Many people have asked me this question if creating keyword rich subdomains can help their site in SEO.

Well the answer lies in another simple question – Is your site well optimized for the search engines?

If no – no matter how many subdomains you create – keyword rich or not – its not going to help your site in SEO.

If yes – you might find that some of the subdomains are getting good ranks in the search engines and some are not.

Why? If your site was well optimized and was already getting good ranks for some keywords it may get top ranks for some keyword rich subdomains not because you created a subdomain, but because all the components of the subdomain page *impressed* the algorithm of the search engines.

These components can be:

a) the information provided
b) the uniqueness of the content
c) off page optimization
d) inbound links to the page

So, should you create a keyword rich subdomain?

Now, read this!

Had you NOT created sub domains but instead created directories you would have still got the same results. Just like sub domains, some of the directories would have got top ranks and some not.

It boils down to this:

Whether you create sub domains or directories – it does not matter to the search engines.

To get top ranks – The Site Has To Be Well Optimized!

So what should you do?

My advice is instead of thinking about the seo aspects; take a decision as per the design demands of your site. For example, if you are starting an entirely different service and want to keep some unique information relating to that service/product only, then a subdomain is a better option. You can keep extra information under that subdomain.

But if you are offering only one service or want to tell more about a service to your clients, then creating a directory is a better option.

NOTE: Whatever you do, make sure the subdomain or the new directory is properly indexed by the search engines.

What do you prefer? Creating a subdomain or a directory?