Google Treats Subdomains As Internal To The Domain In Webmaster Tools

Aug 17, 2012 - 7:58 am 10 by

Google Webmaster ToolsBack just about a year ago, we covered a change on how webmaster tools handles subdomains. I since forgot about that and now I see John Mueller from Google explaining it again in a Google Webmaster Help thread.

In summary, even though for ranking purposes, Google may not treat a subdomain as part of the internal main domain - Google Webmaster Tools generally does.

John Mueller said in the thread:

In Webmaster Tools we generally treat data from subdomains as being internal with regards to the domain name. With regards to creating a site structure with subdomains or sub-subdomains, we generally leave that to the webmaster :) (though as with other infinite spaces, we discourage the use of wildcard subdomains).

Just a reminder, Google Webmaster Tools and Google's algorithms may treat things different.

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: June 8, 2026

Jun 8, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google Search Ranking Volatility This Weekend - Around June 6th

Jun 8, 2026 - 7:55 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

New Google Document On Third-Party SEO Tools, Services & Advice

Jun 8, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Updates Its Hiring An SEO Doc Warning On SEO Tools & AI Optimization

Jun 8, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google

Google Search Profiles Insights & Analytics

Jun 8, 2026 - 7:31 am
Bing Search

Bing Gives Searchers A Way To Disable AI Copilot Answers

Jun 8, 2026 - 7:21 am
 
Previous Story: Google FAQ On Upgrading To New Local Google+ Pages