directory or a subdomain

Hey I would like to ask this community, which is better (from G point of view), to have blog/forum on directory (domain.com/forum) or to have it on subdomain (forum.domain.com)? thanks alot for your answers

This way is my choice and it worked for me too "domain.com/forum"

its much easier to index the /forum but at the end of the day both of them will be index and get the same traffic , depends how you proceed with your content that will make more of the difference!

I like domain.com/forum

You may also want to think about how you want your users to remember the address. domain.com/forums or forums.domain.com

/forum ranks better on google. I doubt sub domains work as well as /forum since it's directly related to the original domain.

Hi dafoss

Subdomains are treated as individual domains in their own right. That means that any links gained to the blog/forum on the subdomain wouldn't directly help to power up the main site and vice versa.

I always opt for the directory setup over the subdomain one.

matt_burns said:

Hi dafoss

Subdomains are treated as individual domains in their own right. That means that any links gained to the blog/forum on the subdomain wouldn't directly help to power up the main site and vice versa.

I always opt for the directory setup over the subdomain one.

Click to expand...

I disagree, since sub domains are simply different addresses for sub-directories. Google may (which I don't believe) "power up" a root directory's index file more so than a sub-directory's, however cascading power\juice comes from back-links and intelligently orchestrated inner-linking.

I prefer sub-directories for memorizing url's personally, as I won't necessarily need to remember that last structure of it and can focus on the domain name itself, but if handled correctly, sub-directories can look professional and be easier to remember for sure.

I highly doubt Google would give more credence to a sub-domain over a higher directory, unless it indexed the two urls as duplicate content and happened to find the link to the sub-domain first.

The only time I've seen a debate about sub-directories providing more power, is with regards crafted 301's, and quite frankly I haven't seen a single case study that have some sort of equivocal base point.

then why the hell are you people building web 2.0's on sub domains ?

keyword: "domain"

Sub-domain\domain, it doesn't matter. If you're wanting to use a Moz metric instead of a PR perspective, there's still DA no matter how you cut it. Sub-domains are taken from a esthetic standpoint only from what I've done and seen, and until anyone provides a side by side controlled comparison, I'm going to stick to my guns. The time of easy EMD's, sub-domain, directory and filename matches for spamming are well over.

Who can remember a sub-domain from anything outside of the Internet Association?

directory because it will be better attached to you original ranking domain.

i saw a videos of matt cutts saying they're both ranking the same in google.