Subdomains: The unknown SEO advantage.

Most people refrain from using sub domains because they use a prefix name and don't "look" right. A lot of people are also under the impression that they are overlooked by the Search Engines.

Firstly, let me explain: there are two kinds of subdomains:

1. Second Tier subdomains: These are linked to, and link directly to, the main domain. 2. Orphan Subdomains: These have no links to or from the main domain.

With all of our hosting packages we offer unlimited subdomains to our clients. Yet - almost nobody uses them. I will try to point out using the advantages of both types in this article, giving one example of how to use each.

Second Tier Subdomains

You have a website. You spend alot of time building it, refining it, tweaking it into oblivion to get the search engine results you are looking for, yet you don't get visitors. We have all heard by now the advantages of having a blog for promoting your website. When I suggest this to my clients, the number one answer I get is "Then I have to pay for another hosting package..." No you don't. You put it on a subdomain. Example:

www.yoursite.com will be your main
domain www.blog.yoursite.com will be where your blog resides.

Once you have your blog, adding a link to it on your menu takes a couple of seconds, and voila - your blog is up and running. This is the part where you feverishly start posting articles about your niche market, your product, or your service, and link to your website from each article. Blogs are amazing: Search Engines love them, and they generally get good PR very quickly. This means, by default, that if your blog outranks your site in terms of PR, every link to your main site from your blog is a QUALITY INBOUND LINK... You can further up the PR on your main site by deep linking (linking to other pages on your site, not only the landing/home page) to your site.

Orphan Subdomains

After pointing out the advantage of a Second Tier subdomain, you might be caught wondering what the use of an Orphan Subdomain is then.

Here's a little known fact: If a subdomain gets banned by a Search Engine, it does not affect the main domain. I'll repeat this: IT DOES NOT AFFECT THE MAIN DOMAIN. Important though: This rule ONLY applies to Orphan Subdomains, meaning there must be no link to, or from the main domain. So how do I use it then? Well, with this knowledge we can use the situation to our advantage. You can use a Orphan Subdomain to put up affiliate 'cashcows' or 'moneymaking' websites. Build a site, keyword spam it, and make a quick killing before taking it down and starting a new one. Whatever you do on this 'site' or subdomain will not affect your main domain, so go mad. You can also use it as a link farm, in terms of linking to other websites you might own. No one has to view the site, so it can be an ugly, confusing mess. As long as your keywords and on page SEO is fine, you can generate high quality inbound links to your other sites, pushing them in the SERPS. Putting up a blog with generated, keyword rich content is a good example of how to do this. Should the site/blog get banned for some reason while you are experimenting - no harm, no fowl.