Comments on: Domain Names & SEO

By: Ana

Ana — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:28:42 +0000

Thanks again, Lynn. Far from giving up, I have a shortlist now, thanks to you, and am adding to it by using your domain name guide. This is a straight service business in which a “brand” name wouldn’t be as appropriate as something keyword-rich — or at least would take a tad longer to get off the ground. But the other business I’m starting will center around a brand name I’ve already chosen.

By: Lynn Terry

Lynn Terry — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 16:28:42 +0000

Thank you Ana Don’t give up on that domain name. There are still some GREAT domains out there! Also consider creating a “brand” instead of going with a keyword…

By: Ana

Ana — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 03:39:31 +0000

Lynn, you’re the best! I’ve always known it, and I’ve been all over the place by now.

Thanks for the advice. So I’m kind of back at the beginning, trying to find a way around the usual conundrum of best-domain-name-taken. The “best” I mentioned that was taken does have the best action word as well. Can’t figure out any other action word to use. But I’ll get to reading about longer-tail versions as well.

Oh, and I have to mention I liked how in the recent contest you entered, you said one of your goals was to help people in depressed areas reach business goals. You’re one of the very few internet marketers to have a goal like that. More power to you!

By: Lynn Terry

Lynn Terry — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:30:48 +0000

I would stick with dot com for sure. For starters, you don’t know if the name that has the .com is registered or trademarked – or holds a copyright. But you’ll also lose type in traffic like you said. Also stay away from hyphens.

Consider adding action words to your domain searches. Or using a longer tail version of the keyword phrase. Also see: http://www.clicknewz.com/2421/choosing-a-domain-name/

By: Lynn Terry

Lynn Terry — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:29:01 +0000

Those exact match domains you’re referring to DID tend to rank better, but that’s no longer the case. So domain name alone carries very little weight – again.

By: Ana

Ana — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 19:01:48 +0000

I agree with the respondents above that the domain name has far more importance than was originally posited. Now, what to do if the absolutely perfect keyword-rich domain name is already taken, and the only option left is to take an extension other than .com — like .net, for example? I think most searchers would mistakenly put .com and their searches would automatically go to your competitor with the perfect domain name. What to do? I’ve got to get a domain name up soon, and I just can’t find one.

By: Aaron @ project planning online

Aaron @ project planning online — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:29:22 +0000

Lynn,

Think that you’re correct with the idea of how people link to your site naturally ranks the site. I would disagree that the domain name has little benefit, from experience an unrelated domain name is much harder to rank than a domain name that has keywords in it. I would expect a brand new domain with keywords in the name to rank above existing non-optimised domain names as soon as it is indexed, so there must be some benefit – I guess in the same way that people link to your site, your own site internally links and automatically has relevant keywords.
Great article!

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 00:55:04 +0000

I have also heard the pros and cons of using a keyword rich domain name.
My take is that it always requires more than that to attain high PR.

By: Audrey@Waste King Legend 8000

Audrey@Waste King Legend 8000 — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:01:13 +0000

I don’t really know if an exact keyword domain name really gives you an edge although many seem to think so. This is because I have a site without the keyword I’m aiming for in the domain name and it is ranking well. But I guess there is no harm having the keyword in your domain either. So, in that sense, why not, right?

By: AJ @ hard hats

AJ @ hard hats — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 00:15:02 +0000

I’ve had a ton of luck using keyword rich domains backed by good/relevant content get great rankings when the keyword search volume is less then 6K a month. Seems like that is the tipping top when the domain name gets less and less important.

By: Lee@custom lapel pins

Lee@custom lapel pins — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 14:33:48 +0000

My experience has been to always try to keep your main keyword phrase in your domain name if at all possible. There is a hierarchy structure to follow, being main keyword in domain, title, description, keywords, Heading tags and body content.
I believe this is the basic premise to follow when starting a seo friendly website.

By: Rich@meditation recordings

Rich@meditation recordings — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 14:07:58 +0000

The competition module of Market Samurai shows numerous examples of sites ranking on the first page of Google with a keyword rich domain name and very little else.

No domain age, no PR, very few backlinks. If you want to get on the first page, the right domain name makes it ten times easier.

Rich

By: Lynn Terry

Lynn Terry — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:50:08 +0000

Yes, you should use the top level domain for the area you are targeting. Assuming you are targeting searchers in the UK that are interested in public speaking, .co.uk is the extension to choose.

By: Keith Davis@public speaking

Keith Davis@public speaking — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:13:48 +0000

Hi Lynn
My domain name is pretty good for anchor text – my niche (I’m starting to use your words and phrases) is Public Speaking and my domain name is easypublicspeaking.co.uk so I’m happy with that.
It also abbreviates nicely to espeaking, which is what I use at the top of my home page.

Since I’m in the UK, I used .co.uk and not .com.
Is that something you would agree with?

By: Lynn Terry

Lynn Terry — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:21:39 +0000

I agree that the domain name, and even the file name, affect the CTR (click through rate).