What They Are & Which Is Better for SEO

Whether to use a subdomain vs. subdirectory model is a long-standing debate in the SEO community.

In this post, we’ll review these two options. And provide a verdict on which is better for SEO.

Let’s start.

What Is a Subdomain?

A subdomain is an extended part of your domain name that’s built for a specific purpose. And acts as a separate site.

For example, you can create a subdomain like blog.yoursite.com to host your blog content.

Another reason why you might use a subdomain is to separate the ecommerce portion of your website from its main domain.

By introducing a subdomain like shop.yoursite.com.

This helps you to create a different look, feel, and functionality for your online store than your main website.

You’ll come across subdomains like these all over the internet. They’re incredibly common.

To see whether your site is using any subdomains, crawl your website with Semrush’s Site Audit tool.

Follow the Site Audit configuration guide to set up your project.

Then, go to the “Crawled Pages” tab and click “Site Structure.”

You’ll see a list of subdomains on your site.

But does having subdomains harm your SEO?

Let’s find out.

The Traditional View on How Subdomains Affect SEO

Many SEOs argue that content hosted on subdomains doesn’t rank well on Google.

Here’s their reasoning:

Subdomains may not fully benefit from the backlinks (links from other sites that point to yours) the main domain has garnered over the years.

Google treats subdomains as distinct websites. Which...