Internal links

[Bob Crain]

I have a question about internal links:

Is it better to use a third level domain to link internally or the actual url?

Example:

From my home page I have a set of buttons on the bottom left column that lists all of the cities my team services.

Carlsbad Real Estate is currently linked like this

but I was wondering If I should link http://carlsbad(dot)northcountyluxuryhomes.com]Carlsbad Real Estate to this url

The Reason I am asking is I am thinking about removing the left navigation links on all of the City real estate pages and setting up 4-5 navigation buttons similar to what I have on my http://www(dot)northcountyluxuryhomes.com/Real_Estate_Listings/page_261602.html]real estate listings page. Then creating city specific Home value pages, real estate listings pages, etc, for each city.

[Cecil]

Sounds like an interesting question, but not sure exactly what you're asking Mind elaborating? Or perhaps someone else got it.

[Bob Crain]

If I use the third level domain in the case I mentioned above then the link will look like this: http://sanmarcos(dot)northcountyluxuryhomes.com

Not: http://www(dot)northcountyluxuryhome...ge_649643.html

In addition, when someone clicks the san marcos real estate left Navigation button the url will look like this:
http://sanmarcos(dot)northcountyluxu...ge_261602.html

Not: http://www(dot)northcountyluxuryhome...ge_261602.html

My question: Is it easier to optimize a third level domain?

Second thing here is using the third level domain provides a better "Road Map" of where people are moving through my site when I check my site stats.


A bigger issue may be duplicate content, Actually I may have answered my own question

[Salt River Media]

Aha,

So you meant sub-domain... I wasn't sure what you meant by "third level domain".

I do not see the need for using a sub-domain for the purposes you mentioned.

[occastles]

I believe he is correct in calling it a 3rd level...

And to answer your question, it would be more of a personal preference. But the search engines may like the 3rd level domain better, since keywords may actually be in the domain name.

But I haven't researched this much, and I do know search engines are wise to the 3rd level thing if you're doing it trick them... but I do see a good reason for using it.

How's that for a definite maybe...

[Bob Crain]

Thanks,

I have noticed that several sites are set up using sub domains or third level domains (whatever the correct term is). I have noticed that some search engines are more inclined to place websites with those keywords higher.

[occastles]

All things being equal... a search engine will give prefernce to the domain name with the search terms in the URL. So if your 3rd level domain name can help, why not go for it? Just MAKE SURE the pages with the 3rd level domain has unique content, or it will just be flagged as dup content and won't buy you anything.

[Bob Crain]

This is exactly why I have not done this yet. My webhost has been having ISSUES with the way they do 301 redirects to internal pages of websites.