Multiple Websites or Subdomains?

[outletseason]

I had a website for a while and over the years it grew to the point some sections are now in subdomains, I read Google ranks subdomains as separate sites somewhere, but in my case this is not working, so I want to know if it will be better to move all these subdomains to domains, and keep the links to them in the main site.

[SteveGerencser]

If the sites will genuinely stand on their own as stand alone web sites, split them up.. It will cost you more money when it comes to marketing, but you will be better able to specifically target each site with each piece of your marketing plan.. Taking a very quick look at the site, I'm not convinced that they will stand on their own as they are now.. For example:

http://wood.theoutletseason.com/ and http://wood.theoutletseason.com/about.html share the exact same first paragraph.. If you want to build them out as unique web sites, you really need to make them unique, and you haven't even done that within the subdomain.. The doors subdomain is better, but splitting these up in to multiple sites will leave you with a lot more work to do on things that you still need to do..

[outletseason]

If the sites will genuinely stand on their own as stand alone web sites, split them up.. It will cost you more money when it comes to marketing, but you will be better able to specifically target each site with each piece of your marketing plan.. Taking a very quick look at the site, I'm not convinced that they will stand on their own as they are now.. For example:

http://wood.theoutletseason.com/ and http://wood.theoutletseason.com/about.html share the exact same first paragraph.. If you want to build them out as unique web sites, you really need to make them unique, and you haven't even done that within the subdomain.. The doors subdomain is better, but splitting these up in to multiple sites will leave you with a lot more work to do on things that you still need to do..

You are right the site is a mess, that's why I am trying to organize it. I have 2 domains that are not related to outlet season ...

[deepsand]

I read Google ranks subdomains as separate sites somewhere ...
That was a long time ago. Now they are generally treated as being sub-directories.

[michaelhartzell]

Since companies such as hostgator (and others) offer unlimited websites in a package where you can create "add on domains", you might consider this as an option. (only a suggestion as you think of your business plan / strategy) They stand alone as a dot com and some will say the attachment to the original domain may have an impact.

[Bernd]

Now they are generally treated as being sub-directories.
Not in all cases.
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/2572/ford.th.png (http://img822.imageshack.us/i/ford.png/)
See No 1 and 2 www ford.com and No 6 india.ford.com.

If you don't link from the maindomain to the subdomain and if you have different backlinksources for main- and subdomain it is possible.

[deepsand]

Not in all cases.
Please note that I said "generally."

This, per the Oracle at Google.

[Tarzan2]

It seems that if you wish Google to treat sub-domains or folders as individual web sites, you must tell Google that in your webmaster tools account. Simply add the folder or sub-domain as a new web site.

[davecr]

I have a similar situation, at least I hope this is the appropriate place to request advice? A few years ago, I stopped updating my original domain, which had a limited focus, NewBerkshire.com, in favor of a newer one, BerkshireLinks.com, with a broader focus. Even though I made mistakes transferring the older domain and it now contains only about 10% of its original pages, the home page still has a PR4 and it ranks high on SERPs for relevant queries. My question is, should I maintain the old domain and keep re-building the archive (accidentally deleted during dns move), or would it be better to do a 301 redirect to the newer domain, which has a few PR 4 pages, and re-build the archives in a sub-directory? Thanks.

[barutiwa]

I think it's all based on how your promote it. You can always point the dotcom domain to the sub-directory as a re-direct. But still you want the sub-directory to be completely unique from the main account.

[Tarzan2]

I have a similar situation, at least I hope this is the appropriate place to request advice? A few years ago, I stopped updating my original domain, which had a limited focus, NewBerkshire.com, in favor of a newer one, BerkshireLinks.com, with a broader focus. Even though I made mistakes transferring the older domain and it now contains only about 10% of its original pages, the home page still has a PR4 and it ranks high on SERPs for relevant queries. My question is, should I maintain the old domain and keep re-building the archive (accidentally deleted during dns move), or would it be better to do a 301 redirect to the newer domain, which has a few PR 4 pages, and re-build the archives in a sub-directory? Thanks.If you wish to simplify your life, do a redirect. If you want to keep working on the old domain and make it a "competitive but related" site that will feed link juice to the other site, then keep both.

[cyberdesignz]

Google treat all the pages and sub domains as a separate entity.

[deepsand]

Google treat all the pages and sub domains as a separate entity.
Not in the SERPs.

Did you never see the indented sub-listings?