Forum Location and SEO

[chrison600]

Hi all,

I am about to implement a new online forum package. I have my choice of implementing it on a subdirectory on my company domain, i.e. tipsweb.com/forum, or a completely separate but topically connected domain, alarmmanagement.com. I would like to find out if it is better for the rankings of the tipsweb.com domain to have the forum located under that domain. In contrast, is it better to have the forum at a completely separate domain, with a few links back and forth.

The forum package is InstantForum.NET.

Thanks

Chris

Note: I implemented a test/inexpensive forum using the alarmmanagment.com domain.

[KeithO]

if the base domain has a keyword or two in it, I'd use it.

[chrison600]

Yes. As a matter of fact, our entire market can be defined by the term "alarm management".

Chris

[KeithO]

i'd use that domain then and actually put it in a subfolder /forum/ for anyone who searches "alarm management forum" so you'd have all 3 keywords in your URL.