SEO Experts - Keyword domain vs branding domain?

[Liz Morgan]

For the purpose of getting the fastest organic rankings for a specific keyword, and on a scale of 1 - 10 (1 least, 10 most) how important is having a keyword domain (i.e., yourkeyword.com), vs a branded domain (i.e., companyname.com)?

And what is the most effective strategy for obtaining the benefits of both? Just use a branded domain and optimize for a keyword titled page extension (i.e., companyname.com/your-keyword)?

Or would it be better to use separate keyword domains in conjunction with a main website using a company branded domain?

[freudianslip27]

It really depends on a lot of factors in my opinion. If you are focusing purely on organic results, then I'd go with having it be keyword heavy.

If you are looking to establish a brand though, you want a domain that is short, easy to remember,etc. Of course you can still seo individual pages in that case.

How important is branding to you? Will this site step outside of the initial keyword phrase you are targeting?

Matt

[Daniel Molano]

This should explain it. And this is based on my experience.

In terms of organic rankings:

Keyword within domain name = 2/10

Brand within domain name = 0/10

Keyword within URL extension = 1/10

In other words, it doesn't have much weight. If you know how to do it, don't worry about the keyword in the domain.

But then again, are you going to target only 1 keyword? Several? Do you even want to brand yourself and/or company at all?

If you don't plan on branding at all, and you're planning on targeting only 1 keyword, then you might as well just go with the keyword in the domain name.

Note: Not so long ago I would've said that the keyword in the domain name had an importance of 10/10. It used to be the factor with most weight. But the algorithm has evolved to such an extent in which it barely matters anymore.

[Lisa Gergets]

IMO, this really depends on what type of website you're planning. If you're wanting to become an authority and create a brand for yourself, then I'd go with a branding domain. If you're niche blogging or article marketing, etc., go with the keyword-rich domain.

[Liz Morgan]

I should have offered more context, the company is offline, which I plan to market online and offline. So essentially the site will be given out verbally quite often, and used in offline ads, in which case I believe a branded domain is ideal. However, for the purpose of SEO/ranking, I'd like to know how much quicker one could obtain a top position using the initially targeted keyword in the domain? And yes, after the initial keyword is ranked well, I'd go after additional keywords.

[Lisa Gergets]

Go with the branding domain. Absolutely. Then just backlink the h*ll out of it (not too many too fast of course) using the targeted keywords/keyword phrases.

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by Liz Morgan

I should have offered more context, the company is offline, which I plan to market online and offline. So essentially the site will be given out verbally quite often, and used in offline ads, in which case I believe a branded domain is ideal. However, for the purpose of SEO/ranking, I'd like to know how much quicker one could obtain a top position using the initially targeted keyword in the domain? And yes, after the initial keyword is ranked well, I'd go after additional keywords.

Then use the brand name in the domain, and use the keyword within the pages.

For example:

www. domain.com/keyword-phrase-1.html

www. domain.com/keyword-phrase-2.html

And so on...

That way you get a bit of both worlds.

[Liz Morgan]

I think we all came to the same conclusion, thanks for the input!