Custom Domain vs Subdomain
Custom Domain vs Subdomain: Which Should You Use for Your Business Site?
yourbusiness.com vs yourbusiness.wixsite.com vs shop.yourbusiness.com — the choice affects SEO, trust and how professional your business looks.
Custom Domain
Your own root domain like yourbusiness.co.uk.
Best for:
Every real business. No exceptions.
Pricing:
£8-15/year
Pros
- + Full SEO authority to one domain
- + Looks professional
- + Portable across platforms
- + You own it
Cons
- − Small annual cost (£8-15)
- − Need to configure DNS
Subdomain
A prefix like shop.yourbusiness.com or yourbusiness.wixsite.com.
Best for:
Sub-apps of a main brand (help.yourdomain.com, docs.yourdomain.com) — never as your primary site.
Pricing:
Free
Pros
- + Free on most platforms
- + Useful for separating apps (app.yourdomain.com)
Cons
- − Platform-branded subdomains kill trust
- − SEO doesn't flow between root and subdomain fully
- − Locks you into the platform
The verdict
Always use a custom root domain for your business site. Use subdomains only for sub-apps under your own root.
RIOT's take
Every week we see UK businesses running on wixsite.com or godaddysites.com URLs and wondering why they don't rank or convert. Buy the domain. It's £10.
FAQs
Does Google treat a subdomain as the same site?
Partially. Google treats subdomains as related but separate — link equity doesn't flow as freely as within a single domain.
Should my shop be on shop.mydomain.com or mydomain.com/shop?
/shop is stronger for SEO. shop.subdomain is only better if the shop is on a totally different platform you can't merge.
Can I use a .co.uk and .com together?
Yes — pick one as canonical and 301 redirect the other. Don't run both live independently.
Need help choosing?
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