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Ask HN: What is better: artist.domain.com or domain.com/artist?

9 points by northband ↗ HN
I'm putting together a simple web app that profiles artists. I'm curious which is better for search engines - having the artist at the beginning of the domain or after?

10 comments

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itsprofitbaron
If you want to build strong domain authority and have the artist profiles take advantage of the positive metrics & ranking ability of the domain then use: domain.com/artist (the sub-domains do not always inherit all of the positive metrics and ranking ability of domain.com)
xtraclass
artistdomain.com

(not artist.domain.com, not domain.com/artist)

keyword ('artist') within the name part (www.name.com) <= 15 characters for the main part, no - or _ in the name part

dxm
It sounds as if he/she's starting a website for artists to join, purchasing a new domain for each artist is hardly reasonable.
keiferski
Subdomains can be a little confusing for nontechnical people. Go with domain.com/artist.
xraystyle
DOMAIN.COM/ARTIST

Giving people directories vs. their own subdomains is much easier/simpler to manage.

shadowhand
I have one word for you: pushState. Eventually you will want to use it, and you're screwed if you used subdomains.
js4all
domain.com/artist for seo and easier handling. If you are allowing user generated content and logins, than go for artist.domain.com because it is the only way to isolate cookies.
T-hawk
Cookies have a Path attribute, right? A cookie can be defined to go only to domain.com/artist1 and not domain.com/artist2 .
northband
Thanks everyone - domain.com/artist is what it will be. Look forward to a Show HN: soon once I get this put up.
ozarius
If the artist focuses on the art, and the art is good, then why would it matter if it's artist.domain.com or domain.com/artist?