DEBATE! Keyword in URL vs No keyword in URL

[michaelricketts]

Hi Warrior's,

I'm at a cross road with this and cannot make a decision.

Keyword: internet marketing

Example url for this question: internetmarketingmanagement(dot)com

Guru's say by having your keyword in the url will bring higher rank which is true.
On the other hand having your keyword in the url will lead the customer to all the other competition which could distract and lose some customers.

Or

If you had an easy name to remember as your url without the keyword like: Bullseye(dot)com then optimise for the keyword: internet marketing

Do i risk sending my customers to all the completion by typing in the keyword 'internet marketing' were you would have to say could lose up to 30% (hypothetical) of your customers to competition.

Which is better for ROI?

1. Losing 30% of customers by having the keyword in the url
or
2. Paying more money to rank 'internet marketing' for a url without the keyword

If the 30% loss from potential customers represented $150,000 of your $500,000 business
vrs
Paying $20,000 to rank your keyword for the url without the keyword

The math says to pay the extra $20,000

This example is for the long-term of the business and mainly refers to 'word of mouth customers' which is the biggest form of marketing. These word of mouth customers would type your name into Google.

I would like your opinion on this Bertrand if you could.

Kind regards,

Michael.

[JennyBird]

If you're going to have a lot of returning visitors and a community I'd go for the brandable "bullseye(dot)com". If you're going to have a lot of single view visitors who mainly find you through the SERPs I'd go with "internetmarketingmanagement(dot)com".

That being said, any domain can rank for any phrase. You just need to get the word out and get some links.

[MikeFriedman]

Originally Posted by JennyBird

If you're going to have a lot of returning visitors and a community I'd go for the brandable "bullseye(dot)com". If you're going to have a lot of single view visitors who mainly find you through the SERPs I'd go with "internetmarketingmanagement(dot)com".

That being said, any domain can rank for any phrase. You just need to get the word out and get some links.

Completely agree with Jenny.

I don't think EMD have near the ranking power they used to either. I think it has been diminished.

[3000]

I have sites with both EMD and one that's not. Both are ranking high in their respective keywords. The only difference is that the non-EMD took more time and more back links to rank. The EMD only took a couple articles and it started ranking high for its keywords.

So It doesn't matter really just the amount of work you want to put into ranking a site.

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by michaelricketts

Guru's say by having your keyword in the url will bring higher rank which is true.

Then I would stop listening to gurus.

If those "gurus" are part of digitalpoint or WF, then they
are contradicting themselves. Both digitalpoint and warriorforum
are the biggest, baddest internet marketing and SEO forums in
the universe. And nary a keyword in those domains.

If your question really is urls and not domains, you SHOULD put
your keyword for the page in your url. That's a good visitor
practice and search engine friendly.

Domains are another matter.

How do you think zillow.com shot up to be the #1 real estate and
home value site? Or kayak.com sprung forward to be one of the top
sites for travel deals?

I think you need to do some serious SEO research before you make
some big and costly mistakes.

The fact that you refer to a domain as a url, is quite telling.

Normally, nobody refers to a domain as a url. It's generally referring
to a file at the domain. domain.com/index.php would be a url.
Domain.com, not really.

Paul

[yukon]

I pick: bullseye.com/internet-marketing-management/



If you do proper internal linking that link above would have double listings on page #1 in the SERPs.

1) Build the web page you want to rank (.../internet-marketing-management/).

2) Build 10-15 internal keyword pages to support the page you want to rank.

3) Link all pages with keyword anchor-text & proper on-page seo (page title, url, etc...)

4) Build a few authority backlinks.

[UMS]

Originally Posted by michaelricketts

Do i risk sending my customers to all the completion by typing in the keyword 'internet marketing' were you would have to say could lose up to 30% (hypothetical) of your customers to competition.

I have absolutely no idea how you could come up with an idea like that. What process do think the mythical 30% of customers are using to go to your competition?

[UMS]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Normally, nobody refers to a domain as a url. It's generally referring
to a file at the domain. domain.com/index.php would be a url.
Domain.com, not really.

I'm going to be Mr Pedant today


domain.com/index.php

is not a URL. a URL consists of a scheme, domain, path and optionally a port number, query string, username/password.

http://domain.com/index.php

is a URL

where

scheme = http://
domain = domain.com
path = /index.php

[InTheMaking]

Honestly, the idea of someone not knowing whether to put the keyword in the URL or not, will never create a brandable enough website to have reoccuring visitors therefore it's a no brainer. Your going to need all the help in the world to rank for "internet Marketing". Use the keyword in the URL.