Sub-domain reduction on phpBB SEO

dcz · Posted: Thu Nov 02, 2006 9:32 am Post subject: Sub-domain reduction on phpBB SEO

Our URLs have changed Very Happy

This was decided after few observations and will allow us to find out some more clues about Google.

The Facts: PageRank going a bit down on the forums sub domains, even though many topics ended up with PR 4.

I think this came from the fact both forums where installed in sub domains and where almost only linked from the main www.phpBB-SEO.com.
And worst, it seems the main domain was starting to be considered kind of like a farm link it seems, as there where a lot of external links (to the sub-domains).

I found those two sub domain quite handy to deal with the multilanguage set up, but, oh well, if sir Google do not see it this way.

www.phpBB-SEO.com has thus become a much bigger domain, with all the sudden the two forums content in it.

This was achieved last Sunday, and should not have caused any trouble during the switch.

Previous URL are obviously HTTP 301 redirected.

Google's answer came rather fast, full crawl on Monday, 1785 URL loaded, I think cache will soon be up to date.

Today there are :

92 pages listed for www.phpbb-seo.com
545 pages listed for boards.phpbb-seo.com
705 pages listed for forums.phpbb-seo.com

And today, already two cached pages on www.phpbb-seo.com/forums/ and www.phpbb-seo.com/boards/, This will be a good migrating example Very Happy

It's not impossible that once both forums will have become much bigger (I hope they will), I go back to the sub-domain set up. This will depend on our now a bit longer URL's success.

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dcz

Thing are moving very fast, which is a good proof of how well Google handles http 301 redirection.

A week after changing all URLs :

1 180 pages listed for www.phpbb-seo.com
198 pages listed for boards.phpbb-seo.com
316 pages listed for forums.phpbb-seo.com
596 pages listed for www.phpbb-seo.com/forums/
491 pages listed for www.phpbb-seo.com/boards/

So it's rather quick, another good point for the zero duplicate Very Happy

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mikey672 · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 24

found this at last

dcz this is interesting, have you more sure that the folder is better than sub domain

my thoughts ar on this

we have one site about type a that will have one branch off that may end up bigger this will be about accessoria of type a , this is most sure. what do you think is best way? folder or sub domain

dcz

It really depends.

I do not believe in any final solutions while Search Engine Optimizing. I know that lately many SEOer claimed subdomain where not a good idea, IMHO it depends.

The main reason why I reduced both forum's sub domains here is because, the main domain did not have enough content in comparison, and was linking a bit too much to external domains, as SEO wise sud domains are pretty much the same as main domains.

But, I still kept 4 sub domains in the phpBB SEO project, as it seems now the main domain is big enough to host those. It's all a matter of equilibrium.

I think sub domains are really handy to sort content by type in a web site, especially when dealing with different languages, but each of them need to be seoed independently (directory submissions and such), and it's more work.

In the end though, if all sub domains are well ranked with a lot of content in each, you'll be able to exchange pretty good backlinks among all them.
Another interesting matter is when several sub domains are matching a specific search query.

Searching for phpBB SEO with hl=fr using Google is a good example Wink

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sweetstudent · Joined: 12 May 2007 Posts: 1

many experts say that having sub-domains can increase the page ranks of site.
i am little confused too.
but i think it's correct as well after i searched and confirmed it many ways.
actually it depends the quality of subdomain names as well.
can some one suggest best sub domains for site:
http://www.planstudyabroad.com

dcz

And welcome Very Happy

You're right, sub domains can help out, but they can as well be problematic SEO wise.

About the choice, you shall off course choose your best keyword as sub domain, just like when you first choose your main domain, unless in this case you have all the choice.

Anyway, I suggest we jump to the SEO principles forum to talk about this. Had you read this topic ?

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stevefree · Joined: 16 Jun 2007 Posts: 21

dcz,

Can you post the htaccess code to redirect the forum.domain.com to -www.domain.com/forum plz.

thnx

dcz

I guess hitting the search link would have find the solution for you, but anyway.

You basically just need to keep the sub domain alive and add something like :