Aplus.net Blog

Welcome to Part 3 in our instructional series on how to maximize the value of your hosting services via Added Domains, Parked Domains, and Subdomains. Every successful online business should understand how to employ these three assets in order to get the most out of money spent on online infrastructure. If you haven’t already, check out our first two articles in the series on Add-on Domains and Parked Domains.

Today, we’ll explore subdomains. A subdomain is a part of a larger domain name, but with a different prefix. Unlike add-on domains or parked domains, which tend to be completely different domain names altogether, a subdomain retains the identity of the larger domain name, keeping the same basic URL root in place.

Wikipedia describes it best:

In the Domain Name System (DNS) hierarchy, a subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain. For example, “mail.example.com” and “calendar.example.com” are subdomains of the “example.com” domain, which in turn is a subdomain of the “com” top-level domain (TLD).

So, think of subdomains as subsections of a larger domain name, with the very first part of the URL (after http://) representing the name of the subdomain. For example, Yahoo utilizes this strategy to great effect, with mail.yahoo.com, news.yahoo.com, etc.  Popular online classifieds site Craigslist also implements suddomains as the name of the city for each site (http://sandiego.craigslistorg, http://kansascity.craigslist.org, http://savannah.craigslist.org, etc.).

Subdomains are a great way to establish branding and to focus on separate products or services within that brand. For example, if your website is ABCDEF.com, your “about us” page can be about.ABCDEF.com, your “contact us” page can be contact.ABCDEF.com, your member sign-in page can be members.ABCDEF.com, and on and on. This method is less cumbersome than ABCDEF.com/contact, ABCDEF.com/about, etc., and it’s also easier to build and to navigate.

URL Structure and Search Engine Optimization

For optimum search engine placement, your domain name and URL naming strategy should incorporate your site’s most important keywords. If you decide to use subdomains in your URL structure, keep your website’s main keywords in mind when determining what to name the subdomains users will browse most frequently, and when naming parked or add-on domain name URLs. Remember, when it’s time to name all these extra domains, search engines tend to favor names that are simple and basic.

You should be able to set up and manage add-on domains, parked domains and subdomains from your hosting account or domain registrar control panel. However, as we usually suggest, always consult with your web host before proceeding if you have any doubts.