Can my affiliate subdomain hurt in any way?

[fablau]

Hello everyone,

My main website is:

http://www.virtualsheetmusic.com

Whereas the above site's related "affiliate" website is located on the subdomain below:

http://affiliates.virtualsheetmusic.com

I was wondering if having that "affiliate section" on a subdomain could affect the main website negatively in some way... or would be better to put it in a sub-folder on the main website, or even on a totally different domain.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[DmitriiK]

Howdy.

Is this affiliate program spammy or tricky in any way? if not, meaning that everything is straight forward, no link exchange or any black hat seo, there won't be any repercussions. Many companies have affiliate programs which are true part of their business model, and there is nothing wrong with that.

[GastonRiera]

Hello Fabrizio,

Just to add (and trying to add more information) to what Dimitii said.
Remember that subdomains are treated as separate sites, from the main domain. So if you're not in any black hay SEO or spammy tecniques, you shouldn't have any issues.

Also, there will be no problem with sharing some links with the main site, as a internal linking.

Best Luck.
GR.

[fablau]

Thank you guys, your answer really clarified everything. No black hat, and no spam, absolutely. We should be ok then. I got confused when I read articles around (Randy also wrote something about it) where suggested to get rid of sub domains and put everything in sub-folders instead, but I guess that was just to benefit of link equity toward the main domain, otherwise wasted in the sub-domain... right?

[DmitriiK]

sub-domain vs folder - here is a whiteboard friday about the differences: https://moz.com/blog/subdomains-vs-subfolders-rel-canonical-vs-301-how-to-structure-links-optimally-for-seo-whiteboard-friday

In your case i'd put it in subfolder