New domain vs subdomain on old domain

Currently at work my company is in the process of splitting current website in two separate, dedicated to different type of products. My question is, what is better option from seo point of view, new domain or subdomain on older domain. From usability point of view new domain is just shorter and easier to remember, but simple 301 redirect will do the trick. In terms of seo I wonder if new subdomain would get all that trust rank from old domain. So my two options are:

newdomain.com

or

longkeyword.olddomain.com

Old domain is 9yrs old so if subdomain would be considered as 9yrs old too then my choice would be simple.

Why is your company splitting them at all? I've read resources that tell people to keep everything on one domain for the SEO benefit... anyone with experience care to comment?

chockomonkey said:

Why is your company splitting them at all? I've read resources that tell people to keep everything on one domain for the SEO benefit... anyone with experience care to comment?

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It's not my decision. It's stupid from my point of view as current website ranks #9 for that specific product. My supervisors don't understand meaning of backlinks and don't want to shell some dough for software, they rather spend more on new design, invest (and waste) time and start from scratch. But I need to cover my ass because they'll be looking for someone to blame after failure.

just 301 redirect the "new website" into a subdirectory of the old one

Appearing to them: new website

In practice: old website, just a new location on the domain and way of entering it, and advertising on marketing materials, business cards, etc.

Yeah, that was my original idea. But my question still remain. Would such a subdomain be considered 9yrs old?

I don't think that sub-domain would be considered as old one. Because if they do, then there will be a lot of mess as a lot of free web hosting companies give sub-domains.

The new subdomain will be treated exactly the same way like a new domain by Google.
If you wish to get an advatage from the old domain you should keep the content where it is (may be a new folder to seperate themes and 301 redirect all related old page URLs to the new ones) and focus onpage optimization on the changed context within the site.

caroline42 said:

The new subdomain will be treated exactly the same way like a new domain by Google.
If you wish to get an advatage from the old domain you should keep the content where it is (may be a new folder to seperate themes and 301 redirect all related old page URLs to the new ones) and focus onpage optimization on the changed context within the site.

Click to expand...

Yea, correct! And the discussion ends here. If your boss have gone mad then i cant fix him.