{"id":132309,"date":"2021-03-09T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=132309"},"modified":"2024-05-19T07:13:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T12:13:37","slug":"subdomain-vs-subfolder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/subdomain-vs-subfolder\/","title":{"rendered":"Subdomain vs Subdirectory: Subdirectories Are Not Better Than Subdomains For&nbsp;SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"intro-txt\">A subdomain creates a section of a website to the left of the root domain (<strong>subdomain<\/strong>.domain.com). A subdirectory (or subfolder) creates a section of a website to the right of the root domain (domain.com\/<strong>subdirectory<\/strong>).<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/01-subdomain-vs-subfolder.png\" alt=\"subdomain vs subdirectory in a URL structure\" width=\"900\" height=\"556\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at why SEOs argue over this topic and how it really works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"#which-is-best-for-seo\">Subdomain or subfolder: Which is best for&nbsp;SEO?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#seo-case-studies\">SEO case studies<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#reasons-for-traffic-differences\">Reasons for traffic differences<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Which is best for SEO?\" data-section=\"which-is-best-for-seo\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Is a subdomain or subfolder better for&nbsp;SEO?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>SEOs have argued about whether subdomains or subfolders are better for SEO for as long as I can remember. Many SEOs say that subdirectories are better for SEO and insist on using them. This is a myth that\u2019s persisted based on some old studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Google has repeatedly said either is&nbsp;fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matt Cutts <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_MswMYk05tk\">said in 2012<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>They\u2019re roughly equivalent. I would basically go with whichever one is easier for you in terms of configuration, your CMSs, all that sort of stuff\u2026 Both are on the same domain overall and so it\u2019s really a question of which one is easier for you. Whichever one makes you happier I\u2019d go ahead and do it that&nbsp;way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Matt Cutts\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Matt-Cutts.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">Matt Cutts,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Former Head of Webspam <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>John Mueller <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=uJGDyAN9g-g\">said in 2017<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"small\"><div class=\"quote-content\">\n\n\n\n<p>Google websearch is fine with using either subdomains or subdirectories. Making changes to a site\u2019s URL structure tends to take a bit of time to settle down in search so I recommend picking a setup that you can keep for longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div><div class=\"quote-info clearfix\"><div class=\"quote-photo\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"John Mueller\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/john-mueller.png\"><\/div><div class=\"extra-box\"><span class=\"quote-author\">John Mueller,<\/span> <span class=\"quote-author-job\">Search Advocate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Google<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I don\u2019t think they could make it any clearer, but some SEOs still argue with Google. I love <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JohnMu\/status\/956126001016332288\">John\u2019s sarcastic response<\/a> to these arguments.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-173022 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-13.26.22.png\" alt=\"John Mueller's sarcastic response on Twitter about subfolders and subdirectories\" width=\"1216\" height=\"670\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-13.26.22.png 1216w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-13.26.22-680x375.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/Screenshot-2024-03-18-at-13.26.22-768x423.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1216px) 100vw, 1216px\"><\/p>\n\n<p>It\u2019s silly to argue if a path is better on the left or the right. Without going into too much technical detail, these paths are virtual in most modern systems, which means they don\u2019t even point to actual locations on a server. You can change their name and their location in the URL structure in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Think about that for a second; you can change a subdomain to be served as a subdirectory quickly and without changing anything else, so why do people think it\u2019s important where the path is located in the&nbsp;URL?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many SEOs believe that subdomains are treated as separate domains, but the truth is more complicated. Anyone that incorporates subdomains as a main part of their site will likely have them treated as part of the site. However, if you\u2019re not treating the subdomains as part of your main website (read as not connecting them with <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/internal-links-for-seo\/\">internal links<\/a>), then they may be treated as separate.<\/p>\n<p>The same is true for subdirectories! If you don\u2019t treat them as part of the same site, Google may not either. Gary Illyes confirmed this at Pubcon in 2023. He said it\u2019s not common on the English web, but it is in other languages.<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Are there cases where subdirectories can be treated separately, as individual sites?<br><br>Yes. It\u2019s not common on the English web but it is in other languages. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/methode?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@methode<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/pubcon?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#pubcon<\/a><\/p>\n\u2014 Patrick Stox (@patrickstox) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/patrickstox\/status\/1704963371420856347?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 21,&nbsp;2023<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n\n<p>A little history lesson. At one time, subdomains could get you additional listings in the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/serps\/\">SERPs<\/a>. As with many things, SEOs abused this. Google closed this loophole in one of the old domain\/host clustering updates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These days, subdomains are likely to be treated as part of the same website if they appear to be part of the same website. Even <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/sitelinks\/\">sitelinks<\/a>&nbsp;include links to subdomains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"attachment_132315\" style=\"width: 1126px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-132315\" class=\"wp-image-132315 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1-subdomains.png\" alt=\"Examples of Disney subdomains\" width=\"1116\" height=\"1999\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1-subdomains.png 1116w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1-subdomains-237x425.png 237w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1-subdomains-768x1376.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/1-subdomains-858x1536.png 858w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1116px) 100vw, 1116px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-132315\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Various Disney subdomains that have shown as sitelinks. Data from Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>.