Branching out: Subdomain or new domain?

When your eCommerce business grows, whether that’s selling a new product or service, or branching out into other countries, it’s only natural that your website will evolve too.

In this situation, you have a couple of choices. You can either build a new website or a subdomain on your existing site. But which is the easiest and most effective solution?

In this article, we’ll examine both options and see which is the right choice for your online store.

Article topics

1. What is a domain?
2. Option 1: The new domain
3. Option 2: The subdomain
4. Are there any other options?
5. Subdomain or new domain: Which is right for my business?
6. Subdomain and new domains: Frequently asked questions

What is a domain

A domain is a website address that you use to access your favourite websites, for example, www.xigen.co.uk.

Computers use long strings of numbers to find websites online, but these are hard for people to remember! So domains act as shortcuts that people can type into their browser to find what they need.

Domains are structured in a very specific way:

• The top-level domain (TLD) is the last part of the domain address. For example, .com, .co.uk, .net, and .org
• The second-level domain (SLD) comes before the TLD and is the part of the domain connected to your brand
• The third-level domain (subdomain) comes before the SLD. www. is one of the most common subdomains, but you can set up other subdomains too. We’ll talk about the benefits of using them later in the article

Now we know what a domain is, let’s take a look at the two options on offer:

Option 1: The new domain

With a new domain, you’re creating an entirely new website for your business.

For example, let’s say you run a clothing store for women called awesomeclothes.com, and you decide to branch into clothing for men. So you build a new website called awesomeclothesformen.com, separate from your existing domain.

The pros of using a new domain

Good for building a distinct brand

The main benefit of a new domain is that you can use it to sell a product or service that’s very different to your original business’s products or services.

You can create a completely new website design and implement a new tone of voice, making it easier to promote your new business.

Take Lexus and Toyota. Lexus is Toyota’s luxury car brand, so it makes perfect sense to have standalone websites with different brand identities. If Lexus operated as a subdomain on the Toyota website, it wouldn’t make as much of an impact with its target audience.

Better for localisation

If you want to expand your online store to new countries, using different languages, currencies, and cultural nuances, creating new domains is the ideal solution.

For example, if you want to launch awesomeclothes.com in Germany, you can create a brand new domain called awesomeclothes.de – using the German TLD.

This is an extremely powerful trust signal for your German customers, who will be well-acquainted with .de domains. This means they’re more likely to visit and buy from your eCommerce website.

As your new domain is a clean slate, it’s also easier to create fresh, engaging content that encourages them to convert.

Global eCommerce – 5 ways to prepare for global domination

The cons of using a new domain

Have to start from scratch

When you create a new domain, you have to start from the beginning again.

Not only do you have to spend time and resources creating an entirely new website, but you have to build your brand trust, customer authority, and backlink profile up once more.

More expensive and harder to maintain

If you create a new domain for your business, your costs increase. As well as a domain name and hosting, you have to spend money creating web templates and content.

You also need to spend time managing your website and making sure it’s always up to date.

Option 2: The subdomain

With a subdomain, you’re creating a new standalone section on your existing website.

Let’s go back to awesomeclothes.com. Rather than create a new domain, you decide to create a subdomain on your existing website: men.awesomeclothes.com.

Alternatively, you could create a brand new blog (blog.awesomeclothes.com) or help centre (support.awesomeclothes.com).

The pros of using a subdomain

Improved brand awareness

While a new domain is great if you want a completely fresh start, a subdomain is the ideal solution if you want to capitalise on your existing branding and tone of voice. This makes it easier and quicker to appeal to customers.

Take iPhone and Apple. iPhone is a sub-brand of Apple, and Apple is a major part of the iPhone’s identity. So it pays to take advantage of the existing brand awareness that’s in place rather than try to steer away from it.

Enhanced authority

The search engines treat subdomains as separate entities, indexing and crawling them independently of your main site. This unfortunately means that like new domains, you need to build up your SEO from scratch.

