What does subdomain mean?

What is a subdomain?

A subdomain is a domain that is located under your main

domain

. For example, the following are recognized as subdomains:

https://auctions.example.co.jp/

The above subdomain is under “https://example.co.jp/”. In addition, even though it is called a subdomain, there are cases where what is considered as a subdomain is different. For example, domains under the main domain are generally called subdomains, but labels such as “co”, “jp”, and “eaxmple” are sometimes collectively called subdomains.

Difference between domain and subdomain

Although at first glance they may appear to be the same domain, domains and subdomains are completely different things. First, there are different ways to acquire domains and subdomains. When acquiring a domain, it is common to purchase and acquire a domain managed by a major domain company, such as

Onamae.com

or
Xserver Domain
.

On the other hand, subdomains are not obtained by purchasing them from a domain management company. Subdomains are set up from

the server

that manages the domain. Therefore, there is no cost to acquire a subdomain.

Additionally, domains and subdomains are recognized by

search engines

like Google and Yahoo! as separate URLs. This means that

the SEO

ratings are also different. However, even though it is recognized as a completely different URL, the operating company itself is judged to be the same. In fact, there is a way to operate a subdomain in order to improve the main domain’s reputation, increase the value of the operating company as a subdomain, and increase the SEO rating of the main domain as a result.

Difference between subdomain and subdirectory

Subdirectory is a term that is often confused with subdomain. Just as domains and subdomains are different, subdomains and subdirectories are also very different. Subdirectory refers to creating a new

directory

under the domain that exists as the main domain. For example, the following case applies to subdirectories:

main domain


https://example.co.jp/

subdirectory


https://example.co.jp/example-category

The “example-category” part will be a subdirectory. In the case of a subdirectory, the SEO rating of the main domain is inherited, so it is ideal for

owned media that

wants to inherit the rating and operate it.

Reference article

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