Subdomain vs Subfolder: SEO Impact, Use Cases & Real Examples

When establishing a new section on your website, such as a blog or an e-commerce store, one of the critical decisions you’ll need to make is whether to use a subdomain or a subdirectory. This decision can significantly impact your site’s SEO, and experts often have differing opinions on the matter. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the pros and cons of each option, helping you make an informed decision based on your specific circumstances.

To start, let’s clarify the structure of a subdomain and a subdirectory:

• Subdirectory: www.example.com/blog/ – “blog” is a subfolder. In this, we place all blogs, e-commerce, and other pages located in the subfolder of the website.
• Subdomain: blog.example.com – here “blog” is a subdomain of example.com. You can create a different subdomain for a different section of the website.

What is a subdirectory or subfolder?

A subfolder, also called a subdirectory, is a section within your main website structure. It sits inside your domain like a folder on your computer.

Example:

• www.example.com/blog/
• www.example.com/shop/

Here, /blog/ and /shop/ are folders inside your main website. They share the same domain and server. That means any SEO strength your main domain gains—through backlinks, content quality, authority—automatically benefits these subfolders.

You can create as many subfolders as you need under the main domain. You can even create super subfolders within a subfolder, leading to a multi-layered structure. However, this can result in longer permalinks and potentially confusing structures. To avoid this, it’s advisable to limit the number of subfolder layers and establish a clear structure for your website. This approach benefits both you and search engines.

Key Characteristics of Subfolders:

• All content exists under one root domain.
• Easy to manage from a single CMS or dashboard.
• Share SEO signals like backlinks and authority.
• Internal linking is straightforward.
• Easier to pass PageRank across sections.

What is a Subdomain?

A subdomain is a separate section of your website but sits outside the main root structure. Think of it as a child site that has its own identity.

Example:

• blog.example.com
• support.example.com
• store.example.com

Technically, search engines treat this as a separate property. This means you’ll need to build authority from scratch for the subdomain unless there’s a strategic link relationship between it and the main site.

Key Characteristics of Subdomains:

• Often used to segment large or different types of content.
• Can have their own CMS, design, or even server.
• Need separate SEO efforts.
• Can offer better content isolation (e.g., for forums, blogs, or tools).
• Treated separately in Google Search Console.

When to Use Which? Let’s Not Jump Ahead Yet

You might be thinking, “Okay, subfolders sound easier for SEO. Should I just go with that?”

Well, not so fast.

The choice between subdomains and subfolders isn’t one-size-fits-all. It depends on what you’re building, your SEO goals, how diverse your content is, and even your technical infrastructure.

SEO Impact of Subdomains vs. Subfolders

Now that we’ve covered the basic structure of subdomains and subfolders, it’s time to explore their real-world SEO implications. This part often creates confusion because search engine behavior is complex—and sometimes misunderstood. So let’s break it down point by point.

Do Subdomains and Subfolders Affect SEO Differently?

Yes, they can, but not always in the way people assume.

Let’s start with a fact:
Google treats subdomains as separate entities from your main domain. That means it crawls, indexes, and evaluates them separately in most cases. On the other hand, subfolders are considered a part of the same domain and usually share the same ranking signals.

But here’s the catch:
Google has also stated that with proper internal linking, they are smart enough to understand the relationship between your main domain and its subdomains. However, this requires consistent effort in linking both areas and treating them as connected parts of a single site.

1. Authority Sharing: Subfolder Wins

When you use a subfolder (like example.com/blog), it benefits directly from the authority of your main domain. This is because:

• Backlinks to your homepage also help your blog.
• Domain-level trust and authority flow naturally to all subfolders.
• Content freshness and activity boost the overall domain’s value.

In contrast, a subdomain (like blog.example.com) starts with no inherited authority unless you manually build it. Even though your main domain might be strong, the subdomain will need separate SEO work to gain traction.

Subfolders can inherit domain authority, helping the new section benefit from existing backlinks and PageRank. If you want to understand how this works in more detail, check out our blog on how PageRank works.

2. Crawl Budget and Indexing

Subfolders benefit from a shared crawl budget. When Google crawls your main domain, it will often crawl your subfolders as part of the same process. This improves the efficiency of indexing and ensures updates are discovered faster.

With subdomains, Google assigns a separate crawl budget. If your subdomain doesn’t receive enough backlinks or traffic, it may be crawled less often. This could lead to:

• Slower indexing
• Delays in ranking
• Missed updates if not optimized properly

That’s why businesses trying to maximize crawl efficiency usually prefer subfolders—especially when content volume is high.

3. Link Building: More Work with Subdomains

Subfolders make your link-building efforts more effective. A single backlink to any part of the site contributes to the overall domain’s strength, which then uplifts all content within that domain.

But with subdomains, you’re essentially running two separate link-building campaigns:

• One for example.com
• Another for blog.example.com or support.example.com

This can double your workload and budget—unless you have a strong reason to isolate content for branding or operational needs.

