Do you have to put your keyword in the domain name?

[Jeremy James]

I wanted to hear your take on whether or not I needed to put my unique keyword phrase in my domain name.

Thanks.

[Kevin Williams]

You don't HAVE to, but if it is a competitive niche than you'll have a hard time without it. You'll have to do a good amount of extra work.

[Zeus66]

It helps, but no it's not absolutely essential. The biggest factor is having links pointing to your page with the target keyword as anchor text. You can get pages ranked at Google for keywords that never appear at any point in the page with enough good backlinks. I'm talking no appearance in the title tags, meta tags, image alt tags, and nowhere in the page text. It's just that those on-page SEO elements help your cause. But they are not absolutely necessary.

John

[JeffMitchell]

In your Blog posts I would definately put the keyword in your blog.
Put your keyword in...

1. URl
2. Title
3. Keywords (obviously)
4. And 1 time per 150 words in your post.

Beside backlinks....that is about the most I can give you for a less than rookie in SEO..

Jeff Mitchell

"The Non SEO Marketer"

[Louise Green]

Keyword loaded domains can sometimes take a while longer to rank but in the long term the domain name doesn't matter much (most of my domain names do not carry my keywords).

The age of the domain is more important than the name itself.

[Jeremy James]

Thanks, guys. It's hard, but, I am going to be forced to not have my keyword in my blog, as I am promoting 3 different products, but, coming from the same person.

[Derek Thomas]

Great discussion as I was having some of the same questions.

Let me throw this out there and see if it's a good idea or not....

Could you splurge and purchase 2 domains...one keyword friendly and the other containing more of your "brand"...and simply forward everything from the keyword domain to the "your brand" domain?

Does that even make sense?

I feel more comfortable with a keyword rich domain because every little advantage helps, but I have a really sweet brand idea that I'd like to pursue. I was wondering if doing this forwarding thing would give me the "best of both worlds"?

What do you think?

[seoFool]

Originally Posted by Jeremy James

Thanks, guys. It's hard, but, I am going to be forced to not have my keyword in my blog, as I am promoting 3 different products, but, coming from the same person.

I'm not sure I understand that completely...but why not make 3 different blogs then?

[Louise Green]

Originally Posted by derek.ifocus

Great discussion as I was having some of the same questions.

Let me throw this out there and see if it's a good idea or not....

Could you splurge and purchase 2 domains...one keyword friendly and the other containing more of your "brand"...and simply forward everything from the keyword domain to the "your brand" domain?

Does that even make sense?

I feel more comfortable with a keyword rich domain because every little advantage helps, but I have a really sweet brand idea that I'd like to pursue. I was wondering if doing this forwarding thing would give me the "best of both worlds"?

What do you think?

That's an SEO trick that used to work about 8 years ago, it's not so effective anymore because it was over used and abused. In fact it was my main upsell to my SEO clients, it worked that well.

These days Google not only checks the domain name in question but also who owns it. So essentially Google is checking your personal domain record to see if you're trying to "out smart" it.

[Derek Thomas]

Originally Posted by Lovelylou

That's an SEO trick that used to work about 8 years ago, it's not so effective anymore because it was over used and abused. In fact it was my main upsell to my SEO clients, it worked that well.

These days Google not only checks the domain name in question but also who owns it. So essentially Google is checking your personal domain record to see if you're trying to "out smart" it.

You mean I'm only 9 years too late????

Almost had that one!

What would you recommend then, if you don't mind me asking....

keyword domain or brand domain?

Thanks for your help,
Derek

[Louise Green]

I think it comes down to personal choice, I always go for branding over a keyword rich domain. In the long run it won't matter too much, spend time making quality content for your visitors and you'll be ok.

[Player77]

When selecting a keyword rich URL lets say for example i would like to target a niche such as metal chairs with metal chairs being the main keywords and metalchairs.com was taken.

Would it be just as effective using the title chairsmetal.com as i have noticed i can reverse the keywords in alot of very popular niches and they seem to be available
does google penalise you for this in the serps?
or would i b better off going with metal-chairs.com?


help is greatly appreciated

[rapidscc]

IMO your listing in the serps will be based on how people typed the keyword.

