What Is a Subdomain? Examples and Setup (2026)

A subdomain is an optional prefix added before a website’s root domain. The root domain includes the website name and top-level domain (TLD), such as “.com” or “.org.” In shop.website.com, “shop” is the subdomain and “website.com” is the primary domain.

Businesses use subdomains to give different parts of a website their own addresses, separating them with prefixes that generally indicate the subdomain’s function, such as:

• “Shop” or “store” for an online shop
• “Blog” for a blog
• “Member” for a members-only area
• “Business” for business-to-business (B2B) buyers
• Country-specific subdomain names for international stores

Learn how subdomains work. Explore real-world examples, and find out when to use a subdomain instead of a subdirectory.

What is a subdomain?

A subdomain organizes a distinct area of a website under the same registered domain. For example, a company can host its store at shop.website.com and its blog at blog.website.com.

The familiar “www” in www.website.com is also a subdomain, commonly used for a main website.

As an example, here’s a breakdown of the URL https://shop.website.com/products:

Together, “website” and “.com” form the main domain, “website.com.”

Subdomains can have their own design or match your main site. They can also run on different platforms, allowing teams like marketing and retail to use separate software if there are benefits to doing so. By using subdomains, a company can take advantage of this differentiation without having to register new domains for different parts of the business.

What is a subdomain used for? 9 popular use cases

Subdomains give stores, publications, and other website sections their own addresses on one registered domain. Here are nine ways businesses use them:

• Selling internationally
• Launching an ecommerce site
• Hosting client portals
• Publishing blogs and news
• Selling B2B through trade sites
• Hosting communities and forums
• Organizing your website
• Launching a separate brand
• Improving search visibility

1. Selling internationally

Country-specific subdomains give shoppers a local version of your store. Pair them with local currency, translated content, and shipping information for that market. For example, Gymshark serves their Canadian shoppers at ca.gymshark.com.

With Shopify Markets, you can assign subdomains to specific markets, allowing shoppers who visit those subdomains to shop on a localized storefront. Translate your store’s content for each language and activate Shopify Payments to sell in multiple currencies.

2. Launching an ecommerce site

If you already run a blog or business website, a subdomain can give your new store its own address, such as shop.website.com. This lets you add ecommerce functionality to your website without rebuilding or migrating.

You can keep your existing site on the root domain and connect a subdomain to a Shopify store.

You keep your main site on its current platform and use Shopify to run your store.

3. Hosting client portals

Client portals give customers a place to check orders and manage account details. They can reduce routine support requests by letting customers find the information they need.

Shopify stores can assign a dedicated subdomain, such as account.website.com, as the primary address for customer account pages, where shoppers can sign-in, view their order history, and manage their profile information.

A portal can also have one specific task. For example, swimwear brand Seea uses returns.theseea.com for returns and exchanges.

4. Publishing blogs and news

A subdomain can be used to give a retailer’s blog, newsletter, or other publication its own address and publishing platform. For example, bone broth brand Kettle & Fire publishes studies, recipes, and more at learn.kettleandfire.com.

Shopify online stores already have built-in blogging tools. You can publish articles within your store and reserve a subdomain for a publication that you operate separately from your store.

5. Selling B2B through trade sites

A subdomain such as trade.website.com can give wholesale buyers a separate storefront.

Shopify B2B also lets you sell to businesses and consumers from one store. B2B buyers sign in to see the products and prices available to their company location. This can help businesses distinguish their wholesale operations and cater customer-facing experiences for B2B buyers.

Catalog features vary by Shopify plan. Basic, Grow, and Advanced allow up to three active catalogs across B2B markets and require the new Shopify Markets. The Shopify Plus plan has unlimited B2B market catalogs and direct catalog assignments to companies or company locations.

6. Hosting communities and forums

A community subdomain gives customers a dedicated place to ask questions and exchange advice, separate from your storefront. This enables community-building among customers, who can share experiences and tips without cluttering your store.

Shopify Community uses community.shopify.com for discussions about store design, technical issues, and running a business.

