Which is better, a subdomain or a separate domain? Subdomain or folder, which is better? How to create a subdomain in ISPManager - nuances

Sometimes, for various reasons, there is a need to create a second or more sites based on your main site. Possible solutions- two. Create a subdomain or create a subfolder.

In the meantime, let's figure it out what are 1st level domains, 2nd level domains, and 3rd level domains.

1st level domain. .ru, .rf, .com, .net. In fact, there are quite a lot of 1st level domains. There are hundreds if not thousands of them. These domains are issued primarily to countries. .ru, .kz and so on. Thematic domains are also issued. .com, .net, .info, .org, etc.

Buy a first level domain, ordinary users not particularly realistic. Yes, and this is not necessary. Because site visitors simply won’t understand it.

2nd level domain. This is perhaps the most common type of domain. This means that first there is a name chosen by the owner, then domain zone, to which the site belongs. This is a second-level domain name. I.net. This is the domain zone to which the ruseo website belongs. And this is the main type of sites on the Internet.

3rd level domain. An example of such a site is ru.wordpress.org. That is, here the site name consists of three parts. – ru, wordpress, and.org. However, as a rule, third-level domains are used on all kinds of free hosting services, of which there are a great many. Hence some dislike and wariness both from the outside search engines, and from ordinary users.

What is a subfolder?

Any site can have complex structure. And have your own subfolders. In this case, the site address may look like this. moysite.ru/blog or moysite.ru/forum. In fact, there can be very many subfolders a large number of. Moreover, each subfolder can contain its own subfolders. For example, moysite.ru/blog/auto and moysite.ru/blog/moto and so on.

Of course, unless absolutely necessary, it is undesirable to create a complex site structure. Because the ordinary user it will be difficult to find on the Internet specific page Online. However, if the site is really big, then there is no other choice.
So what is the difference between them?

And the answer is actually quite simple. A site that uses subfolders is indexed by search engines as one whole. That is, if you type links to pages located in subfolders, then the quantity and quality of these links will affect the entire site.

Thus, you can type links to the site, for example to the blog section. And these links will also affect another section. For example, to the forum section. Thus, by promoting one section, you are simultaneously promoting another section.
Thus, in most cases, the use of subfolders is more justified, since this makes it easier to promote the entire site.

So why use a 3rd level domain.

As I already said, a 3rd level domain is often used on free hosting. Then, your hosting provider allocates you a 3rd level domain, sitting on the 2nd level domain of the hosting provider itself. It should be kept in mind that the actual owner of the 3rd level domain is the owner of the 2nd level. That is, in in this case, he will be able to take your domain away from you at any time. That is, simply assign.

But there are other uses for third-level domains. One of these applications is the need for various languages for site. Of course, this should already be a large site that operates simultaneously in different countries. I have already given one such example above. ru.wordpress.org. This is the Russian-language section of the site dedicated to WordPress. In fact, there are quite a lot of such sites.

There are other uses for a 3rd level domain. It can be used for temporary testing. That is, you can create a website test.moysite.ru. And already try it on it various topics, various plugins and so on. After all, mistakes that will be made on this site will not affect the search results of the main site.

In general, where exactly to use a subdomain and where to use a subfolder depends on your specific goals. But speaking on average, in most cases (especially for promotion purposes) using a subfolder is more justified.

Search engines have metrics they apply to pages, such as PR, and metrics they apply to domains and subdomains (TrustRank, various quality scores, mozRank, etc.).

Over the years of experience, observation and testing, the following has been observed:

• Individual pages benefit from being on powerful domains/subdomains. This is why if someone copies your content to a more authoritative domain, they will rank higher on that domain.
• Subdomains do NOT always inherit positive metrics and rankings from other subdomains root domain.
• Some subdomains DO NOT BENEFIT from the root domain. (This applies to sites where any user can create their own subdomain, for example WordPress.com, Blogspot.com)
• Folders receive all the benefits of their domain/subdomain.
• Good linking can help distribute the positive qualities of subdomains (but it doesn't always work out well).

