Do keyword rich domains really help in Search engine ranking and can it help you catch up with established sites!
Are keyword rich domains really as big a factor in the SERPs as people make out?
I’ve looked into this topic in quite some detail, spoken with some of the top SEO people in the business and found out that this is a bit of a hornets nest, where the search guys are split into three groups:
Group 1 – The Unbelievers
Quite a few SEO specialists turn their noses up at Keyword rich domains and believe that although they might make a slight difference in the SERPS, it’s not weighted that heavily by Google. As can be seen by the numerous sites without keywords outranking ones rich in them. And even if it does have some weighting nowadays there’s no guarantee that it will down the road. So they advise having brandable names if you’re in it for the long haul.
Group 2 – The Believers
Now before you get despondent after reading the above, please be aware that that is just the opinion of a few. Others believe that keywords do have a positive impact on a sites position, but only for the exact keywords in the domain, and only in non competitive areas.
Lets take WallStencils.com as an example. This is searched for quite regularly, but there’s very little competition in google. So having the exact keywords here is a definite advantage.
If you take a more popular phrase like Solar Energy – Having Solar-Energy.com, really won’t have much impact on your placing. Sure it will be a point in your favour, but your competitors are likely to have a lot of quality incoming links and a lot of good indexed content – which is what gets the heaviest weighting in the Google Algo.
Group 3 – The Lovers
Then there’s the other camp, who think having keywords in the domain is a very important factor and will become more important in future.
It’s also worth remembering that not all search engines have the same weightings. It’s thought that Yahoo and MSN reward more than Google at this time.
Even though the above three groups may disagree on the importance of keywords all of them are in agreement that if a site is to rank well it must have good inbound links and quality content.
I myself am with the middle group. But I also like keyword rich domains for their brandability and memorability. That is if they don’t go over three words and are for generic product: (BestDigitalCameras.com – is as long as I would like to get.)
I realise this post may not have given you the answer you were hoping for but unless you know someone at google who is willing to spill the beans I’m afraid no one else can give you a definitive answer either.
If you have any comments on the above I’d be very interested in seeing them.
James
Nice breakdown, I think all 3 groups offer valuable advise. The advantages of keyword rich domains are numerous, like you mentioned brandability, memorability and the anchor text of inbound links is going to be more relevant. The one disadvantage is that you are very limited in brand flexibility , for example if you sell bathroom lights and it works out for you but not as much as you had hoped for, you can’t transfer that brand equity to expand into another industry, you are stuck with lights.
o.
I believe strongly that it has a MAJOR effect.
I’ve seen it with many of my domains that rank on the top page, or even # 1 for those search terms
google: put up lights
you’ll see my weputuplights.com domain at the top of the search
strathcona real estate
you should see our liveinstrathcona.com site
I have others, but yes, I strongly believe that it makes a big difference in the SERPS.
Not that you can’t SEO a keyword domain out of the top spot with good SEO work, but … it’s way easier to get top ranking if your domain has the keywords you’re trying to rank for in the name.
Content is king. It’s more to to with the content on your site matching the keywords that you have placed in the header. Backlinks also play a vital role, but be careful how you go about obtaining links, as Google will penalise your site if you do back link in a “spam” fashion.
I truly believe that keyword domains make it a lot easier to rank in the search engines. I see Google giving more keyword relevance to rankings than Yahoo, contradicting what you mentioned. Do a search at both places for any keyword and you will see. Also, having the exact keyword domain allows you to influence the anchor text people use when linking to you. This is a huge advantage.
I actually wrote an article about this not long ago for Website magazine. You can read what I think and take it into consideration. Judge for yourself. Remember that there are more than one way to get things done, and this is just an examination of this topic from one point of view. For your reading pleasure it can be found at http://www.websitemagazine.com/content/blogs/posts/pages/domain-names-and-seo.aspx
Regards,
Travis Pearman
Good keywords help in SEO, i have no doubts, and good generic keywords also have the natural type in traffic advantage, i always say that we don’t need to depend on google, there’s a lot more than google in the internet, they’re rulers because we submit ourselves to their will. Good link building is more important, after all internet is made of people who link themselves from website to website. How many good sites have you all found, by clicking links in sites that you were visiting? a lot i believe, we don’t need google all that much.
Use brandable domains all you like - but definitely own your keyword rich product or service serch term domains and redirect to your brand domain. No reason to lose out on ANY business!
Hi guys, thanks for your posts.
Travis that’s a great article and well worth reading if anyone is still watching this post.
It’s still a bit of a sticky subject though. Personally i hope the SE’s do favour keyword rich names as i have quite a few of them and i’m starting to become more involved in developing.
Helder you make an excellent point as well - i regularly click through links i find on sites to articles and posts.