Long-Tail Keywords: How Important is Having Keyword Domains?

[magicink]

If you're doing SEO targeting long tail keywords, is it better to register a bunch of phrase match domain names (assuming exact match is unavailable), and build 5 page mini sites, or to buy one domain, build a larger site and have all your backlinks under one domain umbrella, and the optimize pages within it? What factors would you consider?

[SalahStudios]

Phrase and exact match domains are great but they really aren't that important, especially with long-tails. I'm sure if you search your target keywords half of the top ten don't have the keyword in the domain at all. Any site can rank for any keyword. All you need is good on page optimization, targeted CONTENT, and targeted BACKLINKS.

I would focus on one large site as all your backlinks will be powering one central hub that can spread the love internally rather than being diluted among mini-sites, makes management much easier as well. Of course you should do as many large sites in different niches as you can handle but as far as having BrownSoftLeatherSofas.com and BlackItalianLeatherSofas.com, I wouldn't waste the time/money/effort. Just come up with something like SelectSofas.com, put all your content there, and turn it into a beast.

I've wasted a ton of time trying to find exact match or phrase match domains and in my experience it really doesn't matter that much. Plus when you have a tight phrase or emd domain and want to expand with more internal pages your URLs start to not "make sense" and in my opinion this negatively impacts SERP CTR. Think about it, what looks better on a Google results page (not to mention trying to sell the site later on if you wanna cash out):

brownsoftleathersofas.com/black-italian-leather-sofas

selectsofas.com/black-italian-leather-sofas

With my new larger niche site approach I frequently breeze past exact match one page sites with my internal pages just by having more content and better backlinks.

The rest of this reply turned into semi off topic advice/ranting so read on if you like

Heres what I do:

1) Buy a short, catchy, and readily available "branded" domain like WidgetsWorld.com or WonderfulWidgets.com

2) Buy or write a page of content targeting each of the top 30-50 "widget" long-tails.

3) Throw an even amount of the best backlinks I can find or afford to each page for the first 4 - 6 weeks.

4) At the end of the first 4 - 6 weeks I check to see which pages do the best. For the top earners I add to/tweak the content and add more backlinks to them as well as the homepage.

5) Re-invest a percentage of the revenue into outsourcing more backlinks and content then move on to the next site (niche). If the niche has more keywords that are worth it keep adding new content pages, if not just keep backlinking the existing pages until they are all top 3.

Optionally you can double up on the keywords that you already have with more content but I find it more profitable to hit a a niche good and hard one time then move on rather than squeeze every drop. Depends on the niche somewhat though. My sites usually double revenue every month in the first 3 - 4 months then plateau a bit. Once my monthly earnings stop increasing dramatically from month to month I try to set up a modest 6 -12 month maintenance backlinking schedule that I can outsource to maintain/gradually increase income and leave the site alone.

With this approach I'm able to take a brand new none EMD domain from zero to $150 plus AdSense revenue in three months or so in niches that only give 25 cents a click on average. More content multiplies those earnings but I usually leave a site/niche after 40 pages or so. I wish I figured this out a year ago.

Its DEAD simple so don't make it complicated. The worst thing I did was waste time reading advice trying to setup the "perfect" site instead of just putting content up and testing/tweaking. All the in depth keyword and domain research in the world isn't worth the input you get by just putting a page of content up and finding out. You can always rank number one for anything but you have to know what the real competition is like, what your backlinking capability/budget will allow, and how long your willing to wait to get paid.

Buying a domain thats EMD or keyworded up is only gonna give you a small nudge, the game is really all about backlinks once you target your content. So unless you own a huge aged domain farm and can just pick the best keywords and go out crushing, in which case you wouldn't even need a keyworded domain, I suggest testing content to see what will give you the best return on the amount of backlinking that your able to do. If you buy a phrase or EMD domain you've spent a lot more money than needed to test a keyword. I outsource so-so original content for $2 a page (doesn't read well but optimization is right) and then tweak it by hand if the page is getting traffic/revenue.

The thing is over half of your traffic (in my case 70%) is going to come from super long tails that you would have never thought of so unless you find an exact match domain that gets over 5k exact searches a month, why bother? The more content you have, the more obscure super long-tail one time searches you'll catch. Put all that content on one large niche site and boom, your an authority. Again, I wish I figured this out a year ago.

[magicink]

This is awesome, I was leaning towards the line of thinking you've nicely laid out here, but I wasn't sure. Its great to have someone who's already been down the road lay out the roadmap for you, so thanks a bunch.

[E-supreme]

I agree emds are not that important but they definitely help for any keyword your targeting that is in the domain. Buy aged domains, that's the only thing I ever do nowadays. Otherwise you need to build up links relatively slow. I prefer to build backlinks aggressively in competitive niches so my waiting time to hit page one is usually between 1-2 months. Authority sites are a more stable business model

[bigcat1967]

I go with mini-sites and try to dominate the niche. I'm doing an experiment right now where I have articles on sites like hubpages and EZA - things are working out fine.