Based on the above, for a separate part of the content it is better to create a folder in the root domain rather than a subdomain. For example, for a blog it is better to use yoursite.com/blog instead of blog.yoursite.com, and for a subsection it is better to use yoursite.com/newrazdel than newrazdel.yoursite.com.

However, there are cases where using subdomains makes sense:

• You already have pages on your main domain ranked for a specific search query. Search engines do not display more than 2 URLs from one domain on one search page, but they can display several URLs for subdomains of one root domain.
• If a subdomain, or a combination of subdomain + root domain, forms the ideal anchor text for which you promote the site.

Like subdomains, microsites (separate, independent sites for part of the site’s content) have their own niche:

• You are launching some kind of product/service completely independent of the main site/business. The undoubted advantage is that such a site will be easier to sell in the future than a subdomain, much less a folder.
• You are launching some product/service that you would not want to associate with the main brand.
• You have a domain name for your keywords.
• You have content that is not related to the main site, and you do not want to clutter the site with it, confusing visitors.

The big problem with microsites is that they don't inherit anything from your main site. They are independent and need to be promoted as independent sites.

Thus, despite undeniable advantages folders, subdomains and microsites have their own scope. Knowing the advantages of each type of content division, choose the one that best suits your needs. specific case, this will help avoid many difficulties.

What could it be?

• Website of a branch or division of a company in another region
• Separate brand produced by the same company
• Language version of the site
• Additional significant sections of the site - online store, forum.

The differences are that search services There are different indicators, such as TCI, PR and others, which can relate to both domains and, for example, individual pages.

Subdomain

The main difference between a subdomain is that it will be perceived by search engines as if it were “another site.” That is, if you have always had a website mysite.ru and now you create a domain poddomen.mysite.ru - for search engines it will be another site, with initially zero indicators in everything - that is, the TIC will be equal to zero, and so on. But at the same time there is important feature- the subdomain inherits the so-called “problems” of the domain - filters or sanctions.

However, due to this, it is clearly clear where you can get the most benefit from using a subdomain - promotion by region. Yes, this will certainly be a more labor-intensive process, because full-fledged promotion of a subdomain in this case will be comparable to website promotion. But it is the subdomain that can have a clearly defined regionality and be promoted in a certain region.

Another advantage is the ability to have search results several links to a similar topic from different subdomains. When several pages on a similar topic from one site (from subfolders) compete in a search, the search engine will show only one page that it considers most relevant. If two relevant pages will be on different subdomains, which means there is a chance to get both of them in search results.

Folder

The main difference between a folder and a subdomain is that it is perceived by search engines as part of the overall site. That is, it takes over all the indicators of the domain, and will have, for example, the same TCI as the domain itself
Pages hosted in a folder will be indexed faster than a newly created subdomain.

An important advantage, especially for new sites, is that when using folders, the indexing quota increases. Naturally, this only works when quality content, but the search engine will see an increase in the number of pages on the site, they will give relatively good behavioral characteristics, hence the search engine will increase the quota for pages from this site in the search.

Well final plus The advantage of using folders is that you don’t have to work with them in terms of SEO as a separate project - as would be the case if you used a subdomain.

In conclusion, let us voice a few general conclusions:

• Regional sites must be promoted through domains like spb.my-site.ru
• It is better to organize a forum or blog in a folder if there is no need to keep them separated by geography.
• If you have an online store and your resources/budgets allow, make it on a subdomain, for example shop.mysite.ru. There is a chance to get more space in search results.
• If you create something radical new service, service or product that is poorly connected with your main site, including using very different semantics - make a subdomain, or maybe just use a completely different domain with a completely different brand.

Good day! 🙂

Today's article will focus on how to create a subdomain for a website on hosting.

In the previous article we talked about where and where it can be used. Therefore, today's conversation will be its logical continuation.

I will describe the process of creating a site subdomain as follows: step by step instructions using the example of its hosting provider TheHost, which uses ISPManager as an administration panel.

So the algorithm presented below will be useful to you not only because it allows you to understand general principles creating subdomains, as well as familiarizing yourself with them possible settings, but it will also be useful if your hosting also uses ISPManager for server administration.

