Franchise sites on subdomains

[Webrevolve]

I've been asked by a client to optimise a a webpage for a location i.e. London.

Turns out that the location is actually a franchise of the main company. When the company launch a new franchise, so far they have simply added a new page to the main site, for example:

mysite.co.uk/sub-folder/london

They have so far done this for 10 or so franchises and task someone with optimising that page for their main keyword + location.

I think I know the answer to this, but would like to get a back up / additional info on it in terms of ranking / seo benefits.

I am going to suggest the idea of using a subdomain for each location, example:

london.mysite.co.uk

Would this be the correct approach. If you think yes, why?

Many thanks,

[Vizergy]

Hi Michael,

From my experience a sub-domain isn’t going to benefit much from the main site’s authority therefore needing a major link building campaign of its own.  I would say, if this is going to be a one page per franchise project rather than multiple pages of content, you might be better off with the sub-folder. That would allow the page to benefit more from the authority the main site has already gained.

I am not saying you won’t need to build links but I believe the necessary work would be less.

My two cents  Cheers

[Webrevolve]

Hi Vizergy,

Great answer.

The root domain is strong, so I’d imagine the sub folders will get some benefit from this.

Yes, it is one page-per franchise deal so I think the approach I’ll be taking is making sure each of these pages has its own unique content (and checking for duplicate site wide), targeted towards the locations target KW/Phrases.

With a few decent links pointing to each location page, and indeed the domain, I think will both benefit.

[Vizergy]

I completely agree.  I have had very similar projects.  Good luck!