Long Exact Match Domain, or short "Brand" domain?
-
I've searched and found a lot of discussion regarding the benefits of using Exact Match Domains, however I'm still unsure of what is a "too long" domain to make it not user friendly.
I'm working on a new web application that help users design their own <product>. </product>
Let's say that the product would be canvas paintings as an example. Would you choose the domain www.designcanvaspaintings.com if it was available? Or would you rather create a "brand" like paintify.com that is shorter and has a more "brand" feeling to it.
-
Google can preach all they like about lessening the weight of EMDs but fact is they still have massive prominence. As long as it's not too long, I'd go for the EMD.
-
I'd go brand name every time.
EMDs still give you some advantage out of the blocks, but if you are trying to build a business then brandable is better. You want referrals, repeat business, inherit trust and to stick in people's mind. It's hard to do that with a mushy EMD that sounds a lot like everyone else's.
If you need convincing here is a book that you should read : Zag by Marty Neumeier. It's cheap, short and very good
He talks about the importance of developing a brand that stands out. Well worth the few hours it takes to read.
-
You said
"I've searched and found a lot of discussion regarding the benefits of using Exact Match Domains"
I did mention "but not always". You have to be careful
You mentioned "www.designcanvaspaintings.com"
Design Canvas Paintings - Does that sound like a brand name or spammy? hard to judge, we are not Google
Maybe "Designer Canvas Paintings"?
-
So if I understand it correctly, it seems like they decreased the value of the EMD in the September update. This does not mean that the value of EMD's are low or "= not good" as you put it.
So yes, Google has decreased the value of EMD's. But is it still a big benefit to use a domain name that has a Exact Match to what your business is about? And does this benefit outweight the added user experience of having a shorter domain?
-
http://searchengineland.com/library/google/emd-update
Exact-Match Domain (EMD) Update — September 27, 2012 - http://www.seomoz.org/google-algorithm-change#2012
Exact Match Domains = not good (but not always)
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why is Google appending a different website's brand name to the end of SERP title?
I've recently been shown some SERP results where Google is appending a different website's brand name to the end of the SERP title. It's actually rewriting the brand's name to that of the other website. (This is obviously not ideal.) Why would this be? The other website doesn't even stock the same product, so there shouldn't be any confusion there. But even if it did, many websites stock the same products. Just confusing...
Branding | | Ria_1 -
Subfolder marketing issue - buying a new domain and 301 to subfolder on existing domain
Hello, I have a specific question and I'll try to be as precise as possible. I have a well ranked domain with good PA. When we were starting our new service I found out that for SEO purposes it would be best to put it under subfolder instead of subdomain or new domain all together because of PA that our domain has. Now, that went pretty well and our new service started appearing in SERPs and is improving rapidly since our link builing strategies were quite sucessful. But there is a problem - we can't advertise our service with a link like this - www.domain.com/subfolder. It's just really messy. And I was wondering if we buy a new domain and 301 redirect it to our subfolder what impacts will that have? If people start linking us as www.newdomain.com will it pass all the juice to www.domain.com/subfolder? Marketing wise I see a lot of benefits using newdomain but I'm afraid it can have SEO downsides and I'm asking for your help to clarify these. Thank you in advance, Best regards, Ivan
Branding | | mintmediadu0 -
Separate experience on the same domain?
So my company is interested in creating a scholarship for medical students as a way to create more brand awareness and earn some quality links from universities and colleges. The problem is, we are a little stuck on where to place the scholarship within the structure of our site. First of all, our idea is to make the scholarship application process interactive and social. Candidates will create a short video where they answer one of the scholarship questions. Those videos will be displayed in a Reddit-style feed (sort of like Inbound.org) allowing people to vote for the ones they like. Videos with more links will rise to the top. The popularity of the videos will factor into the decision of whom to award the scholarship, but it will not be the sole determining factor. To do this properly, the scholarship should be its own experience independent from our main site. There will be several pages (profile, application, about the scholarship, the Reddit-style feed, etc.) so it wouldn’t really fit within our existing site. BUT if we put the scholarship on a subdomain we miss out on the link juice. Could we keep the scholarship pages under the main domain (mainsite.com/scholarship), but have it be its own experience with its own navigation? Will that look bad in the eyes of the search engines? We’d essentially have two sites on the same domain. Any help would be much appreciated.
