SEO thoughts for uk.example.com vs example.com/uk

[TinkyWinky]

We're about to cull a whole host of satellite sites (i.e. about 60) in order to centralise content, concentrate on social and SEO campaigns for a few sites - rather than a lot - and also for ease of management.

Part of this is that a lot of the content is generic (i.e. relevant for ALL english speaking countries) but then we also have country-specific directory type data too.

We will then rollout country-specific content in the relevent language that is being written now.

Anyone got any experiences you are willing to share or maybe some do's and don'ts for the "sub-domain" vs "folder" options (for geo-specific content on a .com domain)?

We are happy in the fact we'll take a hit on SERPS especially whilst google works through all the 301s and content movements and we look to get IBLs changed to the new structure or domains, but long term we're looking for it to bounce back stronger as we more effectively manage a handful of core sites.

TW

 

[alex]

We're about to cull a whole host of satellite sites (i.e. about 60) in order to centralise content, concentrate on social and SEO campaigns for a few sites - rather than a lot - and also for ease of management.

Part of this is that a lot of the content is generic (i.e. relevant for ALL english speaking countries) but then we also have country-specific directory type data too.

We will then rollout country-specific content in the relevent language that is being written now.

Anyone got any experiences you are willing to share or maybe some do's and don'ts for the "sub-domain" vs "folder" options (for geo-specific content on a .com domain)?

We are happy in the fact we'll take a hit on SERPS especially whilst google works through all the 301s and content movements and we look to get IBLs changed to the new structure or domains, but long term we're looking for it to bounce back stronger as we more effectively manage a handful of core sites.

TW

I'd go for the subdirectory rather than the sub domain, then target with geo meta tagging as appropriate. I'm facing a similar problem myself and the advice from an external agency was the subfolder route. I can't find the reference, but I seem to remember Matt Cutts saying that so long as country content was obviously defined (e.g. uk.domain.com or www.domain.com/uk/) then Google should be able to pick it up. Geo meta tagging further enforces this, especially in Bing.

Many would argue that country-specific domains for each country would be the way forward. If done correctly then yes, but this could risk duplicate content if not done properly which is why many of the big multinationals forward ccTld's to their .com.

See apple.co.uk, microsoft.co.uk etc

The following, although old and slightly off-topic, may also be of use too http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/subdomains-and-subdirectories/

 

[Deltrus]

....
See apple.co.uk

Sorry for going off topic but does anyone actually know how much Apple paid for the UK domain? It was owned by http://www.appleagency.co.uk until quite recently.