Breathe a sigh of relief, the second part of Subdomains vs Subdirectories is here. No more waiting. 

Subdirectories are the best choice when you want a page to target specific keywords that are related to each other and the root domain’s theme. It wouldn’t work if you were to create a page targeting Siamese cats but threw in a section about bonsai trees for example. The search engines (SE) wouldn’t like that very much (considering relevance is the priority) and your rankings for that page would suffer.

As with subdomains there are some pointers to remember. For example, when using a subdirectory you should take your site structure into consideration. Using subdirectories adds pages but categorises your site better. There are more pointers of course, so let’s get cracking.

Subdirectories don't require their own sitemaps. (Image by Harpreet Singh )

What are subdirectories?

First off they are also referred to as subfolders. Secondly you can recognise them easily: ‘www.cats.com/siamese”.

Basically a subdirectory is another directory inside the main domain. E.g. “www.cats.com” is the root domain and a Siamese subdirectory can be included like so: “www.cats.com/siamese” where “/siamese” is the subfolder.

Another example that springs to mind is that, in general, a lot of websites have an “images” subdirectory where they keep all the images.

Lycos gives another short but sweet answer to what a subdirectory is: A subdirectory is a folder, located within your site. Generally, people use subdirectories to keep their site's content organised.

It really is as simple as that!

But because we all love the GottaQuirk readers here, you are being awarded a more thorough look into what subdirectories are. Behold.

Things you should know about Subdirectories:

In General 

• May be better to use if the site already features on the SERPs. Subdirectories form part of the site so they can piggyback on the domain authority better than subdomains. They stand a better chance of ranking higher because they are so close to the ranking domain (as long as the site is already ranking that is).
• Better to use for a blog. As it is hosted on the same domain, the traffic a blog would receive can be passed around the site. There are also longtail keywords targeted in blogs due to the different categories that blogs have. For example, an online marketing blog will have a few different categories such as "affiliate marketing". Not every post written about affiliate marketing will contain the same keywords, so those pages will be attracting traffic for the long tail or not so common keywords as well as the more popular keywords. It's a good way to target more keywords than you can on your static site pages.
• As with subdomains, site owners can target different languages and locations e.g. www.cats.com/french.
• They add more content to your site, and so may be better to use for new sites. This gives the site a better chance of ranking as there is more for the SE’s to judge the site credibility by.
• There is no limit to the amount of subdirectories you can have.

Search Engine Submissions

• Subdirectories are generally indexed quicker by the Search Engines (if SEO optimised correctly). There is no extra waiting period like there may be with subdomains (remember the sandbox issue?).
• Web developers or site owners don’t have to add and verify each subdirectory in Google Webmaster Tools as they are part of the main website that SHOULD already be listed and verified. Each subdomain will have to be added and verified separately.

Links

• Inbound links and internal linking to and from the subdirectory are good for the entire site. The inbound links add to the authority of the site and the subdirectory internal linking helps the search engines spider through the site easier.
• Pages may benefit from being on powerful root and subdomains.
• They may receive less link weight from the main domain in general but they have the chance to grow individually in authority from inbound links.
• The link juice sent to the folder is distributed to the root domain and other subdomains.

Content

• You will encounter problems if the subdirectory is trying to target different subjects on the same page e.g. cats and bonsai trees. These sub pages on your site should be built to target specific keywords that are related to each other.
• You should target keywords on subfolders rather than themes.
• Subdirectories are better to use if there is not a lot of content on a specific subject.
• A subfolder page can rank well with a unique first paragraph, page heading and meta tag.

Technical Stuff

• Subdirectories are easier to setup and maintain than subdomains; thus saving time and management fees where applicable.
• It is simpler to share common files such as style sheets on subdirectories because the whole site uses one folder for these types of files. Subdomains each have their own.
• Only one sitemap is needed as these subfolders are part of one website. Subdomains each need their own sitemap.
• The code is all in the same file storage space so it’s easier to edit and move code from one place to another.

Below is a summary of the top 5 differences between Subdomains and Subdirectories: