Where should a knowledge base be hosted for max. SEO benefit?

[E2E]

A client would like to set up a knowledge base to work in conjunction with their website and we are tossing up whether to go with a hosted solution (and therefore set up as a subdomain) or find a solution that we host on the clients domain (which will presumably have more SEO benefit).  We are leaning towards the latter (although are mindful that we need to balance the client’s desire for a quality KB solution).  Appreciate your feedback.

[aarondicks]

KB's are great for user generated content (just look at this one). If it was open to all just imagine how many links it would be attracting!!

Obviously your KB would be for SEO benefits, and therefore the best method for gaining from it would be to host it on the clients domain in a sub folder. Most open source CMS's can easily be modified into Knowledge bases with relative little ease - one thing I should recommend is heavy moderation on all posts to ensure that no incorrect answers or spam goes live, as this would make their business look poor.

Regards

Aaron

[IM_Learner]

The question has already been very well answered. Having a comprehensive knowledge base on the same domain in separate folder can yield maximum and best SEO benefits.

[saibose]

Subdomains do not work very well. I would go in with a folder within the domain itself. I would further name the folder something intuitive which would lead more people finding information about your client's niche to the website. The architecture is very important for the KB as it can be very effective in terms of cross selling as well.

[Whitespark]

Completely agree with EGOL. You want this on the main domain for the most benefit.

I'm not sure about this, and it's complete speculation, but I would suspect that a subdomain that has the DNS A record pointed at a different server would be identified by Google as belonging to the hosted knowledgebase solution. That's the way those hosted solutions work. So, while you would get some credit from a subdomain on the same server as your main domain, you might not get much from a hosted solution setup like this.

Unfortunately, this means you'll have to build your own knowledgebase system, or use an open source or paid solution. It means more time to setup, but will definitely be worthwhile, especially if the point of the knowledgebase is for SEO.

[EGOL]

"(which will presumably have more SEO benefit)"

I agree.  I would go with putting the KB in a folder on the clients domain.  That way, links into the KB will be hitting the main site instead of a subdomain.