[nickfromseattle]

If you want to leverage SEO to drive traffic, yes, put it on the root domain in a folder.

Yes, Hubspot uses a subdomain, but you're not Hubspot.

[kevlened]

I'd like to see more evidence. From the linked article, John Mueller, from Google, says they treat them the same, although he acknowledges it's a heated debate externally.

Timestamp: https://www.youtube.com/live/kQIyk-2-wRg?feature=shared&t=67...

Here's him again, though in 2017, being more explicit about blogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJGDyAN9g-g

Here's additional documentation about why site diversity rules collapse subdomains into the root: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ranking...

For a third party's take, here's semrush in Nov 2023: https://www.semrush.com/blog/subdomain-vs-subdirectory/

"The choice between subdomains and subdirectories largely depends on reasons outside of SEO. Both can be SEO-friendly."