Sub Domain vs. New Root Domain for New Brand

[ScratchMM]

Would you recommend a new brand be placed as a subdomain to the existing parent company or create a separate root domain for this new brand?

[Andy.Drinkwater]

A number of other questions need to be asked here first...

• Is this brand completely separate from the parent?
• Do you plan on expanding on it?
• Is the market UK, European, Asia, etc? A country specific TLD might be a better choice

Those are just a few considerations - I have to say, I am not a fan of sub domains as it does tie the site into the parent long term and if you ever have a need or requirement to break away, it just makes it more awkward.

The reason I asked about the brand being seen as a part of the company, has the parent not thought just about moving to the existing site structure? www.parent.com/brand

Cheers,

Andy

[Ben-HPB]

If they are two entirly different bands and you are not using the same content I would say break it out into it's own so you can develop the reputation for it and you could say sister company of Brand A.

Sub domains are more for stuff like video.domain.com but I have seen more companies break it out.

Now if this is just another service offering I would find a way to include it somewhere in your main domain to reduce confusion.

[ScratchMM]

Thanks for your help Andy. To answer a few of your questions:

• The Brand will only exist in the US market.

• There are no plans for product expansion

• The brand is connected to the parent company as they are the main distributor and provider of most of the raw materials.

We have already decided against using a sub-folder because the brand will be more visible to consumers than the parent company is.

[Andy.Drinkwater]

Unless there is a very strong reason, I would go for a separate TLD - sub domains are a lot less popular than they used to be and do tend to be more for sites that perhaps have lots of country specific content or really want to keep it all together, as William said.

And if you went for a sub domain, do you not think that the new brand will be just as visible as if you went for sub folders? If not more so?

Cheers,

Andy