You could always reverse the order of keywords in phrases but the question is does anybody search in that reverse order. To know this simply fire up your favorite keyword research tool and search for the reversed phrase. See if there are searches based on those exact phrases and check out if you can rank on it..

All the best

Omar Diaz

[mikeyman120]

Originally Posted by Player77

or would i b better off going with metal-chairs.com?

I would go with metal-chairs over chairsmetal. But you may want to find a domain without the dashes if you can like bobsmetalchairs or something similiar.

Mike

[chicagopressrelease]

This may also be an opportunity to capitalize on other popular, related search terms and dominate regional or more detailed searches such as "bostonmetalchairs.com" or "metalofficechairs.com."

Good luck!

[HCLee]

If you're targeting a very small niche, then you should always put your main keyword in your domain, in fact that's like a golden rule of thumb. Otherwise for a general niche, it really does not matter too much as it helps just a little.

[Vaan]

It depends on yourself jeremy,,
If you want to branding yourself, just go with an Unique Name, The name that you use to brand your self on your niche, the name must be short and rememberable..
ex , like facebook does, It's in Social Media site niche, you see they have unique and short name

In other side, if you just want make a site with rank higher in spesific keyword in your niche, just go with keyword rich domain name, that will ensure good SERP and maintain high traffic quickly..

Cheers,
Vaan

[FriendlyRob]

It is not essential to put it in the domain but at least the title.

Look at the website we are using now "warriorforum" nothing about what kind of forum it is.

But look at the title "WarriorForum - internet Marketing Forums"

The search engines will certainly pick that up.

[Irishman]

I agree with the above posts. Doing a quick Google Keyword Tool search, it looks like the mother load of searches is for "metal chair" and www.metalchair.net seems to be available. I've tested up one side and down the other, and with .net, .com, and .org, I've seen very small results difference.

If it was me, I grab that .net and I grab metal-chairs.com.

Further I would go after the descriptive, highly qualified keyword domains as well, such as "metalfoldingchairs" and the like.

I would really encourage you to respect word order in the domain based on my experience. Unless you have long term authority site, it can be tough to compete for the main keyword.

Hope that helps!

Will

[Vaan]

I agree, metal chairs is to broad niche, you could make it easier to rank on SERP by dig it to more phrases like chicago does bostonmetalchairs.com

But in case you want only on metal chairs and that keyword has been taken, just go on the domain with dashes..

Vaan

Originally Posted by chicagopressrelease

This may also be an opportunity to capitalize on other popular, related search terms and dominate regional or more detailed searches such as "bostonmetalchairs.com" or "metalofficechairs.com."

Good luck!

[Player77]

Hi thanks for all the great replies.

im just using metal chairs as an example .
lets say google had 100 000 searches for metal chairs but only 1000 for chairs metal using the exact phrase
which domain would give me better serps positioning
chairsmetal.com or metal-chairs.com or say bobsmetalchairs.com
or would they all be the same?????
Could some1 please tell me in which order google prefers these domains as im quite confused on what to pick
im just after mainly serps positioning and what google prefers

cheers

[clickbump]

All my niche websites have exact match keyword domains. It's absolutely essential to my biz plan. I get ranked in top 20 right out of the gate. Some sites are top ten, mostly because of the keyword domain.

besides that, the key is to cater to the googlebot w a very seo friendly page. Best way to do this is with a pure css template with no extra markup to dilute the keyword density of the content (Google loves fast loading sites with proper markup)

I find the combo of these two set a site up well for the backlinking campaign that follows to keep them ranked high and in the money.

[Derek Thomas]

Originally Posted by clickbump

All my niche websites have exact match keyword domains. It's absolutely essential to my biz plan. I get ranked in top 20 right out of the gate. Some sites are top ten, mostly because of the keyword domain.

My sites are also very seo friendly since my templates are fully css driven with no extra markup to dilute the keyword density of the content (Google loves fast loading sites with proper markup)

I find the combo of these two set a site up well for the backlinking campaign that follows to keep them ranked high and in the money.

Do you have a free CSS driven template with no extra markup that you would recommend?

Thanks

[ichommylegend]

not a must but it help you to get more traffic to your site

[clickbump]

Originally Posted by derek.ifocus

Do you have a free CSS driven template with no extra markup that you would recommend?

