How much search weighting is an exact domain given?

[Bounderby]

I cannot get an exact domain name for a niche I want to pursue. If I choose the 3-word phrase with an additional word on a .com, how much extra work am I creating for myself to get it ranked? I am looking to create a small Adsense site.

A lot of people advise if it's not an exact match, move on and don't bother.

[euhlir]

Even the addition of one word does make it a bit harder to rank for keywords, but don't let that stop you.

If you choose the right keywords with low competition then this won't be a huge deal.

Get quality backlinks, and you'll be golden with either.

[jasonmorgan]

A lot of people advise if it's not an exact match, move on and don't bother.

If your talking low competition then keyword domains seem to do well, but this could be misleading.

If you don't have a lot of competition it's hard to say what SEO thingy is really working when you don't have to do much SEO work in the first place.

If you have competition then the domain name seems to make little to no difference.

I know people will point to search rankings and bring up that many of the sites do have keyword domains but that can also be misleading. You can always find wild cards with completely irrelevant domain names that rank well. You can also find exact keyword match domains that rank poorly.

Aside from that, I typically try to get keyword rich domains that are relevant to my site. If I can't get a keyword domain then I'll try to get something catchy and memorable... song titles, pop culture phrases etc... anything that sticks and is good for type-in traffic.

My highest ranking site for a very competitive keyword is in-fact a song title that has zero relevance to the site content, it's just catchy and easy to remember. I also have an exact match domain for a medium-low competition keyword that ranks at #121 (#2 with quotes) with 99 backlinks.

So, I don't put much weight into domain names for SEO but more for user friendliness.

Hope that helps some

[willz605]

I was wondering the same thing. I have an super micro targeted niche but the exact keyphrase is taken in .com, .org, and .net........but .ws, .info, etc...still available

Would it make a huge difference if I add (keyphrase)+online.com

Would love feedback....

thanks all

[Marhelper]

Check this out then decide:

The clickbump method? all your questions answered...