Branding | | ba_seomoz0 -
Should we use one domain with product-specific sub-domains or separate domains per product?
We are resellers of 4 separate products. Currently we have numerous different websites promoting each product, not all of them use a URL which has any real link to our business - it's only when you land on the page that it contains brand images, etc. We are in the process of redesigning and rebranding, and want to know what would be the best course of action to take in terms of domain registration. This is what we have currently, for example: - www.accounts-solutions.co.uk - This site deals with the resale and support of a branded accounts package. www.software-accounts-systems.co.uk - This site deals with the resale and support of a second branded accounts product. In terms of moving forward with new domains, which are going to contain our business name, our options are as follows: - OPTION 1 - www.our-business-name.co.uk/product1/etc, www.our-business-name.co.uk/product2/etc, www.our-business-name/product3/etc where all products are given separate sub-domains within our main business page. OPTION 2 - www.our-business-name-product1.co.uk/etc, www.our-business-name-product2.co.uk/etc, www.our-business-name-product3.co.uk/etc where each product we resell is given it's own separate domain entirely. Does anyone think one direction over another would give any benefits in terms of SEO, or would it not matter as long as each site was well optimised with a solid content and social strategy? My initial preference is for the first option, if only because of the continuity in terms of having one main company website with each product listed in sub-domains. Each landing page would obviously be optimised for each specific product/keyword, etc. so, from a user point of view, there shouldn't be any confusion between separate products. Also, would it be recommended to install 301 redirects from our existing www.accounts-solutions.co.uk, etc pages to the relevant new sites? Thanks, John
Branding | | HBPGroup0 -
Where Does Google Pull the Photo From When You Search For Your Brand?
Hi All, In doing a search for our brand from our corporate HQ (Learning Tree), I came across a large embedded "ad" so to speak on the right hand side front and center of one of our locations (see attached photo). Clearly this is from Google's Knowledge Graph. We aren't pleased with the photo of a computer screen pulling randomly from our website...we are OK with the map listing though. Anyway to change this? As a note, when you search for "Learning Tree International" (our more official name as the entity as a whole - we have many locations around the world, and also one near our corporate HQ, which is the one that's displaying when you search "Learning Tree" alone), much better imagery of our logo is displayed. That's coming from our corporate G+ page. Any suggestions? Thank you. s0C5ZpT&hXaLhE7 s0C5ZpT&hXaLhE7#1
Branding | | CSawatzky0 -
Google + Brand Page for Multiple Locations
We have had our Google Places pages up and running now for a bit, and we are looking to start our Google + Brand page. What is the best way to handle a Brand page with multiple locations? Create a page for each location so we can connect them to their Places equivalent? Create one overall brand page and not connect it to the Google Places? A lot of the information I am seeing is around a year out of date with Google saying "something is coming" but no updates since then, so how have others in similar situations handled it?
Branding | | BeOnAir0 -
Which Domain Name to Choose
A non-profit I run owns two domains - ChristianSimplicity.com and SimpleLivingWithGod.com. I have just started producing content under ChristianSimplicity. These are long-term projects and we have resources to commit to them. They do not need an economic return and that is not going to be sought. Ultimately I want the sites to rank high on the key words like - Simple Living Living a Simple Life Living Well The Good Life Christian Lifestyle Christian Simple Living I have a two part question. . . I'll ask the first part now. The second may be irrelevant depending on the first answer. **Which domain name of the two is best to start out the site? ** We already have some content on the first site, but are early enough in the process that it isn't a big deal for us to switch and I don't think we will lose too much with respect to rankings. Will the second domain name partial match on key word phrase help significantly more in ranking for the harder term Simple Living? I already rank 14 for Christian Simple Living - and I'm willing for that to drop to have the longer term goal of ranking higher on Simple Living. Thanks.
Branding | | WithGodInc0 -
Is this the current recommendation for hyphen(s) in domain name?
Let's say your customers company name in the real world is "Foo Bar Baz Inc." and if it is read (and understood) as "foobarbaz inc." by someone hearing the name it does also make semantically sense (like "Dog Food Market"). Customer owns a lot of domain combinations, but notably foobarbaz.com foo-bar-baz.com Would you recommend to dedicate "foobarbaz.com" as main brand and domain for all SEO efforts and do the proper redirects from the other domains? Or would you do it the other way around, redirecting to the foo-bar-baz.com domain? Thanks!
Branding | | kqkq0