What's better SEO wise?
 

Hi folks,

I was just wondering, is it better to have your forum in a sub-directory or is it better to have it in a sub-domain from a SEO point of view? Or does it make no difference?

Also, how can I put my login box for my forum on the main page of my site?

It does makes a lot of difference for search engines, if you put your forums in a subdirectory yourdomain.com/forums this is considered as 1 site, your forums belong to yourdomain.com only.

but if you use a subdomain search engines consider this as a completely different site forum.yourdomain.com

if you plan to add no. of more subdomains or features which are completely different from each other like a gallery, shop, download section, news system you have to consider appropriately what method you are going to use properly.

there are more advantages and less disadvantages of using directory over subdomains.