Question Sub-Domain Complications

[MattFM]

Hiya,

I have a main site (website.com) and a Tumblr blog at subdomain.website.com. The main website used to be run entirely on Tumblr, but I few years ago, I switched the website to a self-hosted Wordpress site. The Tumblr blog switched to the sub-domain and now, I use it to promote posts on the main website and to repost Instagram photos.

My concerns...

In Google search results, I notice that the Tumblr blog appears as an indexed page underneath my main website. Since the Tumblr blog is not a primary focus, I don't want my potential visitors clicking through to the Tumblr blog.
In Search Console, judging by the number of indexed pages, it appears Google is listing the pages of the Tumblr blog as part of my main website property. I'm concerned this is affecting Google's perception of my website and limiting authority growth.
Moz is listing the sub-domain as part of the Domain Authority stats of my main website. I'm therefore concerned I'm not getting an accurate picture my my main website's authority.

What I'd like to do...

Unlink the sub-domain from Tumblr and revert back to a standard *.tumblr.com sub-domain. I'm open to other suggestions as to how I can separate the data in SEPs, the search console and on Moz, but this currently seems like the most decisive and clear-cut option.

How...?

What is the best way on addressing my concerns whilst minimising any damage to my main website? The situation currently seems so messy, I feel a bit stuck as to what the best course of action should be.

Many thanks for your help.

 

[Community]

If the subdomain carries a reasonable amount of authority, more than the inner pages of your primary site it will show up in brand searches above other pages. It's still considered a seperate entity.

That said if you really don't want the subdomain to be associated with the site in that way, best practice would be to simply migrate the site back to the tumbler TLD. Then 301 redirect all of your subdomain URL's to relevant URL's of your primary site.

Obviously you could redirect the subdomain back to the tumbler URL, but from what you've said that wouldnt make sense, you may as well harness the weight that your subdomain has.

 

[MattFM]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

There are over 500 pages on the Tumblr blog and there isn't like-for-like content on the main website. Is there a way to setup a catch-all redirect (sub-domain.website.com/*) to the homepage of the main website? Would this even be a sensible thing to do?

 

[Community]

Yes you should be able to use a global redirect, I will post a htaccess example for you tomorrow when i get to my desk.

It really needs to be decided on a case by case basis if this is a good move, obviously it can depend alot on the current subdomain authority, its backlinks and its sitewide backlink profile as to whether you could safely redirect all of those pages.

 

[MattFM]

Nice one! Thanks for your help.

Moz tells me I have a domain rank of just 18 on both the TLD and the sub-domain. Not much to lose by laking changes.