Exact keyword in domain - does it work
-
Hi,
a hypothetical question:
let's say there is a fresh domain travelnorway.com (of course there is already domain like that, I am using it just as a example)
Will it rank first on googe for "travel norway" query on google?( I mean in situation where 30 other companies are trying to rank for the same phrase)
Thanks!
-
Yes, they have keywords in Meta Title, but to me it looks more like keyword stuffing - it just repeating keywords in different language.
When you look on the other competitors they usually do much better content wise and social media wise.
It seems that age of the website is an important ranking factor here. Pioneer privilege?
-
If you search for this keyword in Google you will see that www.campericeland.is has done one thing right! Their meta-title is:
Camper Iceland, Iceland Camper Tours, Island, Wohnmobile, Camper ...
Meaning they start with the words: Camper Iceland
which all the below website (except one) do not use in the same context!
Their domain authority is low: 28 /100 but atleast they have a link from a very popular website:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/iceland/transport/getting-around/car-and-motorcycle
If you judge the authority of the other websites and especially the one who has the same keywords in the meta-title you will see that:
Domain Authority is less: 16 /100
Also: https://www.campericeland.is is a four year old website according to the Wayback Machine!
-
I would like to continue this discussion by giving an example of Icelandic company: www.campericeland.is
(I could come up with more in this country like this)
They lack almost everything when it comes to SEO (on page optimisation,inbound links, content, the website has poor usability), yet they rank first for phrase "camper iceland"
How come? ? Is it just the lack of other websites and competitors (although there are plenty behind, who do much better job) that makes this possible ?
-
your are most welcome! if you like you can mark the answer as a "good answer" in order to show this topic as Answered!
I wish you all the best!
-
Thanks Matt for your answer!
-
Thank you for your answer!
-
Hi Leszek!
To answer your question directly—no, having the exact match keyword in the domain name will not, on its own, result in a first-page ranking. It certainly doesn't hurt (unless it's part of a pattern of spammy keyword stuffing), but the impact it will have is vanishingly small.
-
You can write a book on the subjec. Exact Match Domains or EMD work but not as much as what they used to. Google has reduced their strenght over the passed years or so, and most likely today are in their worst. So to anwser your question EMDs would maybe be a small benefit when used to target a keyword which is very competitive, but a greater benefit when used to target a non competitive keyword, but nonetheless valuable to you.
you can read more here: https://moz.com/blog/the-exact-match-domain-playbook-a-guide-and-best-practices-for-emds
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
-
Moving Shopify from a Sub Domain to the Full Domain
Apologies if this has been asked before. Currently we have a Shopify shop on a subdomain shop.lucybee.com a blog on subdomain blog.lucybee.com and the full domain of course. We'd now like to move everything onto Shopify on the full domain. Therefore the blog rolls into Shopify. We'll manually move pages into Shopify. Any advice or links to resources on how to manage would be gratefully received. Thank you , Jim
Technical SEO | | LucyBee0 -
Homepage optimized for main keyword - adding the same keyword to category
Hello, We have a listing / classified advertisement website. The homepage is optimized for the main keyword lets say Prague clubs. The homepage shows around 50 latest listings. Now the homepage is not ranking well for the keyword. (By not well i mean in 3 months we have no ranking in the target SERP) Im thinking the issue might be that the keyword "Prague clubs" is not in any of the URL or category names. What do you think if i name one of the categories also to lets say "best prague clubs". This way i will have around 50-80 urls having the target keyword in them. (advertisements + the category itself) Will this help or actually dilute the keyword? What you think?
Technical SEO | | advertisingtech0 -
Followed Linking Root Domains and No Followed Linking Domains
If you have more NoFollowed Linking Root Domains than Followed Linking Root Domains is that a problem?
Technical SEO | | INN0 -
3 Different Websites but Same Keywords
One of my client targeting same (5 Keywords) for 3 sites. Domain & Web Hosting is same for 3 sites. Site A - 50.72.134.29
Technical SEO | | krishnaxz
Site B - 50.72.140.227
Site C- 50.72.19.70 Some time ago, ranking dropped - but don't know if it is because on above things? Is it OK? What is the best way to target same keywords for 3 different sites.0 -
Will rel=canonical work here?
Dear SEOMOZ groupies, I manage several real estate sites for SEO which we have just taken over. After running the crawl on each I am find 1000's of errors relating to just a few points and wanted to find out either suggestion to fix or if the rel=canonical will resolve it as it is in bulk. Here are the problems...Every property has the following so the more adverts the more errors. each page has a contact agent url. all of these create dup title and content each advert has the same with printer friendly each advert has same with as a favorites page several other but I think you get the idea. Help!!! .... suggestions overly welcome Steve
Technical SEO | | AkilarOffice0 -
One Keyword Penalty
Hi There, Quick question for everyone. Is it possible to get penalized a keyword level not page level. I have a site that only seems to be penalized on one keyword which is currently at page 22, whilst the rest are on page 1 or page 2. I came to the site late so I have no idea when the site lost its ranking for this keyword after a site redesign but the onpage is almost the same. Kind Regards Neil
Technical SEO | | nezona0 -
Change of domain name?
Hello, We are currently developing a new site for an existing online clothing retailer. The existing site is on a .co.uk domain, however we are targeting a global market and wondered whether we could/should launch the new site under a .com address and whether this would be beneficial? Most of our back links come from Affiliate blogs and we could quite easily change these to the new URL. Thanks Bilal
Technical SEO | | PLP1 -
301 Redirect with an Exact Domain name Match
My Client had a site that ranked for a pretty competitive two word phrase, but for a variety of reasons had to transfer the site to a different domain name (with none of the previous keywords). We've 301'd everything just fine to the new site, but our traffic for that two word phrase, as well as related long tail traffic, is beginning to drop. Could the drop be related to something that we didn't do well in the transfer? Or is it due to the new domain name now not being an exact match? Sitenote question: Our Google Analytics is still set up for the former domain name and shows data just fine. Is there any reason to switch GA to the new domain? What are the pros/cons? Much thanks in advance!
Technical SEO | | TrevorMcKendrick0