Subdomain vs Addon domain

[goose]

What's the difference between a sub domain and an add on domain.
I've been using subdomains on my baby croc plan which creates a sub-folder with the same name as the subdomain name entry. Unfortunately the baby croc plan doesn't allow addon domains. I'm trying to understand the benfits of using addon domains.

[amartins]

Hi.

I think both are set up in the same way (in a folder) the difference being that a subdomain will use something.yourdomain.com whilst the addon domain will point a fully functional domain to a folder it is basicly a step up from a parked domain that just points a domain to your main account.

HTH

Antonio.

[Stef]

That's correct Antonio, thank you
Goose, you can also find info on this in our FAQ.

Stef.

[ebiz1]

fully functional domain to a folder it is basicly a step up from a parked domain that just points a domain to your main account.

So does this mean the search engines will not see it as a subdomain or "parked/forwarded" domain? Will it actually be seen as a separate site?

Thanks!

Christine

[JZ]

Search engines will see it as a fully functional domain because it is a fully functional domain name. What you do want to be careful of is that you are consistent with your links. Say your main domain is www.domain.com and your addon domain is www.addondomain.com. You can access a page with www.addondomain.com/page.html or www.domain.com/addondomain/page.html. ALWAYS use the www.addondomain.com/page.html in your links. Mixing the two types of links might cause the search engine to give a double content penalty. Otherwise, yes, it will be seen as a completely different site.

- Justin

[ebiz1]

Thank you, Justin!

[shanee86]

Ok I am happy to hear that I am currently ranked very high on search engines and I wouldn't want that to change! But anyway what if you link from one domain to the other like say on your main site you say hey check out my new site and the link goes to the addon domian? I don't think this should be a problem because I mean one server has alot of sites on it and I think it is about the same as that!

[eLIANT]

I have an extension of the same question.

While an AddOn domain must be ICANN registered to be viewed by the public using the format "www.AddOnDomain.com", does a SubDomain likewise need to be registered?

The little bit of research I've done indicates that it does not. My understanding is that the ICANN registration of www.PrimaryDomain.com will give control over locating SubDomain.PrimaryDomain.com to the name servers of PrimaryDomain. So while HG allows us to build SubDomains and create the associated subdirectories in our account file structure, do we have to register the SubDomains (with HG or anyone else) for the public to find them using the SubDomain.PrimaryDomain.com format?

[Dwight]

Originally Posted by eLIANT

I have an extension of the same question.

While an AddOn domain must be ICANN registered to be viewed by the public using the format "www.AddOnDomain.com", does a SubDomain likewise need to be registered?

The little bit of research I've done indicates that it does not. My understanding is that the ICANN registration of www.PrimaryDomain.com will give control over locating SubDomain.PrimaryDomain.com to the name servers of PrimaryDomain. So while HG allows us to build SubDomains and create the associated subdirectories in our account file structure, do we have to register the SubDomains (with HG or anyone else) for the public to find them using the SubDomain.PrimaryDomain.com format?

No. SubDomains require no further registration, other than your primary site needs to be registered... besides looking a little better, (http://subdomain.primary.com) vs. (http://www.primary.com/subdomain/) you can give each one it's own FTP access. This would be helpful if you had two or more web masters for each section of your site... shopping.primary and support.primary for example... that way you keep each web master out of the other's way...

[Stef]

Originally Posted by shanee86

what if you link from one domain to the other like say on your main site you say hey check out my new site and the link goes to the addon domian? I don't think this should be a problem because I mean one server has alot of sites on it and I think it is about the same as that!

It's not a problem as long as that link on your main domain goes to http://www.addondomain.com/page.html and NOT to http://www.maindomain.com/addon/page.html.

Stef.

Hello, I have just read the posts but I'm still a bit confused with the addon domain in question.

I understand not to mix the links, however for every addon domain I created, it also shows up as in "subdomains" in cpanel, and I am able to access the site three ways by using http://addondomain.primedomain.com, http://www.primedomain.com/addondomain/ and http://www.addondomain.com, does it mean the addon domain is treated as both an individual domain and a subdomain? or is there anything that I missed while setup? should I then delete it from "subdomain" in cpanel? I do not want any site penalized by search engine for "triple" content duplication.

Thanks in advance!