

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

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?
======
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)

------
northband
Thanks everyone - domain.com/artist is what it will be. Look forward to a Show
HN: soon once I get this put up.

------
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 .

------
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?

------
shadowhand
I have one word for you: pushState. Eventually you will want to use it, and
you're screwed if you used subdomains.

------
xraystyle
DOMAIN.COM/ARTIST

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

------
keiferski
Subdomains can be a little confusing for nontechnical people. Go with
domain.com/artist.

------
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.

