Subdomain: A Comprehensive Explanation

Today in this article, we will show you a beginner's guide to a subdomain with a comprehensive and complete explanation

By Claudio Pires
Updated on September 19, 2023
Subdomain: A Comprehensive Explanation

A subdomain is a domain name extension used to organize different sections of a website. Also, this works independently. These are the URLs for other parts of your website. You use your primary domain name and prefix. For example, if your domain is “visualmodo.com,” a subdomain of your domain might be “theme.visualmodo.com.” This article will show you a beginner’s guide to a subdomain with a comprehensive and complete explanation.

Best of all, they use your main domain name and prefixes to identify individual parts of your website. When we say separate parts, we mean it in the truest sense. Subdomains are separate from search engines, so Awards.visualmodo.com will be a completely different website than Visualmodo.com or Visualmodo.com/blog.

Therefore, a WordPress subdomain is a separate installation of the CMS, not the same thing (except for WordPress Multisite). This may be helpful to site administrators for several reasons. In addition, we have a guide explaining how to create a sub-domain.

Explanation of Subdomain Uses

Subdomains can be a great ally in increasing website traffic. Under no circumstances should you create a subdomain that redirects to the same site as your main domain. On the other hand, if there are different sections on the website, none represent abnormal traffic. It’s best to keep these sections within the main domain and not create subdomains.

However, you need a subdomain if you have a content site and want to add a forum for customer interaction or a sales page with different services/products and sections for each page. But be careful! When choosing a subdomain, there are some crucial aspects to consider by following this guide with a comprehensive explanation for beginner’s:

1- Use of Names

You can add another word to the main domain when creating a subdomain. Therefore, area expansion will increase. Consequently, I recommend that the words that occupy the subdomain are short.

2- Content Separation

Content marketing is appearing more and more on the business scene. It is often a shock for potential customers to enter a website looking for news and discover that it is a sales portal. For this reason, many companies choose to differentiate the products and services they offer. Gain your visitors’ trust and allow them to choose what they want to do on your site.

Important Characteristics of Subdomains

  • Personalization: Subdomains allow website owners to customize their URLs for specific purposes. For example, a company might use “blog.example.com” for its blog, “store.example.com” for its online store, and “support.example.com” for its customer support section.
  • Organization: To organize the content of your website logically and hierarchically, you use subdomains. This makes it easier for users to navigate and manage the site.
  • Access Control: Subdomains can also be used to control access to specific parts of a website. For example, a website may have a subdomain “acesso.admin.exemplo.com” accessible only by administrators.
  • DNS Pointing: Each subdomain can be configured separately in the domain name system (DNS), allowing it to be pointed to a different web server. This can be useful for hosting different parts of a website on different servers.
  • SEO: Search engines treat subdomains as separate entities. This means content on different subdomains can be optimized for specific keywords and audience segments.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Subdomain

Benefits of Using Subdomains

Subdomains often help separate content specific to an area of ​​your website. This generous organizational bonus offers several unique benefits.

  • Strengthen organization: Subdomains allow you to organize your website more efficiently by creating separate sections for each subdomain. This allows you to better manage the organization of content and pages within each section.
  • Management is easier: Managing content across multiple websites becomes easier when all content is under one roof rather than spread across multiple domains or subdomains. Segmentation also helps improve reorganization efficiency.
  • Best Brand Features: You can use subdomains to create a unique brand or identity for each website within your overall branding umbrella. This is especially useful if many websites serve different purposes (such as sales, support, etc.).

Disadvantages of Using Subdomains

Considering how valuable subdomains are, everyone should be using them, right? Unfortunately, subdomains also have their drawbacks.

  • It may be problematic to handle: It has been said before that subdomains should make administration easier. However, there are some caveats. Multiple websites based on subdomains can make updating or changing elements on all sites difficult. Let’s say you have a website with multiple subpages (technically also subdomains).
  • Binding complexity: Subdomains can be harder to remember and link to from other websites because there are so many ways people can access these pages. For example, visitors can enter a URL, bookmark it, or come from a search engine.

Final Words About Subdomain

In short, a subdomain is a part of an internet domain used to create structure, customization, and organization on a website. They are useful for dividing a website into distinct sections, each with its purpose and functionality while being part of the same main domain. We hope this beginner’s guide, with a comprehensive and complete explanation of the subdomain, helped you.

Claudio Pires

Claudio Pires is the co-founder of Visualmodo, a renowned company in web development and design. With over 15 years of experience, Claudio has honed his skills in content creation, web development support, and senior web designer. A trilingual expert fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, he brings a global perspective to his work. Beyond his professional endeavors, Claudio is an active YouTuber, sharing his insights and expertise with a broader audience. Based in Brazil, Claudio continues to push the boundaries of web design and digital content, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.