Thanks

Hi Derek, no free one that I know of, but check you PM for info on one that works and is well worth what it costs.

[paulgl]

It will not help you get more traffic, it just looks good.
But looking good has nothing to do with SEO.
Websites are ranked, not domains.
Think about zillow.com. What is a zillow? Does amazon.com have
anything to do with the amazon? These are just a couple of
examples. Countless websites have nonsense domains and are
highly ranked. It matters what you do with the domain, not
the words in the domain.

Here's another example. Do you know what fanzz.com ranks #1 for?
Ans: sports apparel. I guess they did not get the memo that they
needed sportsapparel.com. Funny thing. Amazon.com ranks #2 for
sports apparel. Oh well. I guess they blew it too on that domain.
What's #3? Footballfanatics.com. Hmmmmm. See a pattern?

Take your domain and get it ranked! Don't get hung up on keywords in
a domain. Put more effort where you can really make a difference.

I wish bgmacaw had a good line for this one.

Paul

[A. van Heerden]

Most of the time on page isn't as important as it used to be, but why should you not have all the factors count in your favor?

If all other things are equal...you can outrank your competitors if they are not all set with on page.

[sith005]

I know this is a fairly old thread, but I have a related question. I'm researching a niche right now using the google adwords keyword tool (and I'm very new to this), and I've found a keyword with over 90k local searches, and what I understand to be a potentially good 1st page (top 5 includes articles, etc). I know there has been a long running debate over having the keyword in your domain being necessary or not.

I've found the keyword itself reversed brings a high search volume as well. For example if the keyword was "dog training," "training dog" seems to show a similar/same search volume. The reason I'm asking is, dogtraining.com/net/org is taken, but trainingdog.com/net/org is available. Would it be beneficial to purchase the trainingdog.com domain when targeting the keyword "dog training?"

[Derek Thomas]

Originally Posted by sith005

I know this is a fairly old thread, but I have a related question. I'm researching a niche right now using the google adwords keyword tool (and I'm very new to this), and I've found a keyword with over 90k local searches, and what I understand to be a potentially good 1st page (top 5 includes articles, etc). I know there has been a long running debate over having the keyword in your domain being necessary or not.

I've found the keyword itself reversed brings a high search volume as well. For example if the keyword was "dog training," "training dog" seems to show a similar/same search volume. The reason I'm asking is, dogtraining.com/net/org is taken, but trainingdog.com/net/org is available. Would it be beneficial to purchase the trainingdog.com domain when targeting the keyword "dog training?"

One thing to take into consideration before purchasing a domain name is the search volume using Phrase Match for the reversed keyword.

For example, search volume for "dog training" and "training dog" using Broad Match would be one in the same, either way you input the data...1.5 million monthly searches for each.

However the same keywords using Phrase Match would be 1.2 million and 40k respectively. Still good numbers, but a very significant difference.

My only advice is to make sure the keyword you're interested in still has sufficient search volume when reversed.

Using the Broad Match it may appear there is sufficient search volume for "store grocery". In fact it would be the same search volume for "grocery store". But since no one really searches for "store grocery" you'd be swimming upstream trying to target that phrasing.

Again, using Phrase Match (and even Exact Match) will help you make certain of this.

Best of luck,
Derek

[sith005]

Thank you Derek, that helps immensely. I was obviously making a n00b mistake on that one. I can see the keywords I was looking at now down to 70 searches...needless to say not what I was looking for.

Thanks,
Danny

[paulgl]

The way google works nowadays it does not care about the order
of your typed in search words. In fact, it will split them, join them,
re-spell them just to suit their whim at the moment.

Do a search for carrots vegetables
no quotes.
#6 has the words reversed
Some results only have the word carrots.

You can shmooze google some of the time, but most of time
google will out-schmooze you.

Just did a search for metal chairs and many listed are chairs metal.

Paul

[Derek Thomas]

Originally Posted by sith005

Thank you Derek, that helps immensely. I was obviously making a n00b mistake on that one. I can see the keywords I was looking at now down to 70 searches...needless to say not what I was looking for.

Thanks,
Danny

When your initial domain choice is unavailable, I have found Domains Bot to be a helpful resource.

Just type in your keyword and it will give a list of all available and related domains.

Best of luck,
Derek