SEO Experts, Can We Finally Put Something To Bed?

[St Croix]

SEO Experts and Gurus,

First of all I apologise for making another thread on this topic, but the threads I have read recently never seem to come to any definitive conclusion.

It is generally agreed that having your target keyword as your domain name greatly improves SERP rankings.

What I want to get clear on, is that when your keyword is already taken (as most are these days), what is the next best way to put your keyword in a domain and have it rank well?

I'll list the most commonly debated options using the keyphrase "Best Dog Training Methods" then hopefully someone who knows a lot about SEO can comment on the below statements and put to rest which ones are true and which ones are myths.

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1) "If you can't get the .com, get the .net or .org as they rank just as well"

eg. bestdogtrainingmethods.org

2) "If you can't get the .com, use hyphens to get a .com because .com's rank the best and hyphens are ignored by Google"

eg. best-dog-training-methods.com or best-dogtrainingmethods.com

3) "If you can't get the .com (.org or .net) use stop words to get your keyword in the domain, before or after your keyphrase (stop words are ignored by google)"

eg. thebestdogtrainingmethods.com or bestdogtrainingmethodsnow.com

4) "If you can't get the .com (.org or .net) use stop words to get your keyword in the domain, but only after your keyphrase"

eg. bestdogtrainingmethodsnow.com

5) "If you can't get the .com (.org or .net) just get your keyphrase in there somewhere"

eg. 10bestdogtrainingmethods.com or bestdogtrainingmethodsever.com

6) "If you have a long tail keyphrase (4 words or more) Google will consider it spammy and not rank it as high"

eg. whatarethebestdogtrainingmethods.com

7) "If you can't get your keyword in the domain in a user-friendly way, best to get another domain and try ranking a subdirectory for the keyword"

eg. barkingblog.com/best-dog-training-methods

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If someone highly experienced in SEO would be kind enough to finally help put this topic to rest in today's climate (post panda etc.), please share your experience and thoughts with us.

Much appreciated!

Cheers,

[gaofan]

Wow.Thank you very much.

[lovboa]

There was no definitive conclusion because there isnt one. And its really not a huge factor. If you can get the emd, cool. If not, do whatever you want- add a hyphen, add an x, add a number it really doesnt make a difference in the long run.

[BenJackson]

Looks good to me except I have one little bone to pick:

"stop words are ignored by google"

This is true, it's called the "filtration" phase of document indexing. However, that is for the content on a webpage and not necessarily domain names as well.

[St Croix]

Hey guys,

FYI - These quotes in my post are not SEO rules. They are examples of a lot of the things we hear bantered around here a lot.

I'm hoping some of the bigger SEO guys will come in and help with debunking or confirming them so we all know what is currently working well.

Cheers,

[UMS]

You can pretty much ignore anyone who replies with a low post count as they'll either be a bot or a sig monkey.

As for your specific question, there is nothing that is completely black and white when it comes to SEO. There are so many variables and Google is constantly refining/changing its ranking factors that it's virtually impossible to say anything definitive about SEO.

That said, probably about the only thing that most people agree on is that for your site to rank well, it must have a good quantity of quality backlinks from diverse sources.

As for your specific example, I'd go for the .org, .net or .info as it keeps the domain shorter. Mostly aesthetic.

[Natlex]

I used a lot of variations and TLD's so I'll post my experience below...

1) "If you can't get the .com, get the .net or .org as they rank just as well"
Yes, .com/.net/.org all work equally good (.info and other extensions no however, they can rank well so only get the .info if you like the domain name, you will NOT get an "EMD" keyword ranking boost.

2) "If you can't get the .com, use hyphens to get a .com because .com's rank the best and hyphens are ignored by Google"

Hyphens are useless and look lame. Having keyword-keyword.com is NOT the same as keywordkeyword.com. You will not get an EMD boost so only get hyphens if you want the name that way.

3) "If you can't get the .com (.org or .net) use stop words to get your keyword in the domain, before or after your keyphrase (stop words are ignored by google)"

#4 is what I usually do

4) "If you can't get the .com (.org or .net) use stop words to get your keyword in the domain, but only after your keyphrase"

It's what I usually do.

5) "If you can't get the .com (.org or .net) just get your keyphrase in there somewhere"

Getting the keyphrase in there is not all that important if you can't get the EMD. Just put it in if you like the domain name with it.

6) "If you have a long tail keyphrase (4 words or more) Google will consider it spammy and not rank it as high"

Does not matter (if it's an EMD without hyphens a long keyphrase will help rankings, but it might look lame if you are hoping to build up on this domain beyond the first keyphrase...)

7) "If you can't get your keyword in the domain in a user-friendly way, best to get another domain and try ranking a subdirectory for the keyword"

Instead of ranking a sbudirectory just rank a page off the main domain...

Anyway, nothing is law, those are my observations.

Basically, Either go for the EMD (.com/.org/.net and NO hyphens) or make a good sounding name that appeals to you.