However, something called the ‘Halo effect’ comes into play. If people know and trust your main domain, they will see your subdomain in the search engine results and click on the link to it because they recognise it.

Easier to set up and manage

As you’re creating a new section on your existing website, subdomains are ideal if you want to launch quickly. They’re also easier to look after as everything is on the same domain.

Another benefit of subdomains is that you can set up different software on different subdomains.

For example, if you use Magento on your main website, but want to use WordPress for blogging, you can set up a separate subdomain for your blog.

The cons of using a subdomain

Any errors on your main site may affect your subdomain

As your main domain and subdomain are closely linked, any issues that arise on one part of your website may affect the other.

For example, if you receive a Google penalty on your main domain, it may cause ranking issues on your subdomain.

Risk of confusing your site visitors

If you use different branding, tones of voice, or even web platforms across subdomains on your website, there’s a chance that visitors may end up confused.

This can lead to a poor user experience and low levels of trust in your site, which in turn may affect your search engine rankings.

Are there any other options?

Yes – if you don’t want to create a completely new domain or subdomain, you can create a subdirectory.

This is when you create a brand new directory in your existing website. For example: awesomeclothes.com/men

The benefit of a subdirectory is that you can get it up and running quickly, it uses your existing infrastructure, and takes advantage of the SEO you’ve built over time.

However, if you want your new site to have a completely different look and feel, it may not be the best option.

Subdomain or new domain: Which is right for my business?

A new domain may be the right option for your eCommerce store if:

• You’re launching a product or service that targets a completely different target audience
• You’re expanding into new countries
• You want a clean break from your existing brand

A subdomain may be the right option for your eCommerce store if:

• You want to launch quickly or don’t have the time to manage a completely new domain
• You want to test a product or market before committing to a new domain
• You want to piggyback off the authority and branding of your existing domain

The solution you choose will ultimately depend on what you want to achieve, who you want to target, and how much time, money, and resources you have.

Subdomain and new domains: Frequently asked questions

How many subdomains can I use on a website?

Technically, as many as you like.

However, bear in mind that the more you have, the more fragmented your website becomes, which can have a negative effect on user experience.

Some web platforms and web hosts may limit how many subdomains you can have. For example, Shopify only lets you have up to 20 subdomains on a standard plan.

Will my existing SEO transfer over to a new subdomain or domain?

The search engines treat new domains and subdomains as separate entities, meaning that your existing SEO won’t transfer over.

If you want to take advantage of your existing SEO, we recommend using subdirectories instead.

Can I use subdomains for foreign language websites?

While we recommend new domains for international websites, you can use a subdomain if you want everything hosted on the same domain– for example, fr.awesomeclothes.com.

Whichever option you choose, don’t forget to use hreflang tags to tell the search engines which language and countries your content is intended for.

Are there any other risks of creating a domain or subdomain?

When you run a website, you’re competing with your competitors in the search engine results.

If you run multiple domains or subdomains, there’s the risk that these may end up competing with one another too.

For example, if they target the same keywords, keyword cannibalisation could occur, meaning the search engines don’t know which domain or subdomain to rank the highest.

You can reduce the odds of this happening by creating targeted, unique content for each domain or subdomain, rather than duplicating the same content on each one.

Xigen: The all-in-one eCommerce agency

Deciding whether to go for a subdomain, new domain, or even a subfolder, can be a pretty big step for your business.

If you’re still not sure what to do, think long-term. Where do you expect your brand to be in one year, five years, even ten years time?

This will help you make the right choice that will futureproof your brand.

At Xigen, we’re dedicated to helping your eCommerce business grow, from initial launch to ventures into brand new markets. We’ll create a high-quality online store that grows with you, helping you market to the perfect audience.

This means faster growth, increased sales, and peace of mind that you’re always on the right track.

Get in touch today, and let’s talk eCommerce.