From a Google PR standpoint, which is the perferred method, subdomains or subpages?

For example, let's say I have a site that has 50 different areas, 1 for each state. I don't want to maintain 50 sifferent sites, just one, is it better to have:

california.example.com

or

www.example.com/california

Some questions:

1) Do subdomains get any PR effect from the main domain?
2) Can you use subdomains from a user perspective (to ease url entry) and then redirect to the full URL? Does this effect a PR rating?
3) If #2 is done, I'm assuming that BigDaddy would index the subdomain and not the full URL, assuming that all links go to the subdomain?

Thanks!

-K

Check out CraigsList in Googles SERPS http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=site%3Acraigslist.com&btnG=Search

I see mostly subfolders so is that what you are saying?

I'm trying to work this out right now.

Surely a subdomain with the keyword in it which Google will also see as a seperate website is better than a folder or sub page.

But then everyone would be doing it. I can't get an answer to the question about whether those subdomains would be seen as multiple domain spam or not.

>subdomains everyone in my sector does do it, or so it seems. i think it has a negative fingerprint (or will) and have avoided it solely because of that. i rank without it, just the usual /keyword/ used.

Would creating sub-domains make sense for your users? Does it make sense to group things like states into sub domains? From the craigs list example you can see that they have a logical reason for doing so and their site is indexing fine.

“I can't get an answer to the question about whether those subdomains would be seen as multiple domain spam or not.”

Are you creating subdomains to have unique content on them or are the domains duplicates of each other and your just url spamming keywords?

Why not test it out? If you dont rank, then test out another method.

Is each state the equivalent of a web site in and of itself? If not, I would avoid using a subdomain as it will seem like you are trying to spam the search engines and Google doesn't like that. The Craig's list example is a good one in that each site is essentially it's own website and thus it makes sense for Craig's list to use subdomains. Of course, even if each state is a like a site in and of itself there may still be a reason not to use subdomains, and that is because many sites abuse subdomains and it may be just a matter of time before Google starts to penalize sites which use subdomains. However, this is just conjecture. In general I believe that it is worthwhile avoiding practices which are being abused if there are other worthwhile options available.

All the best,

Moshe

from the link above I ony saw one subdomain listed, everything else was folders. Am I missing something?

Ok, so here's what I'm understanding to this point:

1) Subdomains to Google are seen as completely seperate sites, that do not get a flow of PR from the main site, where as sub folders do get the PR flow down.

2) Subdomain sites would need to be optimized and linked to each on it's own.

So I guess, unless we really wanted to maintain essentially, 50 seperate sites, then subdomains are not the way to go, as they will be far too much work.

Now, what about using subdomains for a marketing only purpose? Let's say the following:

1) I have 50 different sub folders to my site such as www.example.com/california

2) Everywhere within the site I link to that url.

3) However, outside the site, in advertising, I'd want to make it as easy as possible for users to get to the site, so I advertise california.example.com

Is this ok to do?
What should I do on the server:
- Park the subdomain on the /california directory?
- create the subdomain with it's own IP and do a 301 redirect?

Thanks!

-K

You can redirect domain names to folders, and advertise the domain names; sure.

Seems like a lot of work for little or no gain. It would make visitor tracking somewhat easy though: you could see just how many people actually typed in each advertised URL to their browser.

If you are linking to a folder, always include the trailing / in the link so that the server does not have to issue a redirect from /folder to /folder/ as that may cause problems.

Would creating sub-domains make sense for your users? Does it make sense to group things like states into sub domains? From the craigs list example you can see that they have a logical reason for doing so and their site is indexing fine.

“I can't get an answer to the question about whether those subdomains would be seen as multiple domain spam or not.”

Are you creating subdomains to have unique content on them or are the domains duplicates of each other and your just url spamming keywords?

Why not test it out? If you dont rank, then test out another method.

The visitor will never know that they weren't on the main site, it will look the same and have the same links.

I'm asking if subdomains have any SEO benefits because I can optimise a page for the keyword in the subdomain which takes you to it.

I am going to test it, unless someone can tell me one way or the other, then I'll know for sure.

I'm not sure that I would recommend testing out subdomains, there is no reason to risk getting penalized by Google for something which may not have much bearing on your rankings. I'd spend your time worrying about getting quality incoming links. If you do that, and optimize your pages and have the keyword in your subDIRECTORY (i.e., www.website.com/subdirectory) you should rank very well.

helpful, thanks!