What is a subdomain?

Let’s cut to the chase: at its most basic, a subdomain is a prefix added before your main domain name, separated by a dot, that allows your website to be divided into distinct parts depending on what you want them to do. For example, “blog.webcentral.au” is a subdomain of “webcentral.au”.

So, how do subdomains work?

Imagine your website, say, "yourgreatbusiness.au," as your primary online visitor hub – this is where your most important activity occurs. Now, what if you wanted to build a new, but separate section within that online hub – perhaps a standalone e-commerce store, a dedicated microsite for one of your business’s upcoming events, or a separate blog full of supporting content? This is exactly what a subdomain allows you to do.  Instead of just "yourgreatbusiness.au," you might have "blog.yourgreatbusiness.au," "shop.yourgreatbusiness.au," or "support.yourgreatbusiness.au." The "blog," "shop," and "support" parts are the subdomains. They effectively create separate, yet importantly linked, sections of your website.

Here’s the best part, while a subdomain is part of your main domain, it functions as a completely independent website in many ways. It can have its own unique content, its own design, and even be hosted on a different server if needed. This amazing flexibility is one of the key reasons why subdomains are such an asset for anyone looking to efficiently expand their digital footprint. They offer a neat way to diversify your offerings without having to register a whole new domain name, saving you both time and resources.

Subdomain vs subdirectory – what’s the difference?

Hold on, subdirectories are also a thing. Are subdirectories different from subdomains?

The simple answer is: yes, they are.

The key difference between subdomains (such as “blog.yourgreatbusiness.au”) and subdirectories (such as ““yourgreatbusiness.au/blog/”) lies in how search engines and web servers perceive them. From a technical standpoint, a subdomain is treated more like a separate website by search engines. While it benefits from the authority of its parent domain, it typically needs to build its own SEO authority to some extent.

On the other hand, a subdirectory is specifically seen as a part of your main website. All the SEO benefits, link equity, and authority of your primary domain flow directly to the content within its subdirectories. This is often the preferred choice for content that is closely related to your main site and benefits from being perceived as part of the core offering.

Think of it like this: if you're adding a new department that is fundamentally different in its purpose or requires a completely different platform (like an e-commerce store on a specialised platform), a subdomain might be more suitable. It gives you the flexibility to manage it independently. On the other hand, if you're just adding more content that seamlessly integrates with your existing website (like service pages), a subdirectory is often the simpler choice, as it directly leverages the existing authority of your main domain.

Neither subdomains or subdirectories are universally the “better” option, though. The choice totally depends on your specific needs, the type of content you're hosting, your technical capabilities, and your long-term SEO strategy. Both are valuable tools for organising your website, and understanding their differences means you can then make the ideal decision for your site.

What can subdomains be used for?

Subdomain uses are limited only by your imagination! They offer a fantastic way to expand and specialise your online presence without the need for multiple independent websites. For example, microsoft.com has their support section utilised under a subdomain: support.microsoft.com. Need some inspiration? In no particular order, some of the most popular reasons for using a subdomain include:

1. Creating a dedicated blog

Many people and businesses choose to host their blog on a subdomain, structured like “blog.yourgreatbusiness.au”. This separates the dynamic content of a blog from the more static pages of your main website. It also allows for separate SEO strategies for your blog content, attracting a wider audience interested in specific topics (who may then be interested in exploring your main website afterwards).

2. Organising your website’s content

Subdomains are often used to segment different types of content. Say you run an online magazine. You might have “news.yourmagazine.au” for breaking stories, “reviews.yourmagazine.au” for product critiques, and “features.yourmagazine.au” for extra-long, in-depth articles. These clear categories make it super easy for your readers to find the content they're looking for, improving their overall experience and encouraging them to explore more.

It’s also an advantage subdomains have over subdirectories when it comes to organising your site’s content behind the scenes. As subdomains require separate robots.txt files (unlike subdirectories, which would already fall under the robots.txt of the main domain), these separate robots.txt files easily distinguish subdomains from the main domain to search engine crawlers. This means they can be handled appropriately, if needed, without affecting the main domain. For example, URLs belonging to a ‘checkout’ section of your e-commerce site should be excluded from crawling, so having all URLs relevant to the checkout process placed within a subdomain (like “checkout.youronlineshop.au”) means they can all easily blocked from crawlers by adding a disallow rule to the “checkout” subdomain’s robots.txt. Handy, right?

