Sub-Domians for sportsbook reviews, or not

[Frank Benjamin]

Ok, I have really redesigned my blog and I am not focusing on sportsbook promotions as much with banners and such, as I am offering tips on betting, picks and promoting my own products, like the Sports Betting Academy.

Nonetheless, I am not dropping sportsbook promotion entirely, but I am trying to diversify my marketing by offering products that all bettors (online and off) are interested and are less affected by the chaotic industry and government actions.

So my idea is to make a Sportsbook Review Center section of my site. I was going to do this on a subdomain. My question, do you think I should have a subdomain for each sportsbook (ie bodog.oddsonbetting.net) which would have pages such as bonus, review, and news.

Or should I keep it all on the same subdomain (sportsbookreviewcenter.oddsonbetting.net/bodog/...)?

I am leaning toward the later. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks for your insight.

[Frank Benjamin]

Ok, if no one has an answer to the previous question, can someone answer this.

What are the benefits, if any in, in terms of SEO in having a subdomain verses not having a subdomain. (ie: somepage.mydomain.com vs mydomain.com/somepage)?

Thanks!

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

Sorry I missed this one, but here goes.

The answer to your second question is; Google sees the two as individual sites and you can host the subdomain in your target area and set Webmaster Tools Geographical preferences to your target region. And you can do this with every subdomain if you with.

Additionally you can rank for each plus if you link from index to index you will pass a significant amount of PR/trust & authority directly to the page/microsite/subdomain.

Here's an excerpt from Top 12 SEO Tips for 2010 that I wrote for Europartners (my sponsor at the time) that explains this all in detail;

Geographical Targeting & Subdomains – (Advanced Geotargeting) – This isn’t for the feint at heart, the lazy, or the website owner that isn’t ready to do the extra work to get your piece of the pie.

Using Geotargeting for Language and Regional Targeting

The various ways that people search and the results the search engines are delivering are evolving rapidly. Smarter queries and more complex algorithms mean that you need to use various techniques to be sure you are showing up in the results. Local search, advanced search, regional search and language-based searches are some of the filters an end-user or a search engine can use in determining who shows up, when they show up and where they show up.

Geotargeting is one tool Google has refined and one that you can manipulate to a point in order to increase saturation in any market. Beyond the obvious on-page considerations, different searches will deliver (in most cases) a different set of results.

The results can differ greatly depending on several considerations;
1 .The IP of the end-user
2 .The server location of the website
3 .Any geographically targeted settings in Webmaster Central
4 .The relationship between the search filters and the resulting web pages (I.e. Did they search for Pages from [region] or Pages in [language]
5 .If the end-user is searching a different extension than the defaulted engine (they manually enter Google.com searching for US or English results in a non-US region.

The other elements that will affect rankings will be back links;
1 .Are the links from a TLD that matches the destination URL (I.e. .nl linking to an .nl website)?
2. Is the IP linking website located in the same region and the linked URL?
3 .Page rank, linking anchor text, additional outbound links on the page linking to you
4 .On-page relevancy
5 .Language based meta-tags
6 .Everything in the above 5 items relating to the linking website/page

Any one of these elements can give you an edge over your competition. Searching any of Google's (non-US) datasets will generally return a variety of websites when no language or location filter is selected. These can include internal pages in a website, subdirectories (www.yoursite.com/french), Subdomains (www.french.yoursite.com), and various TLD's (top level domains like .com and .nl). All 11 of the above factors are present (but not exclusive) in the automatic algorithm.

The problem is that no one really knows which approach is best, or which algorithmic attribute is the most effective, so what can we do with this? What we want to do is to look at the existing results using the available search filters, and the existing websites that are ranking high and determine what the best strategy for your website is. This takes deep page analysis of your competitors.

The important thing to note is that there is a hierarchy between one and the other in terms of which is the best solution. Every website has its own individual solution based on their demographics, site mechanics and available resources.

What you need to consider are;
1 .Your target market?
2. If you need or don't need geographical targeting?
3. If you need language based subdomains or subdirectories?
4. Should you move hosting?
Can I afford to do it all?

