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Sub Domain and Google Link Juice - #seopodcast 119

Episode39 min2011-10-10

Google now classifies subdomain links as internal links in Webmaster Tools, which can reduce apparent external link counts and may affect rankings for sites that used subdomains to inflate inbound link numbers.

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Key takeaways
on the algorithm side, on how Google handles link waiting for links from subdomains of your site, we have no idea yet.

About this episode

We discuss sub domains and how sub domains pass Google link juice. We also discuss call tracking and how to use it to support your internet marketing efforts. Finally we discuss Firefox for Android and Androids default browser as they relate to Social Media Marketing. The most popular PPC Houston Podcast on iTunes. E-Webstyle provides SEO Houston .

Questions this episode answers

Does Google treating subdomain links as internal links hurt SEO?

It can hurt sites that relied on subdomain links appearing as external backlinks to inflate their inbound link count. Sites with proper 301 redirects from subdomains are less likely to be affected because their link juice was already consolidated to one location.

Can you measure social media ROI?

Yes. The hosts say analytics can track the full funnel a visitor takes, showing when a link from Facebook led to a site visit and then a purchase. Call tracking can also attribute phone leads to specific social media or marketing channels.

In their words

Google classifies subdomains as internal links within Webmaster Tools. So what does that mean? You used to have a subdomain. By the way, a lot of people don't realize that www.yourdomain is a subdomain.

Host

if anybody was using that sort of process to maybe gain a high amount of inbound links, per se, because it appears to be external links, because it appears to be a different domain name, and if it was affecting their ranking, then, yeah, it does matter because they'll probably lose their position.

Host

analytics will tell us the funnel that people took to get to the checkout page on your site. Yeah. That link came from Facebook and then it landed on your about us and then it went to your cart and then they checked out.

Host
Terms defined in this episode
Subdomain
A prefix before a root domain, such as www.yourdomain.com or jobs.yourdomain.com. Google previously counted links from subdomains as external links but now classifies them as internal links in Webmaster Tools.
301 Redirect
A permanent redirect that Google understands, used to point one URL to another so that link juice consolidates to a single destination.
Link Juice
The ranking value or authority passed through a link from one page or domain to another, referenced here in the context of subdomain links now being treated as internal rather than external.

Full transcript is being added.

This episode answers

Matthew Bertram, host of The Best SEO Podcast
Matthew Bertram
AI keynote speaker · Owner & CEO, EWR Digital · President, ModalPoint

Matthew Bertram is an AI keynote speaker, creator of DIG™ (Digital Information Governance), and owner and CEO of EWR Digital. He helps energy and industrial leaders win visibility in AI search (GEO and AEO), is President of ModalPoint and CMO of the Oil & Gas Global Network, hosts The Best SEO Podcast, and has authored eight books including LLM Visibility. More about Matthew Bertram.

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