For a concise response? Redirect your blog to your primary site for enhanced SEO.Watch this video to understand the SEO implications of using a subdomain or subfolder: Google does not take sides in the subdomain versus subdirectory SEO controversy.They advise selecting the option that aligns best with your business and long-term goals. However, many SEO experts have discovered that subdomains and SEO are not a compatible pairing.Therefore, unless your company is a corporation with unique sub-brands, like Disney, you should host your blog as a subdirectory of your main site. This method offers optimal SEO advantages and aids in guiding your target audience through your website, from initial awareness to conversion.Continue reading to delve into the SEO subdomain versus subdirectory debate and the process of redirecting a blog from a subdomain to a subdirectory. For tailored SEO advice, submit your URL to receive personalized recommendations based on your website!For those already familiar with the difference between subdomains and subdirectories, feel free to proceed! This section offers a brief overview for newcomers.What is a subdomain?A subdomain (blog.example.com) is an additional component of your domain name (example.com). Typically, companies use subdomains for staging new website designs, testing tools, hosting online stores, or managing multiple brands.What is a subdirectory?A subdirectory (example.com/blog/) is a subfolder within your domain name (example.com). Businesses utilize subdirectories to organize website content, such as placing product pages under a “products” subdirectory (example.com/products/).Both subdomains and subdirectories offer value, but which is more beneficial for SEO? Refer to the table below for a concise comparison of subdomains versus subdirectories for SEO:Subdomains are generally not the optimal choice for SEO. Read on to discover the reasons!Two advantages of using subdomains for SEO are:
Manages multiple brands under one domain name
Summary: Corporations with multiple brands can leverage subdomains for SEO to organize their holdings. For most companies, however, a single brand is sufficient. Consequently, the average business will not gain significant SEO benefits from using a subdomain for their blog.
Global corporations like Disney benefit from using subdomains for SEO.This is due to Disney’s diverse range of standalone brands, which include amusement parks, television channels, movies, a cruise line, a record label, and a venture company. Managing all these brands under the disney.com domain name would be overwhelming.Therefore, Disney employs subdomains, including entirely separate domains for its record label. Subdomains for SEO are appropriate in this scenario due to Disney’s varied brands. It is also logical when considering the user intent behind these brands.For instance, someone researching a trip to Walt Disney World has a different mindset than someone seeking the latest release on Disney+. Subdomains are suitable in this case because they cater to distinct user intents.Most businesses are not like Disney. Therefore, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) rarely require subdomains.Even if you offer multiple services, such as residential and commercial landscaping, these services fall under your main brand, company, and purpose: Professional landscaping.
Supports an international SEO strategy
Summary: Subdomains can aid international SEO as they operate as separate sites, which is beneficial for international SEO since you are establishing a new online presence in a new area. However, this advantage does not support hosting your main blog on a subdomain for SEO.In international SEO, you often optimize your SEO content for a specific location and language. For example, if you are expanding into France, you may translate existing blog posts into French and add the hreflang tag to inform Google that your content is in French and intended for French users. 
You might also create the following subdomain: fr.example.com. A separate subdomain is effective in this case because you are establishing an online presence in a new area. This subdomain is likely to attract links from relevant sites in that area or language, such as France or French.For most businesses, especially SMBs, international SEO is not a priority. Even if you serve global markets, it does not make sense to host your main site’s blog on a subdomain. This is because hosting your main website’s blog on a subdomain comes with a few drawbacks.Summary: Google views subdomains as separate from your main website.
Since Google treats your subdomain and main site as distinct entities, you must attract backlinks to both websites. Hosting your blog on a subdomain creates more work without providing additional benefits.The disadvantage of using subdomains for SEO is that you have more work without any real reason.Generally, a subdomain functions as an independent site. Consider Disney’s subdomains, for example. The Walt Disney World website is entirely focused on visiting Walt Disney World, unlike Disney merchandise or streaming services.This approach works well for Disney because these subdomains can attract appropriate and relevant links. 
If a blogger wants to highlight Walt Disney World, for instance, they will link to the Walt Disney World site. Links like these make Google’s job easier.Google can discern when someone is discussing Disney+ versus Walt Disney World. As a result, Google can accurately rank the Walt Disney World subdomain in search results. 
