What is a subdomain?
A subdomain is an extension of the domain name that is used to organize different sections of a website and that works independently of it.
In a subdomain are added a series of letters or words before the domain separated by a period.
For example, the domain of this website is cheapseowphosting.com.
Now, imagine that I want to install a forum for users to discuss topics related to web design, for example.
You could install it at cheapseowphosting.com/forum/.
But you could also create a sub-domain called forum.cheapseowphosting.com and install it there.
In this way, it would function as a separate site from the rest of the web. It could only have the forum without anything on cheapseowphosting.com.
On the other hand, if you installed it at cheapseowphosting.com/forum/ it would be one more page and would coexist with the rest of the content of the web.
If apart from the forum, I did a course for you to learn how to create a website, I could create the subdomain course.cheapseowphosting.com and set up the course platform there, without disturbing anything in the main domain.
Normally, good hostings allow you to install as many subdomains as you need without any limit (or with such a high limit that you’ll never get to it).
Advantages of using subdomains
Using subdomains on your website has some advantages. The first is that you can organize totally different sections on your website, as I explained in the previous example.
Each one of these sections, will be a totally different web to the one of the main domain, and you will only have to install or add what you need for that section.
In the same way, being a different web to the main domain, you avoid loading the main domain with more code, with more plugins, with more images, etc. You will only have what you need in your domain and in each of the subdomains you create.
Another advantage is that you won’t have to pay more to create the subdomains. Once you have purchased your main domain, you can have all the subdomains you want without going through checkout again.
Recommendations when creating subdomains
When you have to create a subdomain, try to make the name as short as possible. Ideally, it should only have one word.
This way the URL doesn’t get too long and it’s easier to remember.
Also, the word you use has to be fully descriptive. If you are going to install a forum, nothing better than calling the subdomain “forum”. So users see at a glance what they will find in that URL.
Another recommendation would be that you give the subdomain an appearance similar to that of the main domain, so that when they access the users do not feel that they have ended up in a totally different place.