Keyword and Domainname - Need help

[KaiS]

Hi,

I have just finished my keyword research and I think I found a good one. Now I want to register a domain for that keyword. Unfortunately the domainname for that keyword is registered yet, so I have to pick an alternative. And here is my question.

Let's say the keyword would be something like "how to walk"

What do you think would be the best for SEO purposes:

1) howtowalkx.com
2) how-to-walk.com
3) ehowtowalk.com

I know the method adding an "x" to the end of the domain, but now I have used MS the first time for keyword research and it suggests ehowtowalk.com. In my opinion it sounds much better than howtowalkx.com but I don't know if there is a real difference for SEO.

Please let me know your experiences. Thanks!

PS: sorry for my bad english

[flamingphoenix]

If it's a product something like a "buy" in front of the keyword is good. Don't bother with the hyphens, to get it ranking it's just a case (as per usual? with quality link building and ensure the on-page SEO is up to scratch.

[KaiS]

Cool. Thanks. I like the version without hyphens more. And would it make a difference if I choose ehowtowalk.com or howtowalkx.com?

I think from the visitors point of view ehowtowalk.com looks better.

[ItsChrissy]

Hi, when choosing a domain name it's usually best to use a suffix rather than a prefix so add something to the end so your keyword is always first.

[taffie]

how about a .net extension option?

[JamesGw]

1 would be the best for SEO purposes. You don't want to add something to the beginning of your domain, as Google tends to rank the beginning of such things more highly than the end.

Seomoz also just had a thing about how partial matches have a stronger correlation than exact matches.

[Meharis]

Originally Posted by KaiS

Hi,
What do you think would be the best for SEO purposes:
1) howtowalkx.com
2) how-to-walk.com
3) ehowtowalk.com

Don't complicate it.
Get #2 and redirect it to the dot net or dot org version.
Google doesn't care about hyphens. People don't type them in.
This is what I do with good results.
Meharis

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by KaiS

now I have used MS the first time for keyword research and it suggests ehowtowalk.com. In my opinion it sounds much better than howtowalkx.com but I don't know if there is a real difference for SEO.

There is.

This is bad.

It's much better to have the extra letter/word at the end than at the start.

Meharis gives good advice in the post just above this.

[Anomaly1974]

Actually, putting something in front of the keyword could work just as well ...

about ... keyword.com
the ... keyword.com
complete ... keyword.com

or after

keyword guide.com
keyword information.com
keyword statistics.com

or any of hundreds of other variations that still get your keyword into the title. The rest you can do with backlinks, content, RSS and more. It also tends to prevent people from ending up at the keyword.com site by mistake, thinking they are looking for your site.

[Bruce NewMedia]

I would vote for putting it at the end. I've done exactly that, and I've been able to get nicely ranked. Letters like X and V seem to work well.
_____
Bruce

[kennygoodman]

Kai

how-to-walk.com
would be your best bet for SEO but not very good on resale if you come to sell the website or domain later down the line


MS is only showing you those as that is the default settings in the Domain Module but you can actually change it so that it adds what you want to the search. Go to domain variations in the top right and then edit. You could add stuff like online for the suffix etc


You may want to try Domainface.com (this is my tool) to try and find an aged domain with those keywords as it may have backlinks, page rank and other more beneficial SEO factors. You can use Domainface in MS but to get the best out of it you are best using it on Domainface.com


Always think about what the use of the domain is going to be because if you cannot get the exact match keyword domain then the next best thing is to add it's usage. For example if it is a blog then howtowalkblog.com
would be the next best thing.


When I buy domains I always have the end user and resale in mind so it needs to sound like something real and brand able


I hope this helps


Kenny

[Bradley J Anderson]

Personally, I would use the hyphenated version.

[KaiS]

Thanks@all for the great advice! It really helped me out. Finally I took the version with the "x" at the end and for another domain the hyphens version I hope to get some good results...

[robertkellymoore]

Hi Kais,

Your problem is very common but i suggest you, you put some long keywords because today it's trend and i recommend you
1) howtowalks.com
2) how2walk.com
3) howtowalk.co. (in,uk,au) and also use .net