<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I can give you countless examples where various subdomains show as sitelinks for the brand\u2014Github, LinkedIn, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Yahoo, Netflix, Walmart, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"SEO case studies\" data-section=\"seo-case-studies\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">SEO case studies: Subdomain vs subdirectory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Many case studies show subdirectories are better than subdomains, but I haven\u2019t seen one that wasn\u2019t complicated by other changes like additional internal linking or migrating multiple properties into&nbsp;one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let\u2019s look at one of those case studies and what I see. Using <strong>Top Pages 2.0<\/strong>&nbsp;in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Site Explorer<\/a>, you can click and drag on the history chart to see the difference between any two dates. In the case of mention.com, they migrated from a subdomain to a subdirectory in January 2016. I really don\u2019t see any difference in that period. It\u2019s only after that when they started adding additional content that I see their traffic growing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-132317 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2-top-pages.png\" alt=\"subdomain vs subdirectory case study of mention.com\" width=\"1570\" height=\"713\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2-top-pages.png 1570w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2-top-pages-680x309.png 680w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2-top-pages-768x349.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/2-top-pages-1536x698.png 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1570px) 100vw, 1570px\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p>And notice that an equivalent page for each page that lost traffic re-gained around the same amount of traffic. The traffic simply shifted to a new location, but there was no real increase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/3-mention-traffic-loss.png\" alt=\"mention.com pages changing from subdomains to subdirectories\" width=\"903\" height=\"702\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s another fun one. Github migrated from a subdirectory (github.com\/blog) to a subdomain (blog.github.com) and then to a completely different domain (github.blog). There was some flux during the migration periods, and there were other changes during the transition, but it would be hard to argue that any one of these was better than the others simply because of the&nbsp;URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/02-subdomain-vs-subfolder.png\" alt=\"github.com migration from subdirectory to subdomain to a different website showing little impact\" width=\"900\" height=\"880\"><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"post-nav-link clearfix\" id=\"section1\"><a class=\"subhead-anchor\" data-tip=\"tooltip__copielink\" rel=\"#section1\"><svg width=\"19\" height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 14 14\" style><g fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><path d=\"M0 0h14v14H0z\" \/><path d=\"M7.45 9.887l-1.62 1.621c-.92.92-2.418.92-3.338 0a2.364 2.364 0 0 1 0-3.339l1.62-1.62-1.273-1.272-1.62 1.62a4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.885 5.884l1.62-1.62L7.45 9.886zM5.527 5.135L7.17 3.492c.92-.92 2.418-.92 3.339 0 .92.92.92 2.418 0 3.339L8.866 8.473l1.272 1.273 1.644-1.643A4.161 4.161 0 1 0 5.897 2.22L4.254 3.863l1.272 1.272zm-.66 3.998a.749.749 0 0 1 0-1.06l2.208-2.206a.749.749 0 1 1 1.06 1.06L5.928 9.133a.75.75 0 0 1-1.061 0z\" style \/><\/g><\/svg><\/a><div class=\"link-text\" data-anchor=\"Reasons for traffic differences\" data-section=\"reasons-for-traffic-differences\">\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why you might see traffic differences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Several different issues may cause people to believe that <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/website-migration\/\">migrations<\/a> had more or less impact than they really did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Temporary signal changes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>When pages are new or moved, Google may have them <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seroundtable.com\/google-confirms-site-wide-signals-for-new-pages-21772.html\">inherit some temporary signals<\/a>&nbsp;at a folder or site level because they\u2019re not quite sure how much to crawl or how to rank them yet. This can cause some temporary fluctuations while they figure out&nbsp;the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tracking or measuring issues<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This can show up in many different forms. It might be analytics setup issues such as maybe subdomain tracking wasn\u2019t set up correctly. It can be timing issues such as measuring growth during a fast season, such as holiday shopping vs. an average traffic period, or around a Google core update. It can only be looking at growth in the new folder. The main thing is to make sure that you\u2019re comparing apples to apples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Blocked or noindexed pages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>If you block pages from being crawled or noindex pages, signals won\u2019t consolidate correctly, which means you\u2019re likely to see a drop during the migration. I\u2019d recommend reading our <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/robots-txt\/\">robots.txt<\/a>&nbsp;guide&nbsp;to understand this better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Redesign or platform change<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>A lot of different things can change when you redesign a website or change the platform. Technology, speed, headings, URL changes, and more can all be different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Internal linking changes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I see this one often in subdomain vs. subdirectory case studies: Going from a separate subdomain that wasn\u2019t linked internally to a subdirectory that\u2019s linked to on every page. Of course there\u2019s going to be an uplift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Removed or updated content<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Changing content means ranking and traffic are likely to change. If you remove content that had traffic, then traffic drops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Final thoughts on using a subdomain vs subdirectory<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Changes introduce risk. You might want to think twice before changing from a subdomain to a subdirectory if the only reason you\u2019re doing it is for&nbsp;SEO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have a case where you migrated and saw an uplift without any of the changes above, I\u2019d love to see it. Send me a message on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/patrickstox\">Twitter<\/a>, and I\u2019ll investigate, but I\u2019m willing to bet there is a change that can explain the difference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s look at why SEOs argue over this topic and how it really works. Subdomain or subfolder: Which is best for&nbsp;SEO? SEO case studies Reasons for traffic differences SEOs have argued about whether subdomains or subfolders are better for SEO<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":150,"featured_media":132311,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[],"coauthors":[377],"class_list":["post-132309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technical-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Subdomain vs Subdirectory: Subdirectories Are Not Better Than Subdomains For SEO<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Subdomain is on the left of the root domain (subdomain.domain.com), while a subfolder is on the right of the root domain (domain.com\/subfolder).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/subdomain-vs-subfolder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Subdomain vs Subdirectory: Subdirectories Are Not Better Than Subdomains For SEO\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don&#039;t make any changes before you read this.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/subdomain-vs-subfolder\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"patrickstox\" \/>\n<meta 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