Google Rankings For Sub Domains

Posted on | December 10, 2007 | No Comments

Matt Cutts announced at Pubcon that Google will begin treating sub domains similar to how they treat folders.  The most dramatic effect is that many website that used sub domains as a way to dominate top search listings will have to revise their strategy as now only 2 listings will show up in Google for a particular domain even if sub domains previously pulled additional top rankings.  A good example used of this used by many SEO bloggers is Apple.com:2093505304_062596053b.jpg

In this example, store.apple.com is the #4 search using a sub-domain with the main apple.com site holding the #1 and #2 spot.  In the new subdomain, the www.apple.com wil l stll hold the #1 ranking and the store.apple.com will have the indentation for store.apple.com resulting in a Top 10 ranking loss for apple.com with the introduction of a new competitor into the Top 10.

While this one re-stack of the Top 10 of Google is not significant, I have been asked many times from clients about sub domains and I have tended to recommend against the use of sub domains as a SEO strategy for a number of reasons, but the only that held up was my Google ’spidey’ sense that told me that Google may change their opinion on sub domains at some time in the future.  I think this is one of the first moves to treat sub domains as simply extensions of the core www instead of a separate web site.  Either way, there is an immediate affect on current Google rankings that are using sub domains.

Category: Strategy Lab

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