Domains vs subdomains in SE ranking

[greggy]

I am seeking to understand if search engines treats subdomains as a complete website or as a page of the main domain name. I have a website http://portalshops.com and users get web portals using subdomains eg http://greg.portalshops.com . Would each subdomain be seen a a link of the main domain name or as an independent website linking to portalshops.com? Does subdomains increase ranking in terms of sites linking back to the main domain? Please contribute

[pixelcop]

Hi,

as far as I know, subdomains are seen as a separate domain.

Here is a thread (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=2792) at searchenginewatch that might help you.

[Dave]

I believe that each sub-domain will be considered as a separate domain.

[GordonH]

But..... I think they give precedence to .com domains.

Look at this google result:
http://www.google.com/search?q=transpondian

The second last entry is an empty site with only the search term in the domain. It comes above many other sites that have relevant content.

[othellotech]

every engine uses different algorithms
every engine places different weight on the serach terms appearing in

title
domain
meta-tags
links
text
headings

from results I see in google etc there appears no difference between its treatment of any domain / host.domain results - i.e.
abc.com
abc.net
abc.someshop.co.uk
all treated equally and listed as such with someshop.uk.com/abc
coming lower down in results