Should I change my listing title or even my domain
-
I have a domain for a lawn maintenance company. The domain is something like mycompanyyardcare.com
Even though this company do yard care most of the business that is trying to attract is Lawn maintenance. The keywords that most people type when they are looking for this service is "lawn care".
Should i change my domain to mycompanylawncare.com instead of mycompanyyardcare.com?
Other thing, in the listings or links that I'm creating in directories, the company name is Mycompany yard care & snow removal. Should I change to Mycompany lawn care & snow removal?
-
Title Change is the best idea. You should not change the domain name. It will harmful to your website.
-
Hi Joao!
This is a really good topic and you've received some very important advice from both Matt & Bryan.
Your situation is exactly why my ultimate preference is to have local businesses choose a domain name that reflects their real-world brand rather than focusing only on keywords. Your business could eventually expand to include, lawn care, yard maintenance, landscaping, snow removal, tree trimming, controlled burning and who knows what all if you are growing! You can't fit all of that into a domain name. But, if a business name is TidyYards and the domain name is simply TidyYards.com, then the business will have to focus on the strength of things like its content rather than hoping that an EMD will do the trick. I definitely understand that Google is still rewarding keyword-focused domains, but to me, this is a holdover from their less-sophisticated past that I believe will recede over time. In sum, I think building a strong real-world brand is more important than keywords in your domain. If you're considering starting from scratch, you might want to throw that idea into the mix.
-
You are 100% spot on about needing to be sure if you change this in one place, you must then change it in all. Good advice, Bryan!
-
Just keep in mind that there will be a number of other SEO ramifications if you decide to migrate domains. I can't say for sure not being totally familiar with your company/site, but in my opinion it would almost never be worth it to change domains for the reasons your considering. There isn't much of a bump from the domain name, and the search engines are getting much better at recognizing context, intent, and synonyms.
You may want to read through Cyrus Shepard's "Keywords to Concepts," which may help you understand the concept of topical search. It's actually possible that "yard care" is helping you with "lawn care," too.
You may want to incorporate phrases like "lawn care" into some of your site's copy, just to be safe, but I sincerely doubt it would be worth it to go through a domain migration just to change "yard" to "lawn" in your URL.
-
That really depends on what your analytics say. If the trade-off between the volume you do get for "yard care" would remove a lot of traffic, or your site is well-ranked for that, changing to "lawn care" may hinder you more than hurt. Again, this depends on your rankings, keyword goals, and how much a difference the switch might make. All that said, from what you're saying it sounds like the switch to "lawn care" may benefit you in the long run.
Another important note: if you're going to change the branding/name from "yard care" to "lawn care", make sure you do it everywhere. In every directory you're active on, all social media, and other branding. It's important that those things be universal.
One last note: While changing your keyword focus, I'd suggest still having content for "yard care" as a keyword so that you don't lose as much of the work as you may have put into it.
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
-
SERP Business Listing
Hello, While searching on mobile I was testing keywords to see if my business listing would appear. I noticed for certain keywords it would trigger a competitors business to come up in the knowledge panel. I'm running adwords so my business typically always appears in the top ad panel but my business listing isn't recognized for particular keywords. Is there any reason why a competitors business listing would appear in the SERP over our business? It seems random. Is there maybe something I could add on the google business listing? Does anyone have any tips for this? Thanks!
Local Listings | | Dsv1 -
Unlinking Google Local Listing from your GMB Account with other locations you have
I have listings that I need disconnected from my main Google My Business account. I can close, or remove which is similar as closing, but the goal is not to close the listings, just to remove the association to my google account, and im not transferring the listing as well. Anyone know how to accomplish this? Goal is to clean up old listings that are exist but I dont manage Thanks for all the help
Local Listings | | vmialik0 -
Good service that helps optimize and create citations to google map listing?
Hi guys, Anyone know good service that helps optimize and create citations to google map listing? Also is there recommended WP theme that helps the ranking on google map? Thanks in advance!
Local Listings | | Tariq_Jameel1 -
Best Listings for Service Area Business?
Hi Moz community! I'm wondering the best places to get a local service area business listed online? I'm working with a client who installs synthetic grass around Vancouver, but could apply to any local SAB ... I found this resource from Local Visibility Systems but it's almost 5 years old at this point ... http://www.localvisibilitysystem.com/2012/08/13/can-you-rank-well-in-local-google-without-revealing-your-street-address-anywhere/ I started setting up an Apple Maps Connect account but it doesn't seem like they support the concept. Is there a way to hide an address in Apple Maps Connect? Is it worth submitting at all? Does anyone have a comprehensive list of modern directories that matter for local SEO that support SABs? Thanks very much everyone! - Paul
Local Listings | | paulz9991 -
Page options under title tag: Can we set these?
Hi all, Under many title tags, you see a list of sub-pages that Google suggests. So, if you search for Amazon, for example, it'll show you 6 options: Full Shop Directory - Try Prime Books - CDs & Vinyl Your account - Today's deals Can you dictate these choices with markup? Cheers, Rhys
Local Listings | | SwanseaMedicine0 -
Google Local listing variations
Hi Moz People, I sometimes receive rich snippets (relating to my services) with my Google Local listing and other times I do not. Specifically, if I search my company name ("Marketing Implementation Clinic" as per Google+ Page name) I see the a list of services with the local listing (see the picture attached). However, if I search a derivation (say "Marketing Clinic Melbourne"") I see a very simple local listing without the services snippets. Are there explicit guidelines on when these snippets would be returned? LPk6tmq.png?1
Local Listings | | luke-hamilton0 -
I have noticed two changes in SEO from Dec 2014 to Now
Why has most of the local pages from google disappeared? There were normally 3-6 local listings on Google but now it has vanished? Has the algorithm or rules changed? Secondly i noticed a massive swing in seo rankings. I have done some testing i i found that google now gives you different rankings depending on the area that you in. So i can safely assume that the algorithms have changed and you now get results based on your area? The top 4-5 rankings stay the same but everything else changes to your current location. Am i wrong, what has changed. Please help.
Local Listings | | Ashwin19780 -
Local domains vs. subfolders?
I am in the process of rebranding a B2B website for a UK company that has been established on a .net address for ten years. The CMS is Wordpress. The company has previously had localised content on .net/de, .net/au extensions for various regions where they have offices (US, Oz, various Europe.) I am getting varied and at times conflicting feedback from the creative agency, inhouse digital staff, and IT about the best way to proceed with the new website and in particular its future local language versions. Question 1: If we change the .net website to a .com address, will 301 redirects safeguard our SEO real estate? Question 2: we own the .com extension and have been using it for some back office stuff. It was purchased because it was advised that the .net did not carry much credibility in the US, is this correct? Question 3: If we change the .net to the .com which is hosted in the US, will we wipe our search rankings on Google for the UK and non-US locations? I saw this post and wondered:
Local Listings | | LConnect
http://moz.com/community/q/uk-rankings-disappeared-after-us-website-launch Question 4: is hosting the regional site best done on a local domain (we own a bunch) or does that not really matter? Question 5: If we use a WP plug in and just use subfolders for translating and localising content (US, Germany, Australia), what is the best way of serving that content for local PR? Sorry about the many questions 🙂 Guni0