What Is a Subdomain

There are all different names that you are presented with when you get your website. Just a few examples are hosting provider, URL, domain, and subdomain, to name a few. Today, we are going to answer the question, “What is a subdomain?”

What Is a Subdomain

To understand what a subdomain is, we need to look at how a website gets created. To start with, if you want to get a new website, you need to follow steps beginning with creating a domain.

Remember in our post recently that you want to keep your domain separate from your hosting provider? Your domain would be the address for your website. For example, our domain is https://www.megabite.co/ Now, of course, before you can get a website, you need to complete all the preliminary steps that you can see listed below:

* Choose a domain name.
* Register your domain name.
* Decide on your hosting provider.
* Connect your domain name to your host.
* Decide on how you want to build your website (WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Bluehost, GoDaddy, or someone else?)
* Install the website builder you chose.
* Pick a theme for your new site.
* Customize the appearance of your website
* Add content to your website, including pages and menus.
* Optimize your website
* Launch your website

The subdomain is a website that shares the same domain as another website. In Megabite’s case, our domain again is megabite.co. If we were to have a subdomain for our blog instead of a page the way we do it now, we could have blog.megabite.co.

Advantages of Using a Subdomain

To start with, subdomains are free. There are more advantages to having a subdomain as part of your domain. First, they are straightforward to add. Second, you can use them like you use your domain. Third, Google considers each page on a website to have its own title and description. If you are using a niche website, Google considers you the authority and will not penalize you.

You can use subdomains for a variety of reasons. Let’s look at a couple more reasons you would want to have subdomains.

Developers are likely to use subdomains so they can create and test a staging version of a website.

Are you going to have an eCommerce site? You may want to put your online store on a subdomain. One reason for this is to handle transactions separate from your domain, especially since the setup of an eCommerce site can be more complex.

Finally, one other advantage that you can use your subdomain for is your mobile website.

Disadvantages of Using Subdomains

I know we said that one of the advantages is that subdomains are free, and that is true. However, what is also true is that each subdomain is required to have its own hosting plan. That could potentially add up depending on what pricing plan your hosting provider has you on. More subdomains could put you into a different plan with additional hosting space. It’s always wise to check with your host to ensure you don’t get zinged with extra costs that you are not expecting.

Another issue with subdomains is you now need extra time to manage the domain and any subdomains you add.

Makeuseof.com wants readers to be aware of the difference between subdomains as opposed to subdirectories. They are not the same. A subdirectory resides inside another directory. This means the subdirectory is not a separate website in and of itself.

Let me show you what I mean. If we decided to have a subdirectory for Megabite, its URL could be megabite.co/subdirectory. It would not be a separate website; it would be a part of the main website.

If you enjoyed this post, did you know that Megabite offers assistance by educating and protecting our seniors with a comprehensive system of services, including remote senior support?

Megabite uses screen-sharing technology to diagnose and fix problems and walk you through the steps needed to complete a task. If you are having issues with your computer, contact us at 904-430-0350. Our hours are Monday – Friday Store Hours 10 am – 5 pm with remote support available until 8 pm. We are open on Saturdays from 12 pm – 5 pm. Sundays would be by appointment only.

Tags: Domain, Hosting Provider, Subdomain

Categorised in: Technology Information

This post was written by Pam Lokker