How & When to Use Geographical Targeting

Here's what to do if you wish to;

Geographically target a region?

1 .Create a subdomain or a subdirectory in the native language and use Webmaster Central to geographically target it
2 .Host the subdomain on a server in the native region and use geographical targeting
3 .Build back links from similar TLD's

Target a specific language?

1 .Create a subdirectory in the native language (I.e. www.yoursite.com/nl/)
2 .Build back links from same language websites
3 .Do not use geographical targeting

The reason that you do not want to use geographical targeting along with a language-based strategy is that if the end-user searches in the native language on Google.com, a site using content in that language will be stronger than the same site with geographical targeting in place. (This isn't dependent on whether you use subdirectories or subdomains unless you hosted the subdomain in the target region).

The answer for me is that I want it all...and NOW!!

I've recently had subdomains rank with geographical targeting turned on and in the native language rank top 10 in 6 weeks. I've had brand new websites with the appropriate TLD's (I.e. .nl, .de & .es) show up in 8 weeks. I've even had a .com hosted in the US without geographical targeting show up in the top 10 results for “Hollywood” terms when they had never been in results in the UK.

You can start with subdomains. Look at your log files to determine where the current traffic is coming from to tell you what to do first. Bounce rates can also tell you a lot.

For example, if your secondary traffic source is Germany and you have a high bounce rate, start with a language-based subdirectory, then maybe move onto creating a subdomains, hosting it in Germany, then set the geographical targeting to Germany in Webmaster Central. Then go back and start all over again using the region that has the next highest contribution.

Important Things to Remember!
• To target a language using only subdirectories do not use geographic targeting
• You can target a language with both subdomains and subdirectories but if you have a top-level TLD (.com) use subdirectories versus subdomains.
• You can use Google geographical targeting on subdomains and subdirectories
• Your title should be in the native language and/or use regional slang terms where they apply.
• Use language-based meta tags whenever targeting language-based searches
• Host subdomains that are for geographical targeting in the target region
• When you implement the subdomain strategy, link to it from the original website
• Create new sitemaps for each subdomain
• When creating meta tags and content be sure to use native slang. (If you sold pants in the US and the UK. Pants are referred to as trousers. Sweaters are referred to as jumpers.
• Get back links from same TLD's (get a .nl link to your .nl site in the native language)
• If you have a TLD (like .nl or .de) do not use geographical targeting. These domains are already associated with its designated region

TIP – In the past when you moved domains to a new host (or in this case Subdomains) it could take up to a week. Google WMC now has a tool that makes this almost instantaneous. Just get your ‘A’ address, move your content and any redirects from the parent site (Remember linking to the new subdomain from your parent site will pass nearly 100% of the PR, trust and authority, even though its seen and treated as a stand-alone website)

In a nutshell, I recommend that if you already have an existing website with a TLD like a .com or .cu.uk, and they are your target market, do not use the geographical targeting option. Start building subdirectories using the top native language determined by looking at Google Analytics or your log files. Identify your top referrer language. If the languages are close, as it the case between the US, UK, New Zealand and Australia, use native slang in the title, metatags and content. Build a new xml site map and manually submit it through all the main search engines.

The next step is to create a subdomain, get a new 'A' address and get it hosted in the region that you are targeting. Build content in the native language as well as setting up the geographical target in Webmaster Central.

Add meta for GPS if possible.

By implementing this strategy, you will have a significant advantage over most of your competition (or a little less after this article is released).


Whether the search is initiated in the region or outside the region, whether your site is located in the region or just hosted there, or even if they search in the native language or manually enter a specific Google engine like Google.com.mx or Google.es, you will have improved saturation.

[Frank Benjamin]

I read and printed that 2010 list and is one of the reason I was thinking about this route.

But, if subdomains carry so much value, why don't we all design sites with subdomains instead of subdirectories?

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

You'd think if he was (madihaghafoor) was going to use XRumer or an auto poster that he would have come up with something better than refusing to talk about SEO in an SEO thread, especially since Hilltop is from 6 years ago, LSI is at last 3 years old (I've been talking about here that long) or other 'fundamental' (right).

