Some sites have a forum under a subdomain

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Some sites have a forum under a subdomain

why?

chopin2256

4:10 pm on Jun 12, 2007 (gmt 0)

I was just wondering if there are any benefits of having a forum under a subdomain. I run a forum, but it is simply under a directory. I want to add other things to the site, such as a social network and music management system, and I am wondering if my structure should be changed. I use vbulletin for the forum under a /forum directory, but I am going to have a social network and music management system built for me, and it will be integrated with vbulletin. If I was to put the social network in a subdomain, would integration be possible if vbulletin is not on the same subdomain? And, does it even matter if I use subdomains or not? I am just wondering why some big sites, such as myspace, choose to use subdomains for their message boards.

Thanks!

andyll

6:37 pm on Jun 12, 2007 (gmt 0)

I originally had my forums on a subdomain and changed it to a sub-directory after several years for 2 reasons:

1) Cookies. It is an APS.net forum and wanted to share login information (including persistence) between the forums and the main website.

2) SEO. I feel that SEs are considering more site wide factors as opposed to just page factors. So I believe having 1000s of user generated content on my topic strengthens my main site.

Andy

maximillianos

4:45 pm on Jun 13, 2007 (gmt 0)

I agree with the subfolders option. A sub-domain is considered a new site from the search engines perspective. Plus I think having your existing content "grow" with user comments makes it much more valuable. Consider embedding your forum functionality into your existing pages.