How to Set Up Subdomains for Your WordPress Site

If you want to manage multiple domains on a single WordPress website, you can do it easily. This guide will walk you through the process, including which providers to check with and why you might want to create subdomains. Additionally, we'll discuss a few use cases and provide detailed steps for setting up one subdomain in your WordPress site.

Why Set Up Subdomains?

There are several practical reasons why you might want to manage multiple domains within a single WordPress website. Here are a few use cases:

Building a custom landing page with its own domain to target a specific audience for a product or service. Creating pages on your site with a different domain for each language or country, without using a translation plugin. SaaS or WaaS products that give users the option to bring their own domains or provide vanity URLs. Using WordPress multisite capabilities to set up multisite networks.

How to Create and Configure a Subdomain

Step 1: Create a Subdomain in Your Hosting Panel

The first step is to create a new subdomain using your hosting service. You can find this option in your hosting control panel. For example, if your base domain is `` and you want to create a subdomain named `meta`, you would create ``.

Once you've created the subdomain, you need to configure it by adding an A record to your domain registrar or DNS settings. The A record should point to the IP address of your server. For example:

Name: meta TTL: Set to default or 300 Type: A Target: Your hosting server's IP address

Step 2: Verify the Subdomain

After adding the A record, check if the subdomain is working by navigating to `` in your web browser. If everything is configured correctly, you should see a good HTTP response from your server.

Step 3: Install WordPress Using Softaculous or Manual Installation

Once your subdomain is working, you can proceed to install WordPress on it. Most shared hosting providers come with an all-in-one installer like Softaculous. This makes the installation process quick and easy:

Access your hosting control panel. Look for the Softaculous app or WordPress installer. Follow the prompts to install WordPress on your subdomain.

If you prefer a manual installation, you can download the latest WordPress version from the official WordPress site and follow the installation steps provided by your hosting provider.

Alternatives to Subdomains

For those who prefer to avoid the complexities of subdomains, there are a few alternatives you might consider:

Dedicated Domain Mapping: Use domain mapping plugins that allow you to map multiple domains to a single WordPress installation without the need for subdomains. WordPress Multisite: Set up a multisite network if you need to create multiple sub-sites under a single parent domain.

Dedicated domain mapping plugins can be easier to use than managing subdomains, especially for beginners. They allow you to use multiple domains without the technical overhead of configuring A records and hosting server settings.

Conclusion

Setting up subdomains for your WordPress site is a straightforward process that can be done through your hosting control panel and domain registrar. While it can be technically complex, using domain mapping plugins can make the process simpler and more user-friendly. Whether you need to target specific audiences or manage multiple languages and countries, subdomains can be a powerful tool for organizing your online presence.