: Using subdomains or directories for main categories? I have a website which references places to travel to in the world. Those places are (of course) grouped by countries. Here is an example
I have a website which references places to travel to in the world. Those places are (of course) grouped by countries.
Here is an example of an actual URL of my website:
awespot.org/country/105/iceland
I am wondering if it would be better, in terms of SEO, to have the countries separated in subdomains:
iceland.awespot.org/
I know subdomains are considered by Google as different websites (see the comments), so I am considering the 2 options:
separating would mean also separating the pagerank and benefits of links to the website
but separating would enable me to create a "web" or related websites (all related to travel and all) that link and benefit to each other
I am only asking about SEO here, I know there are other questions raised by this possibility (user experience, administration... even password completion by web browsers)
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If you buy a generic TLD like .org or .com & create subdomains for every countries like de.example.com or it.example.com , then in Google Webmaster Tools(Google Search Console) you can add those two domains as different websites and go to the geotargetting feature of Google Webmaster Tool to mention the country that is related to your subdomain:
support.google.com/webmasters/answer/62399?hl=en
On this other hand, if you use a subfolder, you can not mention Google that this subfolder is for people in a particular country.
To achieve great results, you have to use a combination of both sub-domains and sub-directories.
Just have the data listed under sub-directories. Also enable the sub domains and write a 302 redirect to the sub-directory URL. So besides using the regular lengthy sub-directory URL, the user can also enter the shorter and neater sub domain URL. At the same time you will also not be losing the Google PageRank for the original URL.
Why not use both?
You can forward the subdomains to the to the categories on the main site. I would advise against displaying the same content on separate domains.
Go for subdomains as each subdomain could target different countries & languages and also should work as separate sites in google search etc. Links within domains are counted as internal by Google and page rank is for each url and not as a whole site. Optimizing for each country will be easier (for example in WMT)
I think creating sub folders: example.com/en/ or example.com/us/ etc for different languages and different countries is the best option.
I use this method and it works very well for me and you can observe some top branded websites also using the very the same method.
SEO point of view
As an SEO point of view it is much preferred just watch this video with the Google Team explaining on this issue with tips and advice.
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