Reverse Proxy
What is it all about, and of what relevance is it to SEO?
For hosted contents, it is ideal to make use of subfolders instead of sub domains. Especially when this is viewed from the perspective of SEO. (Search Engine Optimization). In most cases, a website owner may place the blog of his site in the sub domain, oblivious of the technical limitations that results from this, such as preventing easy migration from subdomain to subfolder.
The relevance of a reverse proxy cannot be over emphasized. It grants you asses to the contents on the sub domain through a path on the main domain. This is possible even if the sub domain is hosted by a server different from that which the main website is hosted.
Below, are methods by which reverse proxy can be used for your benefit:
Implementing a reverse proxy is just as easy as implementing a subdomain. Once you realize its relevance and remain abreast with its operational principles, you are home and dry.
Let’s consider a normal proxy. It functions as a web broker with respect to an internet browser, by requesting data from another source. In contrast, a reverse proxy functions as a web broker for a server, by requesting data from another source. It is observed that while a normal proxy works as a web broker for a browser, a reverse proxy works as a web broker for a server. This difference is significant.
The question is, of what benefit is this to you? This provides you with leverage. You are now in command with no commitments what so ever. This implies that your blog, even when located on a completely separate server, will appear to be located in a folder. As a result, blog.yourwebsite.com will appear as www.yourwebsite.com/blog
How do you achieve this?
The necessary plugins required to enable reverse proxy are normally pre-installed on most servers. Apache and Microsoft IIS are not exceptions.
For Apache servers, the plugin is mod_proxy. The mod_proxy can be used from both .htaccess and config files.
For Microsoft servers, although the IIS version 6 needs a third party plugin, the plugin for IIS version 7 and higher, is APS, (Application Request Routing).
From the explanation, it is obvious that reverse proxy is the ideal solution to your sub domain SEO problems.
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