page of the search engine results page (SERPs).
In the video, didn’t find what you were looking for? I’ll tell you every aspect in detail about subdomains and subfolders. Continue reading the article.
Table of Contents
What is a Subdomain
Your domain is the main address of your website. A subdomain is a part of a larger domain, typically representing a specific section or function of the main website. It shows up as a prefix to the main domain name and is isolated by a period. For instance, in “blog.example.com”, “blog” is the subdomain.
What is a Subdirectory
On the other hand, a subdirectory is a directory within the main domain that houses specific content or sections of a website. It appears as an extension to the main domain name separated by a forward slash. For example, in “example.com/blog”, “blog” is the subfolder.
Why and When to use Subdomains
Subdomains are mainly used to segregate the parts of a business operations. There are various reasons that a business could choose to segment one part of its operations from another using a subdomain.
Why and When to use Subfolders
Managing different subdomains can be tricky. You also need to update your subdomains with fresh content regularly. Subfolders/Subdirectories are ideally suited for new businesses that don’t deliver various kinds of content and need to focus on deftness and execution.
Differences between subdomains and subdirectories
A subdomain is part of your main domain for some specific function. A subdirectory is a subfolder inside the main domain.
Let’s derive the main differences between these two.
- URL structure – The URL of a subdomain looks like “subdomain.example.com”, but the URL of a subdirectory looks like “example.com/subdirectory”. Where “example.com” is the main domain.
- Indexing and SEO – Web crawlers treat subdomains and subdirectories diversely when it comes to indexing and ranking. Where subdomains can treated as a different domain other than the main domain but in the case of subdirectories, it can treated as part of the main domain.