36 replies to this topic

[ddzc]

Hi all,

I have a generic question regarding SEO and domain names. I will make up a very similar example.

For eg, I buy a domain name called cardcenter.com. I want to target the longtail keywords "baseball cards, hockey cards, etc). Will I get any boost in SEO via domain name from the word "card" in the domain name, even though it doesn't end with an s "cards"?

I have two examples like below:

cardcenter.com
totalcards.com

So one name has "card" and the other has "cards". My realistic scenario is the domain with card sounds better and is easier to remember and related to my niche. In comparisson to the cards domain, its a few characters longer...also easy to remember but not as good as the card domain and the word before cards doesn't make much sence of the niche...the actual generic word is "total" An example would be totalcards.com....

I have tons of longtail keywords to target...all of the keywords end in card or cards...cards gets double the traffic so I will be targetting those longtail keywords.

My niche is not comparable to 'student loans", etc...the niche has a bit of competition and the top rankers have been around since 2003-2004 and are PR5 websites. I'm going to use all of my ability to rank it and possibly beat these sites or even rank on page 1, but I want to ensure I did the most I can SEO wise, to choosing a great domain. The issue I have is that theres no turning back when I choose a domain, i'll be stuck with it and I will be optimizing the domain i'm choosing for a long long time and probably for years to come.

I really want to ensure i've made the right decision with the domain name purchase. I'm definitely going to kick myself if I later find out that I could have received a little boost in the rankings with the cards domain over the card domain....possibly even a boost that could bring me from #2 to #1 for example.

If I receive the same SEO benefits with card or cards in the domain name when targetting keywords ending in cards, then i'm going to get the card domain b/c its shorter and makes more sence regarding the niche.

I can't buy both because I can't afford them (i'm buying an aged .com domain) and I don't want duplicate content due to the penalties associated to it.


Thank You

[Jill]

Never used a keyword rich domain before, so I personally haven't tested which could be better (if any).

I've generally been of the opinion that it's more the residual effects of having keywords in the domain, i.e., that people link to you with the name of your domain "Card Center" etc. which give you anchor text that can help you rank.

See our hundreds of other threads on  keyword-rich domains[/hr] for more on this topic.

[adibranch]

you cant have cardcenter.com now, i've just registered it. You can buy it from me for £4000.

I'm kidding.. someone else has it, but unless your domain contains specific phrases which relate to your main terms, forget it and go for a good easy to remember and snappy domain.

[1dmf]

cardcentre is not a word, 'card centre' is two words. and for it to be recognised as two words by the se's you'd need to buy card-centre , using a hyphen.

Plus don't beleive the baloney about having keyword rich domain names...

Look at my sig, I have a top keyword rich hyphenated domain name dance-music.org , I don't come no.1 for the terms 'dance music' which is in my domain name.

There's categoric proof it don't work!

As Jill says, they only time keywords would work in domain name is if you use domain name for the anchor text, then you are passing anchor juice in the normal way!

[Jill]

cardcentre is not a word, 'card centre' is two words. and for it to be recognised as two words by the se's you'd need to buy card-centre , using a hyphen.

Actually, if you do some searches in Google these days, that's not true anymore. There are very many words that they do seem to recognize and separate even when they're run together.

I've seen pages show up on searches where they just mention a site like cardcenter.com and it shows up in a search for card center (this is just an example, haven't looked at this one). But the words card center are no where on the page or part of the site. (It's a site pointing to that domain, not that domain itself.)

I've also seen Google pick up singular versions when the domain is plural, and vice versa.

I think they've got a ton of words that they are able to separate from each other, even when they're run together these days.

[adibranch]

thats totlly true as well ^^ you dont need a hyphen for it to be recognised as two seperate words, i think it checks the character flow as opposed to seperation characters..

But, 1dmf, where keyword rich domain names dont guarantee a top position, the help massively, but against a competitive term such as 'dance music' you're going to need much more. Conversely, for a smaller niche term, the keyword rich domain will pretty much win over anything else.

[1dmf]

oh, looks like G! is improving then.

