When I launched Latitude Park in 2009, I obsessed over whether to buy every possible domain variation (.com, .net, .org, plus hyphens and plurals). I was convinced competitors would snatch them up and somehow steal my traffic. The real question I should have asked was about subdomain structure for multi-location clients. Fast-forward to today, and 80% of our franchise clients struggle with this exact issue--whether to use subdomains (atlanta.brandname.com) or subdirectories (brandname.com/atlanta) for their locations. We had one national franchise client whose corporate team chose subdomains for their 80+ locations, thinking it would give each franchisee more "ownership." Their organic traffic tanked because Google treated each subdomain as a separate, weak website instead of one authoritative domain. After migrating to subdirectories, their organic traffic jumped 42% in three months. My advice: skip the domain hoarding and focus on structure. If you're planning multiple locations or services, go with subdirectories from day one. Your SEO authority stays consolidated, and you won't need an expensive migration later when you realize subdomains are splitting your ranking power.