What are Sub Domains & Why they Matter?

Domains are now nothing new. In fact they come in many shapes and sizes. Well, more sizes than shapes. In this day of accurateness, functionality and departmentalization, it is important to not only compartmentalize your collection of cereal or perhaps the sweaters you wear per week but it is important to sort your website.

This is where a subdomain comes in. Now to ask if you know what subdomains are, the answer might be “No” when really it should be “Yes”. Let’s face it, it is highly possible that you have seen one before and can quickly identify it in a line up, if you will.

Let’s see. Does this flick on any lights? store.monsterhost.com There! This is a subdomain and they come in many types. Now with that said, we are set to take a deeper look at subdomains and why they matter. Before we delve into what are sub domains though, let’s refresh ourselves as to what are domains.

What’s the definition of domains

A domain is defined in its simplest form as the address of your website. It is the location/name that users’ online type into the URL bar so that they can access your website. So you can safely say that your website acts as a house and your domain name is its address.

In more technical terms, the world that we know as the inter-net is simply a group of computers communicating with each other over a network. With each computer, comes and Internet Protocol (IP) address. A sample IP address looks like this 65.256.45.1.

IP addresses are difficult to remember. Even if you write them down, the annoyance to enter a bunch of numbers can get disturbing. Domains came to the rescue so that we could be relieved of this burden to remember or write down individual addresses. So now instead of a string of numbers, you have monsterhost.com. With domains then, comes the invention of sub domains.

What are sub domains?

A sub domain is any additional part of a domain. Sub domains were invented to better organize and navigate the various sections of a website. In the domain world, as a website owner you can have multiple subdomains for your websites. Eg. store.monsterhost.com.

For this example ‘store’ is the sub domain. monsterhost is the main part of the domain and the ‘.com’ is considered the Top Level Domain (TLD). A sub domain is defined by the website owner and can be anything that person(s) chooses.

What you probably didn’t know about sub domains

Now that you are refreshed into what a domain is and know what sub domains are, here are a bunch of benefits that come with sub domains:

1. Sub domains are rather simple to add and use on your website.
2. Some blog posts get lost overtime. They lose ranking and relevance. With a subdomain, posts that are dedicated to a particular topic will remain relevant and add search engine value.
3. Subdomains are free. With the right hosting plan, you can add subdomains at no additional cost.
4. If it is that you have a large amount of subdomains on one domain, Google will not penalize you.
5. It is rather easy to install/upload anything to a subdomain without impacting your main site.
6. More often than not a subdomain tagged to an already well-ranked site gets indexed rather quickly and also benefits from the parent sites’ success.
7. When you add a resource heavy application or plugin, your site will not be slowed down. You have the option to install them on a subdomain instead.
8. You will establish brand awareness and align that brand with you when you use subdomains.
9. Subdomains help when you are targeting a certain country, group or market segment.
10. Subdomains highlight a major topic from your main site.
11. If you wish to add value and resources for your readers, clients and teams or even attract new ones, use subdomains.
12. Subdomains define the specificity of the sections on your site. For example mail.monsterhost.com.
13. Adding functionality for your own use when you are unable to is done through using subdomains.
14. Subdomains are good when using WordPress multi-sites for yourself and others.
15. Subdomains can be used for learning purposes.

Other benefits of sub domains

1. Subdomains can also be used to increase online presence.
2. They are a great tool for coaching, mentoring and support.
3. Subdomains can be used for aspects pertaining to links which don’t rank so well however still provide value to readers.
4. They can be used for different topics or a particular niche.
5. Subdomains may come in handy when you need to keep your main site informational but at the same time want to sell different products or services.
6. They highlight major topics on your main site.
7. Subdomains can be utilized for search engine purposes. If it is that a search engine does not like a particular topic, you have the option to put it on a subdomain subsequently not allowing this topic to damage the reputation of your main site.

Conclusion

Subdomains come with many benefits and when utilized to their maximum potential, you will yield many different benefits. With the right hosting plan, you can also increase the scope and diversity of your website immensely.