Though it makes me think of www.penisland.com

How can you be sure

Edit: you could be onto something Jill , I just tried 'thunder bolt events' , and it asked if I meant 'thunderbolt' and showed me my mates DJ site.

Well one day it makes no different, the next it does, how on earth do you keep up

[Michael-F]

Beyond having your terms in the anchor text of incoming links by default, having your favorite keyphrase in your domain also gives you some flexibility with your titles.

If your favorite keyphrase is "example services", having the domain exampleservices.com lets you include something along the lines of "Example Services .com" in your title. It automatically includes both your keyphrase and your company name in the title, which leaves some extra space for other terms in a readable title.

It's not a huge deal since you can obviously still include both your brand name and your #1 keyphrase whether or not your domain matches it, but it's a nifty little bonus.

[1dmf]

This also makes me look a bit stupid with a client.

They have moved some websites to another company, who has told them they will get them a no.1 position on G!.

They've been told that they are going to get a load of keyword rich domain names and put the site up across them.

I told them don't listen to any baloney about keyword rich domain names, plus duplicate content will simply get filtered it's a waste of time and money and this company is talking out their butt.

Now it turns out they are correct to say keyword rich domains will help. So who knows maybe multiple sites will help too, it seems everytime I think I've grasped something, the goal posts move!

[adibranch]

no, you're right (in a sense) and what you're suggesting will happen, the other company is wrong. Having one site across multiple domains is bad marketing, risky for SEO and a general no-no, keyword rich or not.
The original post was relating to one keyword rich domain for a site, not several .

[1dmf]

I apreciate the reply adibranch.

the two points I made are separate, these are two things this company is suggesting.

What your saying is whether it is mutliple domains or not, having keywords in them does help, and I was wrong to tell them different, as i thought and when I asked the question a few months back here on HR was told, keywords do not make a different in domain names , and the consensus was it only works if your url /domain is used as the anchor text along with the requirement for word separators.

This position now seems to have changed

[adibranch]

theres normally some confusion when i see posts about this, which is probably where the poster or yourself got mixed up.
Keywords do not make a difference (or only a very very miniscule one) in URL's, but they do make a difference in domains.

eg
www.site.com/mykeywords.html
does nothing, or next to nothing.
www.mykeywords.com
does heaps.

this has been the same case for some time.. nothings changed.

[1dmf]

the domain forms part of the url

a URL is a protocol & identifier by defenition - Uniform Resource Locator

The document/web page is a URI, Unique Resource Identifier

So when I say URL/URI i am including the protocol / domain name & identifier.

So this is now going into the realms of how G! breaks up the URI (page) and what part it does or doesn't give weight to.

Plus to my mind it would seem unfair to give domain names keyword weight for the simple fact that seo's would buy up keyword rich domains for a start.

Plus how is that fair on legitimate companies who cannot purchase keywrod rich domains because usedcars.com is already gone for example.

Giving unfair advantage to a website, just because they got to the keyword rich domain first.

I'm not arguing for it having weight or not, i'm just talking out loud here throwing some ideas to the HRF peeps!

Hey, I have my music domain name for a reason , so if it's giving me extra juice , whoopeee, though i'm not saying it should, does or is right to.

Edited by 1dmf, 24 July 2009 - 08:44 AM.

[adibranch]

dont worry theres no need to explain url's.. i was simply clarifying.

Yo're right, Keyword rich domains did get bought up, extremely rapidly, and whats left still are.

Plus how is that fair on legitimate companies who cannot purchase keywrod rich domains because usedcars.com is already gone for example.

i dont think i understand that example... its fair on the first bloke that thought of it and paid for it isnt it? the second bloke, well he was just too late.

The KW rich domain thing does happen.. read up on it. Its one of the most powerful aspects to any site. As an example i've struggled for months trying to get past this bloke strappingmachines.co.uk . He's at number 1, i'm at number 2. His site is poor in terms of SEO, rank and incoming link text for that term, yet he's there, and there for one reason only.

[Randy]

And you're implying that one reason is his domain name adibranch?

If so, I'll have to respectfully disagree.

In a vacuum, when you remove links and their anchor text from the equation, the domain name itself just isn't nearly as important as some seem to think it is. The far greater value is in being able to create a recognizable brand.