{"id":1811,"date":"2021-05-20T11:44:10","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T08:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/?p=1811"},"modified":"2025-11-27T14:19:37","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T12:19:37","slug":"what-is-a-subdomain-and-how-does-it-work-how-to-create-a-subdomain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/what-is-a-subdomain-and-how-does-it-work-how-to-create-a-subdomain\/","title":{"rendered":"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As a website owner<\/span><b>, you might want to create a new website without purchasing a new <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/blog\/domain-names-parking-and-selling\/\"><b>domain name<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.Or you might be looking to test out new themes, plugins, and designs before deploying them on your new website. It could also be that you want to create different versions of your website without creating new pages.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If any of this describes your current position, then a subdomain might be what you need.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This article talks about what a subdomain is, how it works, and creating one for your website. If you are ready, let\u2019s dive right in.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>What is a Subdomain<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A subdomain is that<\/span><b> part of the domain name that appears before the primary domain name or extension.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We use subdomains to separate or organize websites into different sections, and you can create multiple subdomains on one domain.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Difference Between Domains and Subdomains<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To better understand what a subdomain is, let\u2019s consider the structure of a domain name.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A typical web address or URL appears in your browser<\/span><b> as https:\/\/www.example.com\/<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> such that example.com is the registered domain name for the website.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A domain name typically has two parts: TLD (Top-level domain) and SLD (Second-level domain).&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The top-level domain or TLD is the domain extension, which could be .com, .ng, .xyz, or any other domain extension.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you may rightly guess, the second-level domain is the name that appears before domain extension or TLD.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, we can also have other domains like shop.example.com or blog.example.com; these are called subdomains.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While domains can stand alone, subdomains cannot exist without the presence of the main domain.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now l<\/span><b>et\u2019s talk about how subdomains work.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>How Subdomains Work<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you enter a URL into your browser,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/what-is-dns\/\"><b> the Domain Name System<\/b><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, also known as DNS, translates the domain name to its<\/span><b> IP address.&nbsp;<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This IP address is then used to locate the website and eventually loads it up. Subdomains work in a similar pattern like domains too.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They are web addresses easily read by the Domain Name System that translates them to an IP address.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Uses of Subdomains<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subdomains have many use cases, the most popular one being its use for sectioning and organizing websites into different sections or versions. Here are some ways subdomains are used:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><b>Test A New Website<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Subdomains can be used to test a new feature, theme, plugin, or content before applying them to your original website. This ensures that you avoid publishing errors or abnormalities when your website goes live.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Create Different Language Versions<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: If your website serves a diversified audience and does not use an automatic website translator, a subdomain can help you create your website in multiple languages.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Create A mobile version of your website<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: You can use subdomains to create mobile versions of websites. This method was used before mobile responsive designs took over.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><b>Expand your business<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: Subdomains allow you to test out different ways of making money through your website or exploring different niches within your industry, thereby increasing your possibilities of online business expansion without creating a new domain now and then. Subdomains can be used to open online stores or set up blog posts for your websites.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Subdomain vs. Subdirectories&nbsp;<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subdomains and subdirectories are two different items, and <\/span><b>here\u2019s how they differ:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While subdomains are an additional part of the primary name, subdirectories are files or folders under the primary domain.&nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subdomains can be an entirely new standalone website with an entire<\/span><b> hosting management control panel,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but this is not the case with subdirectories.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subdomains may be hosted on servers separate from the leading website, while subdirectories are hosted on the same server as their parent domain.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Subdomains and SEO<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subdomains can also have an impact on Search Engine Optimization because of <\/span><b>how the search engines see them.&nbsp;<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some <\/span><b>SEO specialists<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> believe that Google\u2019s crawlers can view a subdomain as an entirely new website and rank it separately from the main domain.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, creating subdomains give the content of your website an organized structure, which would be helpful to your website visitors.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This content organization can also improve the chances of your website ranking higher on the search engine.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>How to Create a Subdomain<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we have a basis for understanding what subdomains are let\u2019s talk about creating one.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To create a subdomain <\/span><b>using your Scalahosting account is very simple:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Log into your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/spanel.