However, it’s important to note that Google views the links to the Walt Disney World site as separate from any links to the Disney+ website.This means subdomains have independent backlink profiles, which means if you have a blog on a subdomain, you’ll need a separate backlink strategy for it. Instead of focusing on attracting links to your domain, you’re now tasked with building links to both your domain and your subdomain. Since blogs typically power a company’s backlink strategy, having a blog on a subdomain doesn’t make sense for SEO.You’re essentially creating extra work for yourself without any good reason. Why work to build links to your blog in addition to your main site? There isn’t a benefit to the strategy as an SMB.Having your blog on a subdomain is only creating more work for you while undermining your SEO efforts.When considering where to host your blog, subdomains can actually harm SEO. Placing your blog on a subdomain creates more work for your business and undermines your SEO strategy. Instead of optimizing a single site, you’ll have the task of optimizing two sites.This includes building each website’s backlink profile, which is already one of the most challenging aspects of SEO. Make it easier on yourself and your SEO by creating (or moving) your blog to your main site.When it comes to subdirectories and SEO, subdirectories often make the most sense. Continue reading to understand why!The benefits of using subdirectories for SEO include:
Focuses link building efforts on a single domain
Summary: Subdirectories enable your business to concentrate its time, energy, and resources on a single link building strategy. You don’t have to attract links to your main website and your subdomains. Instead, you concentrate all your efforts (and reap all the benefits) by keeping all your content on your main domain.When building and expanding your website using subdirectories versus subdomains, you can develop a single strategy for attracting links to your site. This approach not only saves time but also maximizes the impact of SEO on your company. Additionally, all the content you publish on your site, whether a new blog post or a new product page, benefits from the strength of your backlink profile.This advantage can lead to another benefit: helping your content rank faster and higher in search results.
Improves the ability to rank in search results
Summary: You use SEO to gain the benefits of ranking at the top of search results. Subdirectories (versus subdomains) offer the best option for achieving these benefits, as they focus your SEO efforts on a single site, enabling you to improve your rankings more quickly.Building an online reputation with search engines takes time. Search engines want to ensure they can trust your website and its content. Since backlinks act as a “thumbs up” or vote of confidence for a piece of content, search engines focus on the backlink profiles of sites.Once you establish an authoritative and trustworthy backlink profile, though, your website can gain even more value from SEO. For example, your content may rank faster in search results because Google knows you deliver quality. Moreover, your content is likely to rank higher due to your reputation.Focusing your SEO strategy on subdirectories versus subdomains helps you maximize the benefits of an authoritative and trustworthy backlink profile. This is because, again, you have a single backlink profile. You’re dedicating your resources to a single site instead of trying to manage your site, plus a subdomain.
Provides easier tracking in Google Analytics
Summary: Hosting your blog on your main website simplifies tracking your site’s performance in Google Analytics. You can view page views, bounce rates, conversion rates, and more from a single website, which saves time and makes evaluating your online performance straightforward.Google Analytics is a valuable and powerful tool for tracking, measuring, and evaluating your website’s online performance. When you use subdirectories for SEO instead of subdomains, it becomes easier to track your site’s performance. 
Typically, with subdomains, you must set up each subdomain separately. For brands like Disney and its subdomains, this feature makes sense. Disney likely wants to analyze the performance of its Walt Disney World site and Disney+ site separately because the two brands and websites operate independently.However, if you use a subdomain to host your blog, this approach doesn’t make sense. Your blog serves to support your company and its brand. If you’re looking at your website’s overall performance, you’ll also be looking at your blog’s performance.However, when you have your blog on a subdomain, this process becomes time-consuming because you’re viewing and coordinating data from two separate sites. When you host your blog on your main website, you can immediately resolve this issue. You can log into Google Analytics and check the performance of your entire site, including your blog.This streamlined reporting can also make it easier to evaluate the customer journey. For instance, you can see how customers move from a blog post to a service page and use that data to inspire future content.Summary: Attempting to use subdirectories in place of subdomains can lead to problems, especially for global corporations relying on subdirectories for various brands. These companies may encounter issues and waste significant time evaluating the online performance of each brand.The only drawback of using subdirectories for SEO is for global companies with multiple brands.For example, Disney might experience some issues with using subdirectories for SEO. When reviewing Google Analytics data, for instance, Disney would have to spend an unnecessary amount of time creating views and segments to measure individual brand performance. The website would also share its backlink profile with all these sub-brands, which could weaken the overall profile. 