A this situation, it is worth saying, is not uncommon, because This software is very widespread due to its low price and wide capabilities.

By the way, if you are still choosing a hosting provider, then I recommend paying attention to TheHost - I have been using its services for 2 years now and during all this time there have been no problems: the site is consistently accessible, technical support is prompt, and prices are perhaps the lowest On the market.

How to make a subdomain on a website - instructions

I’ll say right away that the process of registering a site subdomain is short and, thanks to the presence of the administration panel, will take a maximum of 10 minutes.

The essence of adding a subdomain to ISPManager is no different from creating regular domains. The only caveat is that the domain name of the subdomain must contain the name of the main domain, which is logical.

I will describe all the steps step by step.

Step 1

We go to the server control panel, in our case, ISPManager, the address of which will be contained in the letter that came to you after registering on thehost.ua and ordering the service (at least free hosting for the purpose of familiarization with the user’s account).

It looks, of course, unpretentious in appearance, but it is convenient and understandable to use.

Select a menu item WWW domains and at the top of the page that opens, click on the “Create” button:

After this, a window containing domain settings will open.

Step 3

It looks like this:

As you can see, here we need to enter the fully qualified domain name of our subdomain and various settings, which must be applied to the site hosted on it.

You can also manually specify the directory in which the site will be hosted on the server.

By default, it is created in the root folder www, where all sites are located after creation. Those. subdomains will be located at the same level as the main domains.

Therefore, if this situation does not suit you, and you want to place a subdomain in the directory of the main site, then the option The root folder it will come in handy for you.

After entering necessary settings click OK.

Step 4

As a result, a directory was created on the server with a default set of files, consisting of a stub and blank robots.txt and .htaccess files, and the domain name of the subdomain was added to the list of all WWW domains.

Some time after creation, the site will be available in the browser. This pause is caused by the update time of the global DNS database, which contains all sites accessible via the Internet. It may take up to 24 hours.

Well, after that, all that remains to launch a site on a subdomain is to connect to the server via FTP or SSH (available on certain tariff plans) and upload the site files to the created directory, removing the stub and other unnecessary standard files.

How to create a subdomain in ISPManager - nuances

The method described above allows you to create subdomains on a domain that is completely ready for use. However, we do not have any ability to manage its DNS records (assign mail servers, NS servers and many others).

If you have such a need in the future, you can create a DNS record for an existing WWW domain in ISPManager as follows:

As you can see in the screenshot, to do this you need to go to ISPManager and select the menu item Domain names (DNS). After that, click on the “Create” button at the top of the page and enter necessary information in the window that appears.

The screenshot shows an example of my configuration for an ssl subdomain..

As you can see, here you can automatically create a WWW domain, which we did earlier. In order to register a subdomain, you just need to tick the box Create a WWW domain.

Since in our case the WWW domain has already been added, I left this field empty.

Click “OK” and domain DNS the entry has been created.

Once it is available in the list, the DNS data can be accessed as follows:

After you click on the Posts button, a page will open in front of you with a list of all DNS records, available for the selected domain, which looks like this:

On this screen The entire list of DNS records is available, which can be deleted, edited and new ones added using the buttons at the top of the page.

It is also possible to configure the creation of site subdomains automatically through the ISPManager interface. This option can be selected when setting up a WWW domain, a screenshot of which was presented in the article earlier.

Thanks to this option, we will be able to create dynamic subdomains without manipulation in ISPManager.

There was a point Auto subdomains, whose values ​​were formatted as a drop-down list. By default, the “Disabled” value is selected, but “In a separate directory” and “In a subdirectory of the WWW domain” are also available.

If you select the required value, you can create a site subdomain by adding the corresponding directory directly on the server. We made a folder - and the dynamic subdomain is ready. Cool, right?

However, in this situation, we will not have access to DNS settings subdomain records and others that ISPManager allows you to create in its interface.

As a matter of fact, that’s why I disabled the creation of automatic subdomains in ISPManager for my website ssl.site.

