Are you a Singapore business owner who is wondering whether you should get a new domain or a sub domain? Well, then it’s important that you take several things into consideration. If you purchase a new domain, then you will be starting an entirely different website. However, a subdomain is simply a directory on a main domain which operates independently.
There are three options available to you. First, there is the www.yoursite.com. This option is your main website. Then, there is the example.yoursite.com. This option is the subdomain. Lastly, there is the www.yoursite.com/example. This option is the main domain. Each of these choices has its own set of pros and cons. In this article, we’ll discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of the new domain and subdomain.
New Domain or Subdomain: Which is Best?
When it comes to figuring out which option is best for you, it’s important to remember that each situation is different. And therefore, there is no one size fits all answers. You must take the time to examine your own personal goals. Let’s take a look at three common scenarios:
Scenario 1: You Want to Maintain Your Existing Branding
If you are someone who has a brand name or you have an exact match domain name such as MyProduct.com then you may be considering extending your range of products and promoting each on its own unique website. Let’s say that you have a sports site that focuses on sports clothing or apparel and you want to start offering sports equipment. If your business or website is doing particularly well, then you need to make sure that you are able to retain your brand recognition.
So what is the best way to make sure that your audience will always know who you are? In this particular case, it would be better to go with the main domain because it actually supports brand recognition. This is one of the reasons why you should examine what your future goals are when choosing the best domain name.
In this scenario, you would set up subdomains for each distinct sport. This way you will be able to use folders for each subsection of the sport. Let’s use basketball as an example. Your subdomain URL would be with similar subdomains for each sport. You would be able to define the location of several aspects of each sport with your folders.
Not only does this give you the benefit of extremely logical URL structures that would allow you to retain your branding, but it will also give you the ability to generate folders and subdomains to cover just any sport and different aspects of each sport in a way that all of your visitors will be able to understand.
You can extend this example to suit your own brand. If you already have a well-known website, blog or brand, then subdomains are the way to go if you are extending your range of products or services while remaining at least loosely connected with the products for which you are best known.
Scenario 2: You Have a Specific Domain Name
Another scenario is that you may have a specific domain name that is bringing in revenue. In this case, you may have an interest in promoting other products. However, you may not necessarily want to connect these products to your original website.
In this example, you still have the domain yoursportsstore.com but you have recently decided to venture out into toys and other children’s products. Sure, you could easily, and cheaply, create a subdomain such as lego.yoursportsstore.com. However, while this may look great, but there aren’t many visitors that will be searching for legos in a sports store. And conversely, you aren’t going to get many toy enthusiasts to search for a toy in a sports store.
In this case, it would be best to purchase a new domain name and set up an entirely new website for your products. This is because your products are in no way relevant to each other. There is a very slim chance that the audiences will connect. So a new domain would be best for your digital marketing.
Scenario 3: You Have A Generic Domain Name
Perhaps you are someone who is using a generic domain name. For example, it may be something like MySite.com. In this case, you would use it to promote a variety of products or services. A great example of this scenario is Amazon.
If you are a Singapore business owner who operates a website that has a generic domain name and it’s successful, then you should keep it. Sure, you may not be able to link your website to any specific product or service, but it still represents your brand. If you would like to test things out, then you can try using a subdomain to promote the first ‘off-topic’ products. There is a good chance that you will be put in the same category as Amazon, a ‘‘provide-all’ domain.
Consider purchasing a new domain name for each of your products. This could be a great way to get started, just keep in mind that this is an expensive option. One of the biggest benefits of using a subdomain is that you will be able to explain what you are doing on your main domain’s homepage. Also, in the beginning, you may offer a catalog of all of your products hyperlinked to the most appropriate subdomain. This way, all of your visitors will know what to look for.
This is exactly how Amazon has set up its website. Just as is the case with Amazon, your visitors will be able to click to your main domain first and then search for the appropriate subdomain. You could use folders, but this is not great in terms of the search engines.
Subdomain SEO Benefits
It is extremely easy to assume that creating a brand new domain is the best option when you’re making significant changes to your inventory. This is especially the case when it comes to search engine optimisation. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes subdomains are better.
They allow you to main your branding and the authority that you have built up in your niche. You will be able to easily link your subdomains. Every subdomain inherits some of the trust and authority of your main domain. You can save time because you won’t have to start the SEO process from scratch like you would if you were to create a website that’s new. Also, it’s much easier to manage a site that has various subdomains and just one main domain, especially if you want to them to all be associated with your brand.
When it comes to extending the scope of your brand or range of products, there isn’t much functional difference between new domains and subdomains. So there are no significant differences. Whether a user clicks newestproduct.com or newestproduct.myproduct.com really makes no difference to them. They would be clicking on ‘newproduct’ as the anchor text as opposed to the naked URL.
Final Verdict
Subdomains give Singapore business owners the ability to promote various products and they only have to use one domain name. You will be able to save on the domain name registration. You will be able to maintain your company’s branding while still offering a large range of products much like Amazon.
When it comes to the subject of SEO and internal linking, Google regards subdomains as internal links. This means that all of your subdomains will likely to be crawled when your main domain is visited by the bots. And you won’t have to worry about submitting separate sitemaps for each of your subdomains. There is a good chance that you will get more links to one domain as opposed individual links to all of your separate domains. Ultimately, this means that there is less work for you to do. Subdomains are much easier to manage than are several separate domains.
However, this isn’t to say that this option is without its flaws. When using subdomains, you will find that your branding gets diluted. And this is because you are associating it with various products that may be unconnected. Depending on the length of your main domain name as well as that of your subdomain, your URL may appear extremely long. As far as Google is concerned, there is a chance that your website may not be regarded as a proper website.
The Takeaway
As you can see, there are several things that you consider when deciding between new domains and subdomains. Each business owners goals and objectives are different. Ideally, you should consider the advice of Google’s webspam chief, Matt Cutts. Cutts suggests that you use subdomains if you would like to separate distinct content. Subdomains will be able to provide you with an entire main domain along with ranking value. This is because they tend to focus the disparate topics of your website into tightly controlled areas as opposed to presenting your website with too much content that could possibly confuse the users.
This is not to say that there aren’t cases in which individuals domains can really work to your advantage. But in most cases, subdomains are the better option when each subdomain is related to your topic or general concepts of your main domain. If this not the case, then you should definitely consider using folders until you are ready to purchase new domain names. Subdomains are thought of in the same way as most other web pages in relation to SERPs, however, they can easily take on all of the authority of your main domain.