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sPanel account<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Go to the Domains section<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image mpg-gallery\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"828\" height=\"138\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image2-23.png\" alt=\"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works, How to Create a Subdomain\" class=\"wp-image-1814\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image2-23.png 828w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image2-23-300x50.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image2-23-768x128.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click on Subdomains<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image mpg-gallery\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"829\" height=\"141\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image1-24.png\" alt=\"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works, How to Create a Subdomain 2\" class=\"wp-image-1813\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image1-24.png 829w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image1-24-300x51.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image1-24-768x131.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Enter a valid subdomain name<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image mpg-gallery\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1350\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image3-23.png\" alt=\"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works, How to Create a Subdomain 3\" class=\"wp-image-1815\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image3-23.png 1350w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image3-23-300x115.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image3-23-1024x394.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image3-23-768x295.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Give your subdomain a root directory.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image mpg-gallery\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1330\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image5-20.png\" alt=\"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works, How to Create a Subdomain 4\" class=\"wp-image-1812\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image5-20.png 1330w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image5-20-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image5-20-1024x401.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image5-20-768x301.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click on create a subdomain.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image mpg-gallery\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1332\" height=\"526\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image4-22.png\" alt=\"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works, How to Create a Subdomain 5\" class=\"wp-image-1816\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image4-22.png 1332w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image4-22-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image4-22-1024x404.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/image4-22-768x303.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your subdomain has been successfully created. How easy was that?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We know that you may have some more questions regarding subdomains, which is why we have drawn up <\/span><b>a list of Frequently Asked Questions<\/b> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(FAQs)<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by our users to help you answer some of your questions.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Subdomain FAQs<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>How soon can my subdomain be active?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Scalahosting, your subdomain can be up and running in less than 30mins of setting it up. Though it will be instantly created, we give it a little to propagate and get cached globally.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>How many subdomains can I create from my primary domain?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no limit to the number of subdomains you can create. You can create<\/span><b> multiple subdomains from your primary domain.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Do I need to pay for new subdomains?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Subdomains, unlike your primary domains, are<\/span><b> entirely free to set up.<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>What is a wildcard subdomain?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A wildcard subdomain allows you to redirect your visitors to your primary website regardless of what subdomain they access your website through. A wildcard domain will enable you to point all non-existing subdomains to a specific folder in your account.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Can I create a new website on my subdomain?<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Absolutely! You can create a new website with your subdomain, which the search engines recognize as an entire website different from the primary one.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We have just shown you what a subdomain is, how it works and how to create one using your Scalahosting account. If you have any more questions regarding subdomains, please reach out to us, and we will be more than happy to answer all of your questions. If you experienced any challenge while setting up your subdomain, please reach out to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/contact-us.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our technical support<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"youtube-player\" id=\"qwGE9xz5eb8\">How To Point a Domain Name To a Web Hosting Provider<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">\r\n    {\r\n        \"@context\": \"https:\/\/schema.org\",\r\n        \"@type\": \"VideoObject\",\r\n        \"name\": \"How To Point a Domain Name To a Web Hosting Provider\",\r\n        \"description\": \"You can actually buy web hosting and domain name from different providers and just link these two things together. In this video we'll show you exactly how.\",\r\n        \"thumbnailUrl\": [\r\n            \"https:\/\/i3.ytimg.com\/vi\/qwGE9xz5eb8\/maxresdefault.jpg\"\r\n        ],\r\n        \"uploadDate\": \"2022-04-12\",\r\n        \"duration\": \"PT3M45S\",\r\n        \"embedUrl\": \"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qwGE9xz5eb8\"\r\n    }\r\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/whois.html?utm_source=scalahosting-internal-link&amp;utm_medium=banner&amp;utm_campaign=whois-referral&amp;utm_id=whois-referral\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/whois_banner_horizontal.png\" alt=\"Create Subdomain: What It Is &amp; How it Works, Conclusion\" class=\"wp-image-4915\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/whois_banner_horizontal.png 600w, https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/whois_banner_horizontal-300x50.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 361px) 660px, (max-width: 767px) 89vw, (max-width: 1000px) 54vw, (max-width: 1071px) 910px, 1140px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a website owner, you might want to create a new website without purchasing a new domain name.Or you might be looking to test out new themes, plugins, and designs before deploying them on your new website. It could also be that you want to create different versions of your website without creating new pages.&nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Create Subdomain: What It Is & How it Works | ScalaHosting KB","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dns"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1811"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5888,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1811\/revisions\/5888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scalahosting.com\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}