Subdomain (International)

Subdomain (International) is a URL structure that puts each language or regional version of a site on its own named prefix under one domain, such as fr.example.com for French content.

A subdomain places the market label before the root domain rather than after it. A brand might run fr.example.com for France, de.example.com for Germany, and uk.example.com for the United Kingdom. Each subdomain can be hosted separately and managed almost as its own site, which is useful when different regional teams own their content.

example.com      default / global
fr.example.com   French
de.example.com   German
uk.example.com   English (UK)

Subdomains sit between subdirectories and ccTLDs in practice. They are easier to host independently and to delegate to local teams, and they let you separate infrastructure per market. You can also set geotargeting per subdomain in Google Search Console, since each subdomain can be added as its own property. As with subdirectories, hreflang annotations connect the equivalent pages across subdomains.

The debated point is authority. Google has said it can treat subdomains and subdirectories similarly, but many practitioners observe that signals consolidate more reliably within subdirectories on one domain. A new subdomain may behave more like a fresh property that has to build its own footing, which can slow a market launch compared with a subfolder on an established domain. If consolidating authority is the priority, subdirectories are often the safer default; subdomains make sense when independent hosting or separate team ownership outweighs that concern.

Related: Subdirectory (International), ccTLD, Geotargeting Settings, Hreflang and International SEO guide