3. Setting up a shop

If your main website is informative but you also want to sell stuff, a subdomain like “shop.yourwebsite.com” is an easy answer. This keeps your shopping cart, product listings, and checkout process separate from your main site to give your customers a dedicated shopping experience, making their journey to purchase smooth as silk.

4. Providing customer support

If you have a business website, you likely already have a customer support page (if you don’t - we highly recommend it). That said, subdomains can make this even easier for your customers and provide them with more options while keeping it all in one dedicated place, like how Microsoft have done in the earlier example. You could have “kb.yourwebsite.com” for a knowledge base, another option for FAQs, or one specifically for ticketing systems. Similarly, help.yourwebsite.com could host tutorials or user manuals. Subdomain strategies like these make it easy for customers to find the assistance they need, and satisfied customers are more likely to say good things about you and your site. Happy customers and better brand perception is a win-win any day.

5. Creating microsites for special events or campaigns

Launching a brand spanking new product you want customers to get excited for? Maybe you’re going to be hosting an annual conference for your business. A subdomain like “newproduct.yourwebsite.com” or “conference.yourwebsite.com” can create a focused, dedicated space for that specific campaign. This helps to both amplify the message and reduce clutter on your main site. What’s more, it also makes tracking the performance of the campaign much simpler in your analytics tools. Another win-win.

These are just our top five reasons for using subdomains – as we said before, the possibilities are nearly limitless. Whether you want to add international language versions of your site, test new features or redesigns, or whatever else, subdomains can help you out.

How to create a subdomain

Ready to commit to making a subdomain? No problem. Creating a subdomain is a straightforward process, and you don’t need to be a technical guru to accomplish it. The exact steps might vary slightly depending on your web hosting provider, but the core principles stay the same:

Step 1: Log in to your web hosting control panel

Your web hosting provider gives you access to a control panel, often cPanel, Enhance, or a similar interface. This is your command centre for managing everything related to your website, including your domain names, files, and databases. You'll typically access it through a specific URL provided by your host, using the username and password they assigned to you.

Step 2: Navigate to and enter your desired subdomain name

Find your control panel’s subdomain section. Within it, you’ll find an option to create a new subdomain. Here, you'll enter the name you want for your subdomain. For example, if your main domain is “yourgreatbusiness.au” and you want to create a blog subdomain, you would type "blog" into the designated field. The system will then likely automatically display the full subdomain, such as “blog.yourgreatbusiness.au”.

Step 3: Specify the document root (where your subdomain’s files will live)

This step is crucial. The "document root" or "directory" is the folder on your server where the files for your new subdomain will be stored. When someone visits your subdomain (e.g., blog.yourgreatbusiness.au), the web server will look inside this specified folder to display the content.

Most hosting providers will automatically suggest a directory name that matches your subdomain (e.g., public_html/blog). It’s generally a good practice to stick with this default unless you have a specific reason to change it. This keeps your website files organised and easy to locate.

Step 4: Kick off the subdomain’s creation

Once you’ve entered all the necessary information, simply click the "Create," "Add Subdomain," or a similar button. Your hosting provider will then configure the necessary settings on their servers. This process usually takes only a few seconds.

Step 5: Allow DNS propagation, then start adding content when completed

After creating your subdomain, it might take a little time for the changes to go live across the internet. This is known as DNS propagation and can range from a few minutes to several hours, though it’s often very quick. During this time, your new subdomain might not be immediately accessible to everyone. Once propagation is complete, your subdomain is live! However, it’s essentially an empty canvas at this point. You’ll now need to add content to it. For example, if you created blog.yourgreatbusiness.au, you would typically install a blogging platform like WordPress into the document root you specified for that subdomain. Your hosting control panel often provides a "one-click install" feature for popular applications, making this step incredibly easy.

And there you have it! In just a few simple steps, you’ve successfully created a new subdomain, opening exciting possibilities for organising your content, expanding your online reach, and providing a more tailored experience for your visitors. Nice one.

If you still need a bit of help with any of the above or anything that comes after, then don’t worry about giving us here at Webcentral a shout. We handle subdomain queries like this every day, so don’t be afraid to shoot us a live chat, open 24/7 with real humans behind the keyboards.