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What are the different domains?
If you get talking about domains, you may hear a few different phrases and you wouldn’t be alone wondering what they all mean and what’s the difference.
Here’s an easy-to-understand guide to help you understand the difference between Root Domain, Subdomain, Exact URL and Subfolder, what they really mean and why you may consider them for your website.
Why is it important to know the difference?
Each of the different domains plays a different role in how your site may rank and perform in search engines – the correct and incorrect usage may impact your site.
Root Domain
The root domain is the main home of a website. For example:
- site.co.uk
- site.com
- site.uk
When you own the root domain, you then own everything that sits beneath it, including subdomains, subfolders and every other page that lives there.
Tip: When creating a new site or building your brand, it is often a sensible decision to purchase all of the domains, including your brand name, such as the .com, .co.uk, etc. You only need to use the one that is most relevant to you (such as .co.uk for a UK-based site), but it is a good way to secure and futureproof your brand.
Subdomain
When you have a subdomain, this sits in front of the root domain and is typically used to house a separate section of the site, such as blogs, support, help and shop. For example:
- blog.site.co.uk
- support.site.co.uk
- help.site.com
- shop.site.uk
Search engines and crawlers will treat a subdomain like a separate site, which can be useful if you want to have a completely separate area for a specific reason, such as a support and help area. However, choosing to use a subdomain could split your SEO authority and, in turn, impact potential rankings. It is important to consider this before implementing a subdomain.
Exact URL
An exact URL includes the full protocol (https://), domain name, any subdomains, subfolder path and any optional query parameters, e.g. ?utm_source=google. For example:
- https://site.co.uk/blog-post-title
- https://site.co.uk/blpg-post-title?utm_source=google
Subfolder
A subfolder is known as a path that follows the root domain. It is a way to correctly organise your content and the structure of your site so that users, search engines and AI tools can understand your site and its structure. For example:
- site.co.uk/services
- site.co.uk/shop
- site.co.uk/blog
Using subfolders means that all content remains part of the same root domain, making it easier for search engines to consolidate authority and understand the site’s hierarchy. This is generally the recommended structure for SEO when you want all content to build the authority of the main root domain.
Need more help?
If you are planning on a new site or restructuring your current site and still feel that you need some help with the site’s structure and which domains to use, we can help!
If you are restructuring, you may need a website migration, which manually maps old URLs to the new ones and is an important step to maintaining site health.
Get in touch with the team today for a chat.
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