Subdomains and Ranking

[genie1]

Hi,

Can someone explain to me why one of my domains which has several dozen subdomains attached to it with completely different content on each all share the same ranking in google and alexa? I was under the impression each should be seen as a separate identity, yet they're not. Is it because there's a link to the main domain on each of them?
Been bugging me for weeks but I never got around to focusing on it again until now, I just find it very strange...

 

[jim39]

are they like this (site.com/subdomain) < if like this google thinks same site or (subdomain.site.com) < if like this google view as different

 

[scb335]

According to G@@gle what jim39 said is correct, however Alexa might see it differently than that--as may M$N and Yah@@

But G@@gle says they see something.rootDomain.tld as a different site from http://www.rootDomain.tld and that's been true in my experience over a bunch of sites I have.

But, if you're confusing sub-directories (i.e. http://www.rootDomain.tld/something/ is a sub-directory) with subdomains that could be the reason since sub-directories are seen as an extension of your domain rather than as different sites.

 

[BigBlue]

If you are talking about google PR, subdirectories should have different rating as well. (***.com/subdomain)

As for subdomains (subdomain.***.com), they will have different google PR and alexa rankings. case in point will be all the ***.blogsp0t.c0m domains that have different PR,alexa.

hope this clarifies it.

 

[genie1]

Hi,
They're subdomains for sure, not subdirectories. It baffles me as to why they all share the same rank as the parent. I'll keep digging thanks

 

[Nick Flame]

what do you mean share the same rank in google? what rank? page rank or serps?

 

[jim39]

subdomains and subdirectories.

site.c0m/subdomains and site.c0m/subdirectories

you can drop a completly different site in those folders or it can be the same site.

How are these different? Are these not viewed as the same thing? no matter what you put in them?

 

[scb335]

jim39, a subdomain is when visitors access it like this: SUBDOMAIN.site.c0m not site.c0m/SUBDOMAIN and that's the difference.

Your host may set it up so that you store your files for a subdomain at site.c0m/SUBDOMAIN however that's not what matters, it's whether or not visitors place the directory path before or after your top level domain in their browsers for access.

i.e.
something.site.c0m is a subdomain
site.c0m/something is a sub directory

Search engines view the 2 differently.

 

[jim39]

jim39, a subdomain is when visitors access it like this: SUBDOMAIN.site.c0m not site.c0m/SUBDOMAIN and that's the difference.

Your host may set it up so that you store your files for a subdomain at site.c0m/SUBDOMAIN however that's not what matters, it's whether or not visitors place the directory path before or after your top level domain in their browsers for access.

i.e.
something.site.c0m is a subdomain
site.c0m/something is a sub directory

Search engines view the 2 differently.

site.c0m/something is a sub directory<<so if I drop completely different site in the something folder the search engines view it as the same site?

 

[gypsydogg]

Are you using Cpanel. I know in Cpanel when you create a subdomain, it also creates an identical and accessible subdirectory, which could be the problem.

 

[bruce6667]

Are you using Cpanel. I know in Cpanel when you create a subdomain, it also creates an identical and accessible subdirectory, which could be the problem.

Yeah. That's lame. Do you know anyway to get around it?

 

[tanya7zhou]

The best way to define subdomain to google spiders is doing it the traditional way subdomain.tld.com NOT tld.com/subdomain

That's it.

 

[shibumila]

Google definately treats the SUBDOMAIN.tld.com differently.... I was getting slapped a lot on a generic domain I had, where I just kept creating new directories for campaigns. But once I started using a keyword as the subdomain, the slaps went away.

 

[scb335]

site.c0m/something is a sub directory<<so if I drop completely different site in the something folder the search engines view it as the same site?

Sorry I haven't answered sooner, lost power Sunday and am still on a generator waiting for full lights to come back.

No, they don't exactly see a sub-directory as the same site, they see it as an extension of the root domain. That's why you'll usually find if you have a domain that gets a PR of 5 from G00gle, then the first level of sub-directories such as DOMAIN.c0m/SOMETHING tend to imediately also get a PR of either 4 or 3 because they're viewed as extensions of the root site.

If you have content related to the main site, then use sub-directories as that will benefit you most. If you want to drop a new and unrelated site down then use sub-domains or you'll suffer a slap-down from G00gle as shibumila was describing.

Hope that helps

 

[jim39]

Sorry I haven't answered sooner, lost power Sunday and am still on a generator waiting for full lights to come back.

No, they don't exactly see a sub-directory as the same site, they see it as an extension of the root domain. That's why you'll usually find if you have a domain that gets a PR of 5 from G00gle, then the first level of sub-directories such as DOMAIN.c0m/SOMETHING tend to imediately also get a PR of either 4 or 3 because they're viewed as extensions of the root site.

If you have content related to the main site, then use sub-directories as that will benefit you most. If you want to drop a new and unrelated site down then use sub-domains or you'll suffer a slap-down from G00gle as shibumila was describing.

Hope that helps

that is a plan to work on with a related site,