4. Topical Relevance and E-E-A-T

Search engines assess your website’s credibility using a framework called E-E-A-T, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. This concept is especially important when you’re trying to establish your website as a go-to source for a specific topic.

Placing related content under the same domain using subfolders naturally strengthens your topical authority. For example, if your website is about personal finance and you publish a blog on budgeting tips under example.com/blog/, it reinforces your overall authority in that niche.

Now, let’s say you put the same blog on a subdomain like financeblog.example.com. Even though it’s still owned by you, Google may not immediately associate it with your main site unless it’s clearly branded, heavily interlinked, and consistently maintained.

Subfolders offer a more seamless way to build topic relevance and boost your E-E-A-T signals.

5. Analytics and Tracking Simplicity

From a data point of view, subfolders make your job easier. Most analytics tools (like Google Analytics or Search Console) treat a domain and its subfolders as a single property. You don’t have to create separate views or filters.

But for subdomains, you’ll need to:

• Set up separate views in Google Analytics
• Add different properties in Google Search Console
• Manage separate performance data

This adds extra work and increases the chances of missing out on actionable insights if not managed well.

So, Which Is Better for SEO?

Here’s a summary comparison based on common SEO factors:

But There Are Exceptions

Despite everything above, subdomains are not always bad for SEO.

Some big websites successfully use subdomains. For instance:

• news.google.com
• support.apple.com
• blog.hubspot.com

Why does it work for them? Because they have strong branding, massive backlink profiles, and dedicated teams managing SEO for each subdomain. They can afford the separation.

But for most websites, especially small to medium businesses, subfolders provide better SEO results with less effort.

When to Use a Subdomain (and When Not To)

By now, it’s clear that subfolders often give you an SEO edge. But that doesn’t mean subdomains are useless or harmful in every scenario. In fact, there are specific situations where using a subdomain makes more sense—sometimes even necessary from a technical, strategic, or business point of view.

Let’s explore when subdomains are the better choice and when to avoid them.

When Should You Use a Subdomain?

1. When the Content is Very Different from the Main Website

If the content you plan to add is entirely unrelated to your main site’s topic, a subdomain may be the better route. For example, if your main website is about personal finance, but you want to add a full section dedicated to educational tutorials for software developers, putting this on a subdomain helps separate the focus.

This makes it easier to target a different audience, create a different design and tone, and even run separate marketing campaigns.

2. When You Need a Unique Design or Technology Stack

Sometimes your main website runs on one platform, but the new section you want to build requires a different CMS or technology. For instance, your main site may be built on WordPress, but you want to create a custom-built community forum or web app using Node.js or React.

In such cases, using a subdomain is technically easier and more scalable. You can host it separately, manage it independently, and maintain it without affecting the core site.

3. When Running International or Region-Specific Websites

Large brands often use subdomains to target different countries or languages. This gives more flexibility for regional marketing, local hosting, and geo-targeting via Google Search Console.

For example:

• us.example.com for United States
• fr.example.com for France

This setup helps tailor content, design, and offers specific to that audience. It can also help in setting up hreflang tags and language-specific SEO strategies more cleanly.

4. When You Want to Isolate SEO Risks

If you’re testing out a new content type, launching a side project, or experimenting with a separate business vertical, subdomains help isolate those activities. Any SEO mistakes, penalties, or duplicate content issues on a subdomain won’t directly affect your main site.

For example, if you launch a blog on a new topic and it doesn’t perform well, having it on blog.example.com keeps your main domain safe from potential SEO drawbacks.

5. When You Need Separate Branding

Sometimes, your blog, support center, or app might have its own identity. You may want users to perceive it as a standalone product or platform. In such scenarios, using a subdomain helps maintain that separate brand experience.

HubSpot uses this strategy. Their blog exists at blog.hubspot.com because it serves a slightly different purpose than their product site, while still benefiting from interlinking and shared reputation.

When Not to Use a Subdomain

1. If SEO Consolidation Is Your Primary Goal

If your main aim is to boost your overall domain authority and organic rankings quickly, stick to subfolders. They help you rank new content faster and share the SEO value across the site. Every backlink, content update, and internal link works toward improving one main domain.

Using a subdomain means splitting that SEO power and doubling the effort to grow each section.

2. If You Have Limited Resources

Managing a subdomain is like managing a second website. It means more development work, more link building, more keyword tracking, and more performance monitoring.

If you or your team don’t have the time and resources to handle multiple properties, it’s better to keep everything under one roof in a subfolder.

3. If the Content is Closely Related to Your Main Site

When the content you’re adding closely aligns with your primary topic, keeping it in a subfolder makes the most sense. For instance, if your website sells fitness gear and you’re starting a blog on workout tips, putting the blog under example.com/blog/ helps you reinforce your site’s niche authority and relevance.

Search engines will more easily understand that your site offers both products and expert information in the fitness space.

Making the Right Choice Based on Your Goals

To sum it up, subdomains work well when you need separation in terms of purpose, branding, or technology. But they come with more effort in terms of SEO and marketing.