Can't wait to see these mate. Bring your best...just make it something that is usable rather than rubbish posts like your first two you made at 1pm and 1:02 spewing gibberish.

Try actually responding to a question and offerring something better than useless material.

[Frank Benjamin]

Search Engine Optimization is still a significant component of my daily Internet Marketing work. I refuse on this blog to discuss basic SEO techniques, I will cover fundamental concepts like Hilltop, LSI and techniques which will make your sites make sense to the engines.

Thanks for nothing. But we all frown on people coming here for self-promotion of their sites. People like Gary do this **** for a living but offer real advise to the question asked. If you did know anything about SEO and obtaining traffic, you would know that this isn't a good tactic.

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

I read and printed that 2010 list and is one of the reason I was thinking about this route.

But, if subdomains carry so much value, why don't we all design sites with subdomains instead of subdirectories?

The easiest way to think about it is that you have two choices;
- Have a site that you work on and get internal branded or target landing pages ranking, in subdirectories, these pages being fed by the overall site PR
- Have multiple websites (or subdomains) that are branded and are fed PR through links from the www.website.com to the www.PR.websites.com. These inherit registration information as well. This means if you have a 5 year old site the subdomains are also 5 years old.

The key here is that Google sees the subdomains all as individual, stand alone sites. This means in a perfect world and on a non or low competitive term, (like a new niche bingo site that you found someone on domain tools registered all the primary URL extensions for foxy bing, wink bingo, etc - unique terms), more than one site can rank at the the same time...even side-by-side

So these are all individual websites as far as Google is concerned, but they all feed off of the PR of the main site;

yoursite.com PR5
bodog.yoursite.com PR3
888.yoursite.com PR3
titancasino.yoursite.com PR3

and so on and so on.

As an Affiliate I used to monitor new domain registrants or brand new IPO's and target their brand, outrank them several times over in the top 10, then sign up for their affiliate program. In many cases I convinced organisations to join Income Access or CJ back in the day and wrote my own pay check.

Anyhow, there are more reasons you want to use subdomains, but read the tip I reposted and you said you mentioned having printed out. It tells you how to do both; subdomains and subdirectories. It mentions targeting language based searches one way, geographical searches another, and many other ways to use the two.

There are 3 immediate benefits to subdomains;

1. Split into individual and better branded or keyword targeted websites. Instant ranking factors are inherited from the primary if you link them. Registration date factors that Google look at for ranking determination are automatically inherited with or without a link.

2. Splitting into subdomains allow better more targeted branding and 'single topic authority". You can also target regions or languages or keywords with the URL.

3. You can Use Google Geotargeting in Webmaster Tools to target a specific region, as well as supporting elements like GPS meta tag and things that the search engines are looking for.

All of these will benefit your ranking and allow you to pick up some of the low-hanging fruit.

I've mentioned this many times, but 1 of every 4 searches is being searched for the first time. This 25% of all searches account for 60% of all online conversions.

Considering that statement and the upcoming Panda (or existing for you US and English Affiliates) algo update better branded, on-topic, geotargeted terms with a few other little tweaks here and there are the way you want to operate.

[Frank Benjamin]

Ok, thanks Gary. That clears it up for me.

I completely agree with the 25/60 rule. I am seeing a lot of traffic for search results that I would never think of, and personally don't think make sense, lol.

This is probably a separate topic and conversation, but how does PR work. My site is rather new, but is, as of today, ranked #3 in Google for my targeted keyword phrase, but still with a PR of 0. Is there something I should/could be doing to raise that?

[GaryTheScubaGuy]

Ignore PR as a metric. Te only benefit from PR is if you are selling links...period.

MozRank or AC rank through Majestic SEO or Yahoo Site Explorer should be the only tools to place any faith in if you are analysing your competition or your own top internal pages.

PR is based on historical information and really useless these days - except for selling links.

If you are ranking #3 for your term I definitely wouldn't be bothered by a PR0.

[Kasinoportalen]

Thanx for sharing your knowledge Gary, much obliged!