Perhaps you have stumbled on subdomains while doing online searches. If you are curious as to why anyone would use them in the first place and if you should feature them on your site, then it is important to understand their purpose and of course the different benefits. For those who are not so sure what a subdomain is, well, think of it as an extension of an original top-level domain, or rather a third-level domain, so “Signup.yourwebsitename.com” versus the original, top-level site “yourwebsitename.com.” Ultimately, you will have a better idea of how subdomains affect SEO.

Good Reasons to Use a Subdomain

Although a subdomain is essentially part of the main website, search engines consider it to be a separate entity. Therefore, using a subdomain can actually enhance SEO for your site and company, but there are other good reasons why you may want to consider featuring a subdomain.

Organization. One of the top reasons many companies use a subdomain is to make a clear differentiation between content and the rest of the main site. A blog is a more common example for whatever reason, whether because it features different design or touches on topics that you wouldn’t want to keep static on the main site. Either way, a subdomain for a blog would be a smart idea as would a subdomain for a separate function such as a community forum or help-desk. Having a clear distinction between the website and these separate features can be achieved with subdomains.

Targeting Different Areas. When a website has different audiences whether, on a regional or global scale, subdomains are effective in streamlining website architecture. Otherwise, relying on a single website can end up being a huge mess. A good example of this would be a travel website. Instead of relying on one domain for different regions, you can break it down say, by Asian, North America, the Caribbean, or Europe. It makes it easier for people to search what they’re looking for because all of that content is under a relevant subdomain.

Highlight Different Products. Retailers who have different categories of products will find that subdomains are useful in creating some order. Grouping products or services by niche or focus using subdomains will enhance visitors’ experience when on your website.

Impact of Subdomains on SEO

Now that you have a better understanding of the different ways to use subdomains, let’s take a look at how they affect search engine optimization, aka SEO. Well for starters, Google recognizes subdomains as entirely separate websites from the original domain offering the ability to establish unique authority of each of your subdomains. Now, how is this related to SEO, you wonder? Here you go:

Ability to Insert Keywords Into URL. When it comes to keywords that are hard to rank, a subdomain URL offers the perfect place to feature them. It expands your reach and can help to drive traffic to your site.

Better User Experience. Sometimes a website can get too big and overwhelming, creating a not so great experience for users. However, you can solve that problem with subdomains, which helps visitors stay longer on your site and ultimately helps with rankings.

Establish Authority in a niche. Through building authority on subdomains, this can help to support the authority of the main domain over time. Plus, ranking in niche markets isn’t as time-consuming compared to building authority on a larger scale.

So as you can see, subdomains, when used the right way are extremely effective especially when it comes to SEO strategy, building authority, improving the user experience, and helping to boost rankings. Using them to streamline your main website domain is something that you should consider for the future.