Google’s John Mueller warns that free subdomain hosting services create unnecessary SEO challenges, even for sites doing everything else right.
The advice came in response to a Reddit post from a publisher whose site shows up in Google but doesn’t appear in normal search results, despite using Digitalplat Domains, a free subdomain service on the Public Suffix List.
What’s Happening
Mueller told the site owner that they likely aren’t making technical mistakes. The problem is the environment they chose to publish in.
He wrote:
“A free subdomain hosting service attracts a lot of spam & low-effort content. It’s a lot of work to maintain a high quality bar for a website, which is hard to qualify if nobody’s getting paid to do that.”
The issue comes down to association. Sites on free hosting platforms share infrastructure with whatever else gets published there. Search engines struggle to differentiate quality content from the noise surrounding it.
Mueller added:
“For you, this means you’re basically opening up shop on a site that’s filled with – potentially – problematic ‘flatmates’. This makes it harder for search engines & co to understand the overall value of the site – is it just like the others, or does it stand out in a positive way?”
He also cautioned against cheap TLDs for similar reasons. The same dynamics apply when entire domain extensions become overrun with low-quality content.
Beyond domain choice, Mueller pointed to content competition as a factor. The site in question publishes on a topic already covered extensively by established publishers with years of work behind them.
“You’re publishing content on a topic that’s already been extremely well covered. There are sooo many sites out there which offer similar things. Why should search engines show yours?”
Why This Matters
Mueller’s advice here fits a pattern I’ve covered repeatedly over the years. Previously, Google’s Gary Illyes warned against cheap TLDs for the same reason. Illyes put it bluntly at the time, telling publishers that when a TLD is overrun by spam, search engines might not want to pick up sitemaps from those domains.
The free subdomain situation creates a unique problem. While the Public Suffix List theoretically tells Google to treat these subdomains as separate sites, the neighborhood signal remains strong. If the vast majority of subdomains on that host are spam, Google’s systems may struggle to identify your site as the one diamond in the rough.
This matters for anyone considering free hosting as a way to test an idea before investing in a real domain. The test environment itself becomes the test. Search engines evaluate your site in the context of everything else published under that same domain.
The competitive angle also deserves attention. New sites on well-covered topics face a high bar regardless of domain choice. Mueller’s point about established publishers having years of work behind them is a reality check about where the effort needs to go.
Looking Ahead
Mueller suggested that search visibility shouldn’t be the first priority for new publishers.
“If you love making pages with content like this, and if you’re sure that it hits what other people are looking for, then I’d let others know about your site, and build up a community around it directly. Being visible in popular search results is not the first step to becoming a useful & popular web presence, and of course not all sites need to be popular.”
For publishers starting out, focus on building direct traffic through promotion and community engagement. Search visibility tends to follow after a site establishes itself through other channels.
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