7. Organizing your website

Subdomains can separate resources for different audiences. For example, press.website.com could house media contacts and downloadable brand assets, giving journalists a direct address for press materials. Businesses can use subdomains to organize internal resources such as employee portals or training modules, kept separately from the public-facing site.

8. Launching a separate brand

A subdomain can give a new brand its own storefront and design under your existing domain. This works when you want the parent brand’s name to stay visible in the address. This approach can be useful for brands testing new product lines or distinct brand identities that do not need their own registered domain.

9. Improving search visibility

Subdomains can help businesses organize content for distinct audiences, such as shoppers in different countries, making it easier to provide relevant localized experiences.

Google states that it has no indexing or ranking preference between subdomains and subfolders. Choose the structure that makes your content easiest to organize and maintain.

Subdomain examples

Here are four examples of how businesses use subdomains to serve different audiences and purposes:

Subdomain vs. subdirectory vs. domain: What’s the difference?

Your root domain is the website name and its extension, such as website.com. A subdomain adds a prefix, such as shop.website.com. A subdirectory, also called a subfolder, adds a path after the domain, such as website.com/shop.

As per Google’s recommendations, choose a structure that’s easy for you to organize and manage.

Keep content in subfolders when it belongs to the same store and uses the same platform. For international markets, Shopify recommends subfolders for most stores because they’re simpler to set up and manage. Choose a subdomain when a market or service needs a separate address or platform.

SEO tools such as Ahrefs may evaluate subdomains separately from their root domains. However, third-party authority scores like Ahrefs’ Domain Rating aren’t factors in Google search ranking, and a subdomain doesn’t automatically lose the SEO benefits associated with its root domain.

Moving between subdomains and subfolders later changes your URLs. Plan permanent redirects from each old page to its replacement, update internal links and sitemaps, and check your canonical and language tags. Rankings can fluctuate while Google processes the move.

How to create a subdomain

The process for creating a subdomain varies depending on who manages your domain. For domains bought through or transferred to Shopify, follow steps 1 through 4 in your Shopify admin. For domains managed by another registrar, skip to Step 5.

1. Find your domain settings

Sign in to your Shopify admin and go to Settings > Domains. Click the root domain you want to configure.

2. Click “Add subdomain”

In the Subdomains section, click Add subdomain.

3. Enter the prefix

Enter the text that will appear before your root domain, such as “shop.” For an international storefront, enter the country code for your target market, such as “ca” for Canada.

To serve localized content, assign the saved subdomain to the relevant Shopify market and configure its language and currency settings.

4. Save your new subdomain

Click Save. Shopify adds the default CNAME record, which points the subdomain to Shopify.

You can add up to 20 domains and subdomains in total, in addition to your myshopify.com address. The Shopify Plus plan increases that limit to 1,000.

5. Connect a subdomain from a third-party registrar

For a domain managed elsewhere, create the subdomain in your provider’s DNS settings, then connect it to Shopify:

• Sign in to your domain provider and open its DNS settings.
• Add a CNAME record. Enter your prefix, such as shop, in the Host or Name field. Follow your provider’s required format.
• Point the record to shops.myshopify.com and save it.
• In Shopify, go to Settings > Domains > Connect existing domain.
• Enter the full subdomain, such as shop.website.com, click Next, and follow the verification prompts.

If Shopify requests ownership verification, add the TXT record shown in your admin. Follow Shopify’s third-party subdomain instructions for the exact values.

Launch your domain (and subdomains) with Shopify

Shopify makes it easy to manage your domain and create subdomains, with free TLS certificates to help secure your storefront. Whether you’re launching a new store or expanding into new markets or selling channels, you can organize your online presence around your brand’s needs.

Give the activation process time. DNS changes to Shopify-managed domains can take up to 24 hours, and a TLS certificate for a newly connected third-party domain can take up to 48 hours. Check the connection status under Settings > Domains before sharing the address.

Keep content in subfolders when you manage it within the same store. Choose a subdomain when a service or storefront needs its own address or platform.