Is this the same site SEO wise?

[Michael]

I'm in the jewelry business and i was wondering if
rings.jewelrystore.com
is the exact same SEO wise as
http://www.jewelrystore.com.

Trying to decide if its necessary to make another site.

Please provide references.

[Jake]

That are treated much like 2 different sub directories of the same site, I believe Google changed policy of how sub-domains were treated, they previously were viewed like separate sites. I'm guessing that an added subdomain might be 'lifted' in ranking more quickly by the parent site's existing ranking than a brand new domain name would.

Even having people visit and bookmark http://www.jewelrystore.com and jewelrystore.com can dilute the search ranking compared to single form getting all the backlinks.

Subdomains are probably as useful for presenting the appearance of different sites.

Jewelry.buyguide.com and fashion.buyguide.com would appear to be separate site to some visitors.