What Is a Subdomain ? If you’re familiar with website building, you may have come across the terms domain and subdomain. On the surface, you may think it is self-explanatory but answering the question “What is a subdomain?” needs a bit more context.
To help you better understand, we’ll discuss the definitions and other relative topics that go along with subdomains.
What Is a Subdomain and Its Placement?
A subdomain is an additional section of a domain. To give you an example, let’s use the URL blogs.intel.com.
The “blogs” is the subdomain, and “intel.com” is the top and second-level domain. There are numerous ways on how web builders utilize subdomains, and we will highlight its most notable benefits.
What Is the Importance of Subdomains?
A subdomain allows you to separate your online material into more organized sections. This feature is crucial for your website, especially if you’ll have different categories that need their own space.
Below are some examples of the primary benefits of using subdomains.
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Creating an Online Store
It’s relatively common for many websites to have an e-commerce store that complements the brand of their content. For example, the official NBA website’s main page is about the schedule, player highlights, and news. What Is a Subdomain
If you want to browse for merchandise, you can go to shop.nba.com to see a dedicated online shopping page independent of the main page. Not all visitors will appreciate seeing products heavily promoted on websites supposedly made for information and updates.
By having a subdomain for your online store, you will give your audience a better browsing experience.
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Better Market Distinction
One of the primary uses of subdomains is gearing web content tailored for specific countries and regions. Many international companies utilize subdomains to ensure their online material is acceptable locally and internationally.
You can see this benefit being utilized by news outlets such as Yahoo. For example, by typing “uk” instead of just “www” before yahoo.com, you’ll be redirected to the Yahoo homepage with headlines, weather updates, and other current events meant for UK-based viewers.
With this feature, your visitors have the convenience to engage your website without searching for content that suits them. A few websites use the subdomain to identify the language of the webpage.
Case in point, you’ll see the subdomain “en” if you’re looking at the English version of the President of Russia’s official page. What Is a Subdomain
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Creating a Mobile Version
Most likely, you designed your website thinking that your audience will use a desktop to visit it. A decade or more ago, that was a sound assumption.
Nowadays, it might not be entirely accurate because of the rise of mobile phones capable of connecting to the internet at any given time and place. You might not be aware that not all websites are compatible with portable devices.
As such, you should highly consider publishing a mobile version of your website. Recreating a new site might sound daunting at first, but since you have the foundation of your desktop-friendly site, it shouldn’t be much of a hassle.
More and more individuals and organizations access the internet via their smartphones or tablets. With this fact, having a mobile iteration of your web pages will ensure more traffic.
What Are the Meaning of Subdomain and Subdirectory?
Many are arguing which of these two is the better choice for website building. At this point, we have answered what is a subdomain so this time, let’s have a look at the definition of a subdirectory.
Like a subdomain, a subdirectory allows you to organize your web pages available in one domain.
The most obvious distinction between the two is their placement. The former is located before the second-level domain, while the latter is found right after the TLD.
Which Is Better?
Regarding which one is the better option, it depends on your content type and audience size.
Subdomains are superior if you are creating or maintaining a large business or interest with multiple categories. You’ll have a smoother experience managing your digital materials. That is especially if you have an e-commerce store or catering to an overseas audience with a different language.
Subdirectories are better if you’re handling a website that doesn’t require too many updates at short notice. If your web pages only are pretty similar to each other regarding design and function, you’re better off using subdirectories instead of subdomains.
On the topic of SEO, you’ll see contrasting claims that subdomains are better suited for ranking purposes and vice-versa. Don’t let this factor affect how you select between the two. That’s because the quality of your content is still the top indicator of excellent search engine rankings.
