sub-domain vs. sub-folder

[martinsc]

which and why?

please share your experiences...

[fris]

sub folder, if you want to do sub domains on the fly their is a cool trick.

edit your domain zone file

add

* IN A domainip

then you could use .htaccess to create them based on the sub domain

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On

# mod_dir fix
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*\.)?([^\.]+)\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/subs/%2%{REQUEST_URI}/ -d
RewriteRule [^/]$ http://%2.domain.com%{REQUEST_URI}/ [R=301,L]

# strip sub subdomains
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.*\.([^\.]+\.domain\.com)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

# abc.domain.com --> /subs/abc/
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} ^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^\.]+)\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/subs/%1/ -d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /subs/%1%{REQUEST_URI} [QSA,L]

[martinsc]

sub folder, if you want to do sub domains on the fly their is a cool trick.

edit your domain zone file

add

* IN A domainip

then you could use .htaccess to create them based on the sub domain

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On

# mod_dir fix
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*\.)?([^\.]+)\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/subs/%2%{REQUEST_URI}/ -d
RewriteRule [^/]$ http://%2.domain.com%{REQUEST_URI}/ [R=301,L]

# strip sub subdomains
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.*\.([^\.]+\.domain\.com)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

# abc.domain.com --> /subs/abc/
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} ^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^\.]+)\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/subs/%1/ -d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /subs/%1%{REQUEST_URI} [QSA,L]

great tip

what advantage do i have using a sub-folder instead of a sub-domain?

[LiveDose]

Interesting trick.

[martinsc]

bump for more information.

[DateDoc]

I use mod rewrite to create sub domains but that was to create url/city_id=1 to albany-ny.url, etc.

[fetishblog]

Google loves subdomains more then subfolders. =)

[gooddomains]

subdomains are better than subfolders

[martinsc]

Google loves subdomains more then subfolders. =)

how about the other search engines?

subdomains are better than subfolders

why?

[martinsc]

bump bump

[martinsc]

[VexXxed]

How bout sub-domains on seperate class-c's with sub-folders! yowzas!!!

[CaptainHowdy]

Google loves subdomains more then subfolders. =)

!!

[ae-sc]

subdomains are viewed as separate sites whereas folders are divisions within a site.

[karlcore]

Google loves subdomains more then subfolders. =)

Do you have proof of this? perhaps a source to cite?

[V_RocKs]

Google use to love them... Things changed when someone made 5 BILLION subdomains and Google decided to switch things up a bit.

[The Sultan Of Smut]

Google use to love them... Things changed when someone made 5 BILLION subdomains and Google decided to switch things up a bit.

Yup I've heard this too. Apparently - don't quote me on this - 3rd level subdomains (sub.domain.com) aren't viewed as very cool by Google but 5th level subdomains (sub3.sub2.sub.domain.com) are cheat worthy.

[BitAudioVideo]

errr
why not just put the junk in somedomain.com/sub1
and make sub1.somedomain.com point there
2 birds...

[marketsmart]

good information in here

[Jace]

I always use subdomains, just because it is easier on bookmarkers

I always place each subdomain on it's own class c ip also

[Jace]

errr
why not just put the junk in somedomain.com/sub1
and make sub1.somedomain.com point there
2 birds...

cpanel does that already, it is kind of nice

[borked]

Google loves subdomains more then subfolders. =)

Google et al couldn't give a shit. Stop spreading FUD.

There are no 'advantages' to using subfolders over subdomains. Quite the reverse - in a subdomain setting, you can hard code the url from the TLD and still end up at the subdomain, whereas you will NEVER get to a subdomain from the TLD....

[borked]

sub folder, if you want to do sub domains on the fly their is a cool trick.

edit your domain zone file

add

* IN A domainip

then you could use .htaccess to create them based on the sub domain

Options +FollowSymLinks

RewriteEngine On

# mod_dir fix
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(.*\.)?([^\.]+)\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/subs/%2%{REQUEST_URI}/ -d
RewriteRule [^/]$ http://%2.domain.com%{REQUEST_URI}/ [R=301,L]

# strip sub subdomains
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^.*\.([^\.]+\.domain\.com)$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ http://%1%{REQUEST_URI} [R=301,L]

# abc.domain.com --> /subs/abc/
RewriteCond %{ENV:REDIRECT_STATUS} ^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^\.]+)\.domain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/subs/%1/ -d
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /subs/%1%{REQUEST_URI} [QSA,L]

I may be wrong, but this rewrite will cause any Mac Safari users to balk with the "Too many redirects" error (Safari wil balk on 3+ internal redirects)

[martinsc]

errr
why not just put the junk in somedomain.com/sub1
and make sub1.somedomain.com point there
2 birds...

sure, but which one would you use to trade links? for seo?...

[ThatGuy25]

Use sub-folders if possible. Sub-domains are frowned upon by guys like Google, and other search engines.

Only reason you should be using sub-domains is for type-in domains that your customers can easily remember.

[Kevsh]

Google et al couldn't give a shit. Stop spreading FUD.

There are no 'advantages' to using subfolders over subdomains. Quite the reverse - in a subdomain setting, you can hard code the url from the TLD and still end up at the subdomain, whereas you will NEVER get to a subdomain from the TLD....

Sub-domains still are considered by Google and others to be separate sites, but as pointed out above, they are wiser is spotting abuses.

Sub-folders are better if you are building a hierarchy of related pages on the same main theme.

So, if you have a TLD and want to spin-off some new sites (and you can leverage the PR and authority of the www domain), sub-domains can get you plenty of SE traffic ... if you want to build a deep, solid, themed site where pages all help your PR, etc. then use sub-directories.

[chaze]

Definably just use a folder, eventually sub.domains will be outdated.

dwhs.com/support/

is much better then

support.dwhs.com

Comercials and ads are showing the folder way now as well.

[martinsc]

if i plan several sites on the same domain (blog, forum, site, galleries...) they should be theoreticly different sites...
would the SE know that when these are placed in folders (domain.com/blog, domain.com/forum...)?