Exact Keywords Domain name

[Eyah]

Hello everyone!,

I would love to have your opinion on this matter.

I am working on a company e-commerce site; these guys would like to change their domain name AND their company name, so the most logical thing that came to mind was to name the domain after the company name. However, they also bought in the past a domain that have the exact keyword they would like to rank for.

I know that keywords in the URL are not as important as they used to be in the past, but nonetheless when I do a Google search for those keywords, 3 domains out of 10 on the first page are slight variations of those same keywords, meaning that they might have a really good domain name (also the other result are government, medical stuff and so on). And, no matter how many times I have read that keywords in the URL are not so important anymore, I still see a lot of sites ranking also because of their domain name (well at least outside the US)

So, my question here is: would it be better for them to use the exact match keyword-domain name or should they use their company name for their new site? Or some sort combination of the two? (the keyword-domain that in some way points also to the brand domain).

Thanks for your opinions on this; really appreciate it!

Cheers

[webtheoria.com]

Am guessing the easier way out of things is just to say build a blog, which in a sense means more content, fresh content, involvement from the company and maybe new links. It also allows you to attract new keywords.. so blog is not such a bad idea. I just hope that you could find more people that would devote their time on their content and website rather than just say "ohh I have an seo to do that, he does everything and we don't wanna get involved"

but yes there is tens of other things other than a blog that are more important..

[Eyah]

eheheheh I like your thinking

[AndyKuiper]

---> SEO's often say "build a blog" blah, blah, blah. If you believe you'll have a 'following' with your blog, or if you believe you can create 'compelling' content on an ongoing basis that is related to what your site is about, and if you can create unique (no duplicate) content on a regular basis... go for it. If not; don't waste your time.

Recently I heard an SEO 'Content Representative' for an SEO company advise a small local oil pipe fabrication company to build a blog... Well, I could have advised 10+ considerably more important things they should have been doing that would have been much more important at bringing in targeted traffic than starting a blog, for almost no one who could care less

[Eyah]

Hi Andy,

thanks a lot for your answers

I see what you mean, and the geo modifier thing makes sense actually. Just out of curiosity what would be the reason behind your using a blog on an ecommerce? I mean, a useful blog helps users and create brand awareness but as a consequence it brings in links, likes, retweets and all this stuff

Thanks again

Elio

[AndyKuiper]

"If they are good sites I don’t see why Google should penalize them just because of their domain name"
"If they made a really good site, would the domain name still be a problem? "
---> Google has done this to a good number of 'good sites'.

"a blog would make more sense on their main site because it would attract links."
---> that would not be the reason I'd create a blog. 
---> I wouldn't bother using the kw rich domain name if you choose to go with a brand name domain name.

• my name is Andy Kuiper, andykuiper.com ranks #1 for most (and in the top 4 for the rest) SEO related search terms in Edmonton 'and' Calgary Canada. (each city is 1 million+ population). "andykuiper" clearly isn't a commercial kw... I think you might be putting too much emphasis on the kw

* and - just reading the comment posted above, if you add a geo modifier to the KW, you're "unlikely" to have an issue with Google It wouldn't be an EMD, and Google (so far) has been pretty good about not giving a hard time to domain names that contain KW's and 'city name' (as an example) URL's

[Eyah]

I was reading a few things here and there and came across a couple of interesting things.

Here, Casey Meraz’s contribution doesn’t seem to go against EMDs…at least for local searches (but that would not be a problem since it would be a local ecommerce).

On the other hand according to the  searchmetrics’ white paper ranking report, keywords in URL have a negative effect …if I’m getting it right……

[Eyah]

Hello everyone and thanks for your opinions Very much appreciated!

So, the specific keyword itself would bring a decent amount of traffic, but I totally agree that the company name should communicate something and not just be a keyword name (and it is also common sense if they want their site to be part of their overall marketing strategy). From an SEO perspective, I also sense that having exact keyword domain names might be a problem in the future, but there are two things that still puzzle me:

1)      If they are good sites I don’t see why Google should penalize them just because of their domain name. And this is also true for those guys. If they made a really good site, would the domain name still be a problem? I am not saying that keyword-domain-name sites are necessarily good, but they could be….

2)      If they chose to go for a unique brand name domain, would the keyword domain name (they already own it) still good for something? I mean, like a company blog, and I know that private networks are evil, but a simple link from that site would be SO bad? But then again, a blog would make more sense on their main site because it would attract links.

Baffling stuff….

Thanks again you all for your contribution

Elio

[AndyKuiper]

---> ..."dynamically generated string of random characters" instead of targeted kw's in URL's

ack! - I definitely wouldn't do that

[Mike_c]

Been thinking about this lately for our situation. We are revamping a major section of our site and are considering a URL structure that no longer includes a targeted keyword but rather a dynamically generated string of random characters. As much as I tell my colleagues that URLs aren't the ranking factor that they once were, I'm finding it hard to leave the old URL structure behind.

Mike

[AndyKuiper]

The 2 answers you have received are dead on - whatever you do, I wouldn't create an exact match domain name period. You're likely asking for trouble down the road if you do that. Partial match domain names are much safer. As for the company name - I wouldn't bother trying to create a company name with the intention of making it 'work'; as a domain name

Andy

[Shakur]

Hi there,

This is a long disputed question in the search marketing community, the answer of which depends not only on how different search engines treat keywords in your domain name, or URL, but also the size of your advertising budget, and other factors.

While it may be true that search engines take into account keywords in your domain name, it’s important to consider how much traffic that will really get you in the long run. At the time of this writing, domain names have become quite sparse, and the odds of registering a domain name that also has high search volume for its keywords is slim.

3 tips to choosing your domain name:

• Easy to Remember – your domain name should be catchy, simple, and easy to remember. Remember that people will need to type in your domain name. You should therefore take into account potential misspellings and keep it short to avoid typos.
• Makes Sense – you want your domain name to make sense, to reflect what it is you do. Since you haven’t had the money or time to make people understand what yabaloo.com means – you will need to create a name that makes sense right off the bat without having spent money on branding. An example would be bluewidgets.com – your customer automatically expects to find blue widgets.
• **.COM – **ideally (unless you live outside the United States), you’ll want to register a .com (dot com) domain name, because that’s what people default to when typing in a domain name. Additionally, it helps to avoid hyphens if possible.

Hope it helps you.

[webtheoria.com]

They way you are thinking is something that has bothered the community for more than a decade. Yes, you are actually right that keyword based domain names are ranking higher than non-keyword based. Most likely over time this will change. Something that I always seen with Google is that they are trying to implement changes slowly (meaning that over time these keyword based domain would most likely fade away).

But if you look at the issue at a marketing prospective does this client only want to rank for one keyword? Y/N?

• Yes: then go for it! if this eCommerce will not be targeting now or in the future other keywords then stick to a keyword based domain
• No: if you have a lot of different products and you are looking to rank for different keywords, its better to build a brand name for your company by having a brand name oriented domain name!

I tend to focus to the brandability of the domain name (short,catchy, .com, etc) rather than the keyword focus, UNLESS we you are going to target an extremely competitive keyword which by it self could bring tons of traffic!

Some articles worth reading are:

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-your-domain-name-will-impact-seo-social-media-marketing/

http://www.motocms.com/blog/marketing/10-tips-choosing-domain-name/