7 replies to this topic

[brand1234]

Hi All,

I've just found a very interesting source of content
that I can use to make a help style MFA website.

My content data set has over 200,000 pages which
can be siloed very neatly into about 2000 MFA distinct
subjects.

My question is, would I be better of using subdomains
like this:

home-decor.my-help-site.com
pet-training.my-help-site.com

Or would I better off using sub directories like this:

my-help-site.com/home-decor
my-help-site.com/pet-training

Which one will be easier to get all the sites and all the pages of
the sites indexed? Which is better in the long term?

Either way, the root of the website (www.my-help-site.com) will
look and feel like a single site (think dmoz) that has a big hierachy
and search with hooks into all the subjects.

All advice much appreciated!

BB

p.s. Each subdomain would be a very useful site in it's own right, and would not seem spammy to a user using it

[Randy]

It makes no difference brand1234. It's not about whether you use subdomains or subdirectories, it's about how you structure your internal linkage and how many outside sites link to your content.

[brand1234]

It makes no difference brand1234. It's not about whether you use subdomains or subdirectories, it's about how you structure your internal linkage and how many outside sites link to your content.

Thx.

Only that I had heard google treats each subdomain differently and your PR does not carry from the root domain to the sub domains.

But the thing is the way I have done it each site feels very nice and compact, rather than part of a larger site like about.com -- i.e. it feel like a better user experience on a per subject basis than if it was part of a large site.

I guess I could still make it look/feel like individual sites even if it was all on the main domain.

I'm just wondering if there are any PR benefits to using a single domain vs subdomains.

Also, if it's all on the same main domain, is it more likely that all my pages will be index by google faster. vs if subdomains then each has to go through its own sandbox period?

BB

[Randy]

I'm just wondering if there are any PR benefits to using a single domain vs subdomains.

There is no difference at all, so no advantage or disadvantage.

PR isn't assigned to a Domain. It's assigned to a Page, based upon the number and quality of links pointing to that Page. This Page then spreads it's PR wealth out to other pages it links to. And doesn't spread any PR to any pages it doesn't link to.

Needless to say there is a lot of really bad information out there about PageRank and how it works.

[Jill]

and your PR does not carry from the root domain to the sub domains.

Neither does your PR transfer over from your home page to any other page within the same domain.

PR only transfers through links. Not through some magic domain osmosis!

[brand1234]

So...

If lots of pages link to my root domain, and my root domain links to my sub domains, then the PR juice will move from the root to the subs. And, likewise, if there are direct links to the subs - since they all link to the root home page - then thier PR juice will flow to the root...?!



p.s. I don't know how I managed to get it in the adsense sub forum, sorry about that!

Edited by brand1234, 12 January 2009 - 03:09 PM.

[Jill]

Exactly. It doesn't matter if you're linking to another page on the same domain or to a subdomain. The same amount of PR gets passed either way.

(I moved it to the adsense forum since you said you were making made for adsense pages.)

[Alan Perkins]

I've just found a very interesting source of content
that I can use to make a help style MFA website.

My content data set has over 200,000 pages which
can be siloed very neatly into about 2000 MFA distinct
subjects.

You do know that "MFA" - Made for Adsense - is generally a derogatory term, don't you? It's not a way that you'd choose to describe your own website in public - even if you knew in private it was true!