Does the use of sub-domains have any effect (positive or negative) on SEO?

Post author By Amanda MacArthur
Post date December 11, 2009
No Comments on Does the use of sub-domains have any effect (positive or negative) on SEO?

[question]

Does the use of location-based sub-domains have any effect (positive or negative) on SEO or how we are viewed by search engines? Is there any downside to doing this? As a way to structure a network of related sites, does this make sense?

[/question]
[answer]

We would advise going with country specific URLs for 2 reasons:

1. Google is continuing to favor local websites for local information.

2. Older URLs are also favored by Google.

An alternate way to achieve your goals is to use a Global Navigation Bar ala the WSJ Digital Network to allow users to discover all your sites.

[/answer]

Tags online publishing, open source software, SEO, wsj digital

By Amanda MacArthur

Research Director & Managing Editor

Amanda is responsible for all the articles you read on the Mequoda Daily portal and every email newsletter delivered to your inbox from us. She is also our in-house social media expert and would love to chat with you over on @Mequoda. She has worked with Mequoda for almost a decade, helping to evolve the Mequoda Method through research, testing and developing new best practices in digital publishing, editorial strategy, email marketing and audience development. Amanda is a co-author of our four digital publishing handbooks.