Subfolders are best when you want to build a strong, unified presence and take full advantage of your existing domain’s authority. They keep everything connected and help you grow your rankings faster.

Real-Life Examples and Final Takeaways

So far, we’ve discussed the technical structure, SEO impact, and specific use cases for both subdomains and subfolders. But theory can only take us so far. To make a well-informed decision, it’s helpful to look at how popular websites apply these strategies in the real world.

Let’s explore a few examples and scenarios that show how major businesses have used either subfolders or subdomains based on their goals.

Example 1: HubSpot Blog – Subdomain for Strategic Branding

HubSpot is one of the most recognized platforms in digital marketing and sales. Their main site is hubspot.com, while their blog lives at blog.hubspot.com. This setup clearly separates the blog from their core product offerings.

So why did they choose a subdomain?

HubSpot’s blog is a massive traffic channel in itself, with thousands of educational articles on marketing, sales, and business. It acts as a top-of-funnel asset, driving traffic through content and SEO. Over time, they have built the blog’s authority independently through strong backlinking and consistent publishing.

This approach makes sense for a company of their scale, which has the resources to optimize and manage the subdomain like a separate entity. But for smaller businesses without such resources, this setup may not deliver the same results without significant effort.

Example 2: Moz – Subfolder for Centralized SEO Strength

Moz is a well-known SEO tool provider. Unlike HubSpot, Moz keeps its blog under a subfolder: moz.com/blog. This means all the authority from their home domain flows naturally into the blog and vice versa.

This structure helps Moz reinforce its overall topical authority. Since their blog talks about SEO, search engines can easily connect the relevance between their product and their content. The blog’s success contributes directly to the ranking power of the main site.

This setup is ideal for businesses that produce content closely related to their core products or services. If you want to strengthen your brand’s SEO footprint without dividing your efforts, this is the path to follow.

Example 3: Google – Subdomains for Purpose and Product Segmentation

Google itself uses subdomains heavily to separate its products and services. For example:

• news.google.com for news
• mail.google.com for Gmail
• maps.google.com for Maps

In Google’s case, each product functions as an independent platform, often with unique technologies, user interfaces, and user goals. These aren’t just sections of a site—they are standalone services.

This illustrates that subdomains are suitable when you are offering products or services that differ so much in function that managing them on the same domain would be impractical.

Example 4: E-commerce Brand Adding a Blog

Let’s say you have an online store at example.com selling home decor. You want to start a blog that shares DIY home tips, interior design ideas, and product reviews. Since the blog content supports your main product and strengthens user trust, it makes sense to keep it under example.com/blog.

By doing this, your blog benefits from your store’s existing authority, and the internal links between blog posts and product pages help boost rankings for both. It also keeps your website clean, unified, and easier to manage.

If instead you used blog.example.com, you’d need to build its authority from scratch. That’s more effort and less immediate return, especially if your blog is aimed at supporting product sales rather than becoming an independent content hub.

Example 5: Multilingual Content for International Audience

Suppose you’re running a travel website and want to offer your content in different languages. Some companies use subfolders like example.com/fr/ for French and example.com/es/ for Spanish. Others prefer subdomains like fr.example.com and es.example.com.

If the website’s structure is simple and the content remains within the same niche, subfolders often make more sense. However, if each region has its own team, product offerings, or localized content, subdomains provide more flexibility in terms of management and hosting.

Key Factors to Consider Before Choosing

Here are a few questions to ask yourself before deciding between a subdomain and a subfolder

Is the new section closely related to the core topic of your website? If yes, a subfolder helps consolidate relevance and SEO strength.

Do you have the technical capability and SEO resources to build authority from scratch? If not, avoid subdomains unless you have a specific reason.

Are you offering a different service or product that needs its own identity or hosting environment? If yes, a subdomain might be more suitable.

Is your audience expecting a consistent experience across all parts of your site? If yes, subfolders will maintain a uniform structure.

Will the new section require a separate design, development team, or backend setup? If yes, a subdomain allows more flexibility.

Final Takeaways

There is no one-size-fits-all answer when it comes to choosing between subdomains and subfolders. Both have their advantages, but they serve different purposes. Subfolders are generally better for SEO when the content is closely tied to your main website. They share authority, support faster indexing, and simplify link building.

Subdomains work better when the content, purpose, or audience is different enough to require separation. They give you more freedom for branding, development, and operational flexibility, but they demand more SEO effort upfront.

If you’re planning to restructure your site, add a blog, or build out new sections from scratch, getting the technical setup right is critical. Our Website Development Services can help you create a scalable, SEO-friendly architecture that supports growth without compromising performance or search visibility.

For most small to medium businesses looking to grow their organic traffic, subfolders provide faster and more measurable results. But if your business is expanding into new areas, products, or regions, and you have the resources to handle separate SEO efforts, a subdomain can be a smart choice.

If you’re unsure which route is best for your project, take a step back and evaluate your priorities—whether it’s SEO strength, branding clarity, technical freedom, or content organization. Your answer often lies in what matters most to your users and how search engines will interpret that structure.