By the way, you can upload files to the server not only through the usual FTP clients, included in the gentleman's set, but also through the interface of ISPManager itself:

The screenshot above shows the contents of my test subdomain of the site ssl.site, in which I decided to install a clean version of WordPress for further experiments.

And they will continue in the next article, in which I will install SSL certificate on a WordPress site.

Regarding functionality file manager ISPManager, it allows you to add, edit and delete files on the server, as well as upload new files and download existing ones in archive format.

A handy thing to do quickly and easily backup files site.

Subdomain indexing

Depending on the purpose of creating a subdomain, which I discussed in the post on what a subdomain is, the link to which can be found at the very beginning, the methods for indexing subdomains may vary.

For example, when a subdomain is used to create a mobile or regional version of the main site, indexing of all its pages without exception is necessary.

If a site subdomain is needed for testing or training purposes, then its indexing will be extremely undesirable, because its content can lead to accidental duplication of pages and undermine the position in the index of the main resource.

The easiest way to set up subdomain indexing is using robots.txt.

On many hosting sites, when creating a new site through the administration panel (ISPManager, VestaCP), in addition to the HTML stub, robots.txt is often added with the following content:

User-agent: * Allow: /

This code means opening all pages of the site for indexing search robots. If, on the contrary, you want to close the subdomain from indexing, then replace it with the following:

User-agent: * Disallow: /

It would also be a good idea to add the following construction to the head section of the HTML code of the pages that you want to prevent from being indexed:

This tag allows you to additionally inform search engine robots that the content of this page should not be indexed.

Even if you pursue the opposite goal: to open all pages for indexing of a site located on a subdomain, you will also have to get into the HTML code for better indexing and delivery correct versions site for search queries.

When adding a subdomain to a site with a mobile version, you will need to add a canonical link to the corresponding page of the main version in the HTML code of the pages of the mobile version:

And on the page of the main site you will need to add the following code to indicate the mobile version of the content:

When using site subdomains to host regional versions, the code will be slightly different, but the principle of its installation will remain the same.

On the page with localized content, add a canonical link to the main site page:

And on the main page we add the following code to indicate the version of this page in a specific language.

For example, to indicate the English version of a page on the main site, you will need to add the following construction to the head section of the page's HTML code:

Therefore, if there are several regional versions of the site, you will need to add links to each of them in the main code.

These requirements for the code of subdomains and the main resource were not taken out of thin air by me, but are based on recommendations from Google, which recommends making announced changes to improve indexing of the resource and indicating to the robot the relationship between the main site and its versions.

Here's what Google itself says on this matter:

These attributes help Google robot bot to find your content, and our algorithms to determine the relationship between ordinary and mobile pages your site. When you use different URLs for the same content in various formats, the attributes tell the system that these two URLs contain the same content and should be considered one entity rather than two. If normal and mobile version Since the pages are interpreted as independent objects, both URLs may be present in PC Search results. In this case, their ranking will be lower than if Googlebot knew about their relationship.

In addition to the correct distribution of ratings, the presence in the index of both the mobile and the main version of the site may be regarded by robots as duplicate content, which may result in additional penalties in relation to the resource.

I hope that the tips given in today’s article helped you figure out how to create a subdomain for a website, as well as correctly configure its indexing by search robots.

That's all I have.

See you again! 🙂

P.S.: if you need a website or need to make changes to an existing one, but there is no time or desire for this, I can offer my services.

More than 5 years of experience professional website development. Work with PHP, OpenCart, WordPress, Laravel, Yii, MySQL, PostgreSQL, JavaScript, React, Angular and other web development technologies.

Project development experience various levels: landing pages, corporate websites, Online stores,

The structure of the site needs to be thought through at the stage of its creation. Sometimes the question arises: how to design a piece of content, be it a blog, a forum, a regional “branch” of a site, an affiliate store or a storefront - put it on a subdomain, make it a separate microsite, or place it in the folder of the main site?

General features of domains, subdomains and folders

1. Separate page It is always more profitable to be on a more “powerful” domain or subdomain. If someone copies your article and posts it on a more authoritative domain, their page will rank higher than yours.

