We’ve talked about the domain name system quite a few times on this blog, and there’s a reason for that. If you’re building your eCommerce site, moving platforms, or looking to boost your SEO strategy and optimize conversions, you could benefit from learning more about how your website works and what you could do to improve it.
What is a Subdomain?
A subdomain acts as an extension of your main website that performs a specific function or focuses on a particular topic. The purpose of a subdomain is to separate a section of your website from your main site; some do this to stay organized or to keep certain parts of their website from interfering with others.
Types of Subdomains
The most widely known subdomain that you see every day is “www” at the beginning of a URL. The “www” was commonly tacked on to the URL at a time when internet hosts were still named after the services they provided. Though the “www” subdomain is often left out nowadays, most websites should redirect if a user types it in, so both versions of the address end up in the same place. The “www” subdomain name is not required and doesn’t serve much of a purpose anymore (fun fact: it was actually put into practice accidentally).
However, there are other types of subdomains that can be valuable to leverage on your site.
If we were to use a subdomain for the site you’re reading this on, it would look like this: “blog.virid.com” rather than “virid.com/blog” which may be more familiar, and is referred to as a subdirectory. The anatomy of a URL without a subdomain would appear as follows, “https://virid.com” including the protocol at the beginning, the second-level domain (SLD) and the top-level domain (TLD). The standard URL without a subdomain, if you wanted to navigate to a specific page on a site, would look like this: “https://virid.com/blog” with that final name at the end referred to as a page path.
Let’s say you’re visiting a page that is not a part of the original website, but a subdomain. Rather than a page path at the end of a URL, it would look like this: “https://blog.virid.com” with the red section referred to as a subdomain, or a third-level domain.
Rather than navigating to a page within a website, you’ve now been directed to a whole new site with its own independent content, though it is still connected to the main domain. There are several reasons why you may want to do this, and many benefits to doing so as well.
Benefits of a Subdomain
Boost SEO
Since your subdomain is considered a totally separate domain, it could hurt your SEO strategy if you don’t have a thoughtful plan in place. The best SEO strategy is to have a solid user experience and have a site that’s easy to use and works well. That’s why subdomains can actually assist your SEO strategy, because they make specific content easier to find.
Organize Your Content
Sometimes different parts of your site need different design strategies and serve different functions. It can be helpful to have all of your content in exactly the right place, not interfering with other content. This is where a subdomain could simplify that process, and make it easier for you to offer as much as possible without the clutter.
Improve Navigation and UX
A successful website has to be simple and easy to navigate. Nothing should stand in the way between you and your users. A strong user experience improves SEO and will help you build loyalty and trust with your customers. If you have many offerings and many different types of customers, a subdomain could streamline the user experience by separating pertinent information into different sections.
Subdomain Use Cases
Geo-Specific Sites
This type of subdomain allows sites to target users in specific geographic locations. Imagine a shoe store that has multiple locations. Rather than having every location in each city on one website, the URL could look like this: “https://boston.shoestore.com.” This approach can help create a strong regional presence and cultivate different unique audiences for the business.
Language-Specific Sites
Here is an example of a language-specific subdomain: “https://en.wikipedia.org” where the “en” stands for English and represents the language used on the site. This is helpful if your website is translated manually, however, for eCommerce merchants who operate in multiple regions around the world, there are more efficient ways to detect a customer’s location and change languages/currency automatically, without the need to navigate to a separate site.
Forums and Support
Another example of a subdomain use case is for help pages or community pages. These pages might have very different design elements and serve a different purpose than your main site. You may want to use this if your forum page or support page contains a lot of content that could clutter your primary site or looks very different from your main site.
Subdomain v. Subdirectory
You may be wondering why you would want to choose to use a subdomain rather than a subdirectory, so let’s walk through the differences.
You should only use a subdomain if the content on that section of your site differs a lot from the content on your main site, as it could negatively impact your SEO to separate content. You may also consider certain portions of your site that serve existing users and thus don’t have an impact on SEO regardless, like help pages. Those are good use cases for a subdomain rather than a subdirectory.
How to Set Up a Subdomain
Once you’re ready to set up a subdomain, the process differs depending on your platform provider. You will have to choose your subdomain names, update your domain’s DNS records, then configure your server to recognize the subdomain. You will have to add a “CNAME” or “ALIAS” record to your DNS zone file.
If you’re not sure how to proceed or are struggling to create a subdomain and looking for expert guidance, Virid’s award-winning eCommerce platform marketAgility combined with ongoing, dedicated support from our team is the all-in-one solution to all of your eCommerce challenges. We understand that creating and maintaining a website can be tedious and complex, that’s why our eCommerce platform was designed for scalability, efficiency, and optimal performance. Ready to get started? Schedule your consultation today.
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