Hi Guys,

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.
I'm basically just "thinking out loud" with the rest of you...

Basically, what I recently did was set up around 20 sub-domain
for my "core keywords".

For example: dog training, dog videos, dog tricks, etc...

Then, I get links into each sub-domain and I post snippets
of articles that go on those pages.

I'll talk more about that part of the strategy in another post.

HOWEVER -- the question is: what is better for rankings?

Creating sub-domains or not?

Here's my thoughts (and I'd love to hear yours).

PLUSES:

- If you look at about.com - that's their formula.
Create sub-domains for each "area". Obviously
works for them.

- Google ALMOST sees this as it's own site.
(which is a negative I'll talk about in a minute).
However, it's positive on the side that you can
possibly get multiple rankings for the same
keyword in the same search engine. (However,
I think that is "old news" see below)

NEGATIVES

What are the drawbacks to using subdomains?

Each subdomain would be looked at by search engines as a new site, which means you will need to do everything you would normally do for a new site.In short, creating back-links, battling the sandbox, and all other problems associated with domain development are still present. If this sounds like too much trouble, you may want to consider creating subfolders within the domain.This would look like www.mydomain.com/folder.
(taken from: http://www.isedb.com/db/articles/1424/0/Subdomains---What-are-the-SEO-benefits/Page0.html)

HOWEVER - THAT IS OLD NEWS.

http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/015621.html
WebmasterWorld administrator tedster has informed us that Google will be treating subdomains like they treat folders on a site. In short, he said, Matt Cutts said Google will roll out in a few weeks a new filter to make sure only two results of a domain (no matter subdomain or folder) will show up for a search. Here is tedster's exact quote from a WebmasterWorld thread:ews flash from Las Vegas PubCon. Matt Cutts informed us that Google will very soon begin treating subdomains and subdirectories the same in this fashion: there will be only 2 total urls from a domain in any set of search results, so no more getting 3, 4 or however many spots via subdomains. We didn't get any more information than just that basic heads-up.

So the conclusion seems to be that it doesn't matter much...

Here's the "final word" from Google's Matt Cutt:

"My personal preference on subdomains vs. subdirectories is that I usually prefer the convenience of subdirectories for most of my content. A subdomain can be useful to separate out content that is completely different. Google uses subdomains for distinct products such news.google.com or maps.google.com, for example. If you’re a newer webmaster or SEO, I’d recommend using subdirectories until you start to feel pretty confident with the architecture of your site. At that point, you’ll be better equipped to make the right decision for your own site."

Enough "thinking out loud"...
Matt