Google doesn't index a subdomain. What can be the problem and what can be done?

google subdomain forum phpbb

20,359

Solution 1

Sounds like your domain is in the sandbox, if so, you just have to wait until it gets accepted to the index.

I also recommend not using your subdomain, just use a subdirectory. This way your pages will be accepted and crawled directly and all these pages will increase your PR much more than a subdomain ever will. Subdomains are no longer a good SEO practice.

Solution 2

Google will request the robots.txt file before trying to index any page within your site. And make sure you don't have a bit like "meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow"" else Google will ignore your page.

Google will index subdomains if you link to them from your main domain, but if your site is new, it will take time for Google to index everything.

Solution 3

You could try adding a sitemap to games.example.com that includes some of the main pages from the forum. Also refer to it in your robots.txt, like:

 Sitemap:http://games.example.com/sitemap.xml

Also, Google doesn't have a problem with your subdomain, but because it's indexing games.example.com. It's either not seeing the forum or not wanting to index it for some reason.

Also, make sure the link to the forum doesn't have a rel="nofollow" on it.

20,359

fudge

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

fudge almost 2 years

I have a domain, let's call it example.com, which has a subdomain, games.example.com. I maintain a games forum using phpbbseo which is located at games.example.com/forum. The problem is that the forum is not being crawled. I used Google's webmaster tools and tested that the page is seen by google.

P.S.

There is a link from games.example.com to games.example.com/forum.

What can I do? How can I make google crawl my forum?
fudge over 13 years

robots.txt file is okay. some parts of games.example.com are being indexed, but games.example.com is specifically not being indexed. It's driving my crazy since there is a lind from games.example.com (which is indexed) to games.example.com/forum
John Conde over 13 years

Your comment about PR is incorrect. PR has nothing to do with subdomains or subdirectories. It is only a numerical representation of link popularity regardless of their origin. Subdomain, subdirectory, different website, etc.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

The Google algorithm is based on much more factors than counting links, for example domain age is one of them. In this instance that is relevant, because a subdomain is seen by Google as a separate domain. So using a subdomain is like creating a new website with no credibility build up at Google. So the subdomain receives little page rank. Even if you link back to your main website, they will contribute little PR value. Pages in a subdirectory on the other hand, will inherit the credibility of the main site and will directly contribute to the page rank of related pages on the domain.
John Conde over 13 years

I didn't say Google algorithm. I said PR. PR is a published formula based on only one thing: link popularity. It can't be debated how it works because the formula is public knowledge. As far as PR is concerned the location of the page does not matter at all.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John: The only relevant PR is the Google PR, that’s why most people refer to it as just PR. On the Wikipedia page you refer to the following can be read about it: "PageRank measures number of sites which link to particular page.[21] The PageRank of a particular page is roughly based upon the quantity of inbound links as well as the PageRank of the pages providing the links. Other factors are also part of the algorithm such as the size of a page, the number of changes and its up-to-dateness, the key texts in headlines and the words of hyperlinked anchor texts".
John Conde over 13 years

You're using the term PR incorrectly. PR stands for PageRank. If you mean "page rank", the ranking of pages, you can't call it PR as you confuse the subject. PR is Google only and no one uses it to refer to the ranking of pages by any search engine anywhere. It's important to get the terminology right or else misinformation results.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John You’re confused and are attacking a straw man. I did use PR as short for the Google PageRank. It’s you who argued that PR was just about link popularity, although the Google PR is based on much more than that.
John Conde over 13 years

Sorry, but you're very wrong. PageRank is a published formula so there is no debating how it works. So either you have misunderstood how PageRank works or you're confusing PageRank with page ranking. Either way you're wrong about what PR is and how it works. There's a lot of websites that explain it in detail. I recommend checking them out as confusing the two can only cause problems.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John Please direct your complaints at Google not me. Google does use the term PageRank for their current unpublished formula and not their original patented formula. Just take a look at the Google toolbar and you will see they show a "PageRank" for the page. That’s why so many ignorant SEO folks like me, use the term PR this way.
John Conde over 13 years

lol. That PageRank you see in the toolbar is the numerical representation of that page's link popularity. Thank you for proving my point.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John Sigh... "Google has not disclosed the precise method for determining a Toolbar PageRank value." source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PageRank
John Conde over 13 years

What you see in the toolbar is not an accurate representation of a page's PR. We already know that. It's been mentioned here many times before. But it still represents PageRank the link popularity indicator. Not how a page is ranked.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John accurate or not, PageRank is not just based on incomming links, it's a secret Google formula.
John Conde over 13 years

No no no! PageRank is only based on links. Page ranking is based on other factors. Try mentioning this at an SEO forum and see what kind of responses you get.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John In that case even the people at Google don’t get it. They define PageRank as much more than counting incoming links: searchengineland.com/…
John Conde over 13 years

Right. It's not about quantity, it's quality. That article you linked to says exactly that.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John: Finally, we agree: PageRank is based on an unpublished Google formula that includes quality factors and not just link popularity. One of those quality factors is the age of a domain/website. That’s the reason why subdomains are now considered a bad SEO practice, Google treats them as new websites with no proven quality or authority, and thus incoming links from your own subdomain are of less value that links from pages on your main domain that has already developed authority (website/domain age is for example an known factor).
John Conde over 13 years

No no no!!!! PR is only about links!!!! That's it. Nothing else. Not to mention just about everything else you said is untrue as well. I think that's my cue to exit this conversation.
Kdeveloper over 13 years

@John You just contradicting your selves all the time. If your acknowledging it’s about quality, then it’s inconsistent to also claim that is only about links. Because links don’t have quality, it’s in other things like: content, domain names, page speed, etc. etc.
anonymous about 7 years

+1 for "Seo not good for SEO" from my own experience, esp google will not index it quick enough.