If you have only owned your website or domain for a short period of time, you may not know what a subdomain is and when to use it for organizational purposes. Chances are, you are more familiar with the traditional method of organizing websites using subdirectories.
Even though subdirectories can be helpful, they don’t provide the same level of flexibility and freedom as a subdomain does. You can even create an entirely different website under your domain and have each one serve different purposes, such as a blog and e-commerce site for the products you sell.
What Are Subdomains?
If you are https://smallbusiness-seo.com/google-testing-new-website-speed-reports-with-detailed-analysis/new to websites, you may wonder – what exactly is a subdomain? It is anything that goes past the main URL and primary domain name. For example, if you have a URL that reads “yourbusinessname.com,” and added “blog” in front of it to make it “blog.yourdomainname.com,” the blog would be the subdomain.
If you are not familiar with how URLs work, this could be somewhat confusing. The “.com” part of the URL is the TLD or top-level-domain. The “yourdomainname” part is the SLD or second-level-domain. This makes the subdomain a sub-section of your SLD, which is the domain you have purchased.
Subdirectory vs. Subdomain
With a subdirectory, there is something put at the end of the URL rather than the beginning. With the above example, a subdirectory would be something like “yourdomainname.com/blog.” The “blog” at the end is the subdirectory.
One of the best ways to think of the subdirectory is similar to a folder inside your hard drive, and the subdomain is a different hard drive in the computer, while your company is the domain.
Uses for Subdomains
When deciding between a subdirectory vs. a subdomain, you may wonder why you should choose the subdomain.
One reason is that it is better for SEO (just keep SEO best practices in mind). Subdomains are also smart options for e-commerce solutions if you want a digital store to complement your website, such as store.yourdomainname.com, which is one of the best-known store subdomains.
A subdomain is also ideal for use as a test-bed for any changes you want to make to your website before you roll them out. You can also use subdomains for mobile versions of your website. Also, you can use subdomains for dividing your user bases, such as guest.example.com and user.example.com. When naming your subdomain, there are endless possibilities.
Keep in mind, though, that multiple subdomains may impact your website performance if you don’t choose quality hosting solutions.
Get Help with the Creation of Subdomains
As you can see, there are many situations when you may want to use a subdomain. Keep the information here in mind to know when to use these and how they may benefit your site. If necessary, work with professionals who can provide more information and insight about creating subdomains and how to use them to benefit your website and business.