2. Unlinked subdomains of the same root domain do not inherit each other’s positive indicators.

3. If on a site such as Blogspot.com or WordPress.com, anyone can create a subdomain, then subdomains do not receive benefits from the root domain.

4. Folders receive all the benefits of their native domain or subdomain.

5. Good linking of subdomains helps to evenly distribute positive qualities between them.

Features of using subdomains

A subdomain, or subdomain, is a third-level domain from your main domain. By registering a second-level domain site.ru, you can create an unlimited number of subdomains for free (forum.site.ru, blog.site.ru).

A subdomain can be created in separate folder or in a folder in the main domain directory. In the second case, the created site subdomain will also be visible as a site directory. (blog.site.ru and site.ru/blog). To prevent duplicates from appearing in search results, you need to immediately close the directory from indexing in the robots.txt file. To prevent some attacker from placing a link to the directory, you need to make a 301st redirect from the directory to the subdomain.

Search engines may perceive a subdomain as an independent site, or they may consider it a directory of the main domain. In the first case, the use of subdomains is justified because home page subdomain will be valued higher than regular page section of the site. In the second case, the ranking of the subdomain will be no better or worse than the directory, but less link juice will be transferred from the subdomain.

Search results can show two results from each subdomain related to the main one domain name hosta Thus, your multisite project will gain a significant advantage over competitors. However, if a very large number of links lead to the main domain page, but there are no links to a subdomain page with similar content external links, Google will most likely leave the page of the main domain in the search results, but consider the subdomain page to be insignificant for users and will not show it in the search results.

You can put content on a subdomain if the subdomain or the combination of “subdomain + root domain” forms the anchor text for which you need to receive traffic. However, remember that a subdomain is an independent site that will require separate promotion. TICs of the main site and subdomains may differ.

Google employees in their official statements advise implementing content presentation through the creation of additional directories (site sections), and turning to the creation of subdomains if there is content that does not fit into the general concept of the site.

Is it worth promoting similar queries in the “domain + subdomains” combination?

In theory, with proper optimization, a subdomain is valued by the search engine almost as a separate site, but in practice everything is more complicated. After all, we want from a third-level domain exactly what search engines directly forbid us to do. We want the content of the subdomain to be relevant to the content of the main site, so that the subdomain appears in search results next to the main domain, and so that mutual linking improves the rankings of both sites. And search engines agree to use pages of subdomains in the search results only if the subdomains cover topics not covered on the main site, and strive to have as few sites of the same company in the sickle as possible. In general, search engine algorithms are aimed at combating the artificial influence of subdomains on the ranking of Internet pages of one owner.

If search engines suspect a third-level subdomain of dishonesty, then in the best case, the subdomain will be included in the sections of the main portal, in the worst case, Yandex will ban the entire network, and Google will pessimize subdomains.

When is it appropriate to use subdomains?

Transferring a forum, directory and blog to subdomains is absolutely painless. Moreover, some forum and blog engines that integrate into the main CMS have a number of vulnerabilities. If you move the forum to a separate subdomain, then hacking or massive spam will not affect the main site in any way. If a filter is applied to the subdomain, the site may not be affected.

On the other hand, the forum and user blogs are, first of all, content. Texts on the main site add traffic to it and can be used to sell links, but if you move the same texts to subdomains, the project will break up into many small sites.

Creating information sections on subdomains may be justified as a promotion strategy in several regions, but this practice has not become widespread.

Benefits of Using Microsites

1. A microsite can include a product or service that is completely independent from the main site or business. In the future, it will be easier for you to sell a single site than a subdomain or folder.

2. You can launch a product or service on a microsite that should not be associated with the main brand.

3. Another argument in favor of a separate small website is the presence of a domain website tailored for the necessary keywords.

4. You can also create a separate site if you have content that is not directly related to the main site, and you do not want to clutter the main site with it and confuse visitors.

There is one big drawback: microsites do not inherit anything from the main project. They are completely independent and need separate promotion.

Thus, it is best to place separate content in a folder of the root domain, rather than moving it to a subdomain. When building a network of subdomains, you need to be extremely careful not to get your main site banned. It is better to promote parallel projects on independent satellites rather than on subdomains.