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Amazon review site domain names

by cooler1
16 replies
  • SEO
    • |
The domains for my Amazon review sites expire in February so I need to make a decision before then on whether to renew them or buy new domains. I have around 20 sites.

The sites were affected by the Penguin update in April. The affect was big though so most keywords aren't even in the top 10 pages so it seems like renewing the domains wouldn't be a good decision.

If I choose not to renew the domains the choices are;

1. Buy one domain then create sub domains for each site.

2. Buy new domains then move the content from the old domains to the new domains.

The advantage of option #1 is that it would save on yearly domain fees, but I'm not sure if sub domains rank as well as separate domains.

Questions

1. The domains I currently have contain the primary keyword which I'm trying to rank for. For example, if I'm trying to rank for the keyword dishwasher reviews then the domain is dishwasher-reviews.com

With the EMD update, is it a bad decision to include the primary keyword you're trying to rank for in the domain or does it just mean you don't get an extra ranking boost like previously?

2. Experiences on ranking sub domains would be welcome. Is it worth the yearly domain fees it saves or don't they generally rank as well as separate domains?
#amazon #domain #names
  • Profile picture of the author cooler1
    Any thoughts?
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  • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
    I wouldn't use subdomains. They're each treated separately, making ranking them a real pain. I would just put all the content on one domain and I would put "Dishwasher Reviews" in the title and not in the domain name. The EMD boost is gone now and sites are being penalized constantly for lack of anchor text diversity. It's easier to handle this situation by not using keywords in your domain at all.
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    • Profile picture of the author cooler1
      Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

      I wouldn't use subdomains. They're each treated separately, making ranking them a real pain. I would just put all the content on one domain and I would put "Dishwasher Reviews" in the title and not in the domain name. The EMD boost is gone now and sites are being penalized constantly for lack of anchor text diversity. It's easier to handle this situation by not using keywords in your domain at all.
      Thanks for the advice.

      If I put all the content on one domain, what is the best way to structure the site? You say put Dishwasher Reviews in the title, where should this title go. Should it be on a page which then has links to the reviews?

      I was told by someone previously that Google prefers sites to have related content. That is one of the reasons why I used seperate domains for each niche. Is it correct that Google prefers sites which have related content?
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    • Profile picture of the author cooler1
      Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

      I wouldn't use subdomains. They're each treated separately, making ranking them a real pain. I would just put all the content on one domain and I would put "Dishwasher Reviews" in the title and not in the domain name. The EMD boost is gone now and sites are being penalized constantly for lack of anchor text diversity. It's easier to handle this situation by not using keywords in your domain at all.
      When you say don't use keywords in the domain at all. What would you recommend putting in the domain name? Would you just put something generic in the domain such as dishwashers-online.com?
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      • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
        Originally Posted by cooler1 View Post

        When you say don't use keywords in the domain at all. What would you recommend putting in the domain name? Would you just put something generic in the domain such as dishwashers-online.com?
        Personally I leave keywords and dictionary words out of it. People in the Im World seem to think Google is not sophisticated enough to understand what a website is about unless the main keywords are stuffed in the domain. But they are.

        Google didn't call themselves SearchEngine.com. Facebook is not SocialNetwork.com. SocialNetwork.com I just checked and they did put those words in their domain. The result? A PR2 and an Alexa of 379,000! It didn't help.

        Focus on creating a domain name that's memorable and that people can remember. I prefer domain names that are triple doubles. Stuff like FROOFR.COM or GLOOGL.COM or SMOOSM.COM. You get the idea? Something that's likely to be unregistered, has OOs in it, and is unrelated to any keyword.

        I have 3 PR 6 domain names. You know what's funny about them? They all have double Os in them! I don't know why this is but it worked for me.

        Of course when all is said and done, you can really pick any domain name you want. Your site will primarily rank based on content, backlinks, and social profile these days. That said, I think you might have a harder time ranking even a partial match domain than if you just left it out and counted on your backlink profile to carry you.

        That's my opinion. I'd love to hear what others have to say about it.
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        • Profile picture of the author cooler1
          Originally Posted by PerformanceMan View Post

          Personally I leave keywords and dictionary words out of it. People in the Im World seem to think Google is not sophisticated enough to understand what a website is about unless the main keywords are stuffed in the domain. But they are.
          So is it only a potential problem having keywords in your domain if your targetting that keyword on your site.

          For example, if you chose the domain bestdishwashers.com would that be OK providing that you're not trying to rank the site for the keyword best dishwashers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Berkinb
    I think one bigger site with more content is a much better idea than tens of smaller sites these days. Such a site will have much more potential to become an authority site than smaller ones, you would have less headaches, and the yearly renewals wouldn't be a problem.

    I believe that everyone involved in IM should think in terms of concentrated and accumulated efforts. Meaning that we should concentrate on one or two things, and everything we do needs to be cumulative.

    If you have 20 sites and add 60 reviews a month, you'll be adding 3 reviews to each site in average. But if you have a single site, it will grow very fast since you concentrate all your effort on ti.

    Regarding the sub-domains, I haven't used it myself, but I see toptenreviews.com ranking with their sub-domains on all sorts of keywords like dishwasher reviews, best dishwashers, etc. They have more than 3,000 pages in Google's index and are also using PPC to a degree in addition to links. Like I said, concentrated effort on one huge site.
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    • Profile picture of the author PerformanceMan
      Originally Posted by Berkinb View Post

      I think one bigger site with more content is a much better idea than tens of smaller sites these days. Such a site will have much more potential to become an authority site than smaller ones, you would have less headaches, and the yearly renewals wouldn't be a problem.

      I believe that everyone involved in IM should think in terms of concentrated and accumulated efforts. Meaning that we should concentrate on one or two things, and everything we do needs to be cumulative.

      If you have 20 sites and add 60 reviews a month, you'll be adding 3 reviews to each site in average. But if you have a single site, it will grow very fast since you concentrate all your effort on ti.

      Regarding the sub-domains, I haven't used it myself, but I see toptenreviews.com ranking with their sub-domains on all sorts of keywords like dishwasher reviews, best dishwashers, etc. They have more than 3,000 pages in Google's index and are also using PPC to a degree in addition to links. Like I said, concentrated effort on one huge site.
      What a garbage site that Top10Reviews is. But they've managed a PR7 and an Alexa of 1,500. My heroes
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    • Profile picture of the author TheNewGuy2010
      This is the EXACT strategy I use. I'm glad I only have 1 domain and I add 2 pages everyday. Every month, my site grows by 60 new pages. It's a traffic magnet. It'll probably be the only site that I ever own. Since it's a big site all I have to do is add content, no need to get more domains.



      Originally Posted by Berkinb View Post

      I think one bigger site with more content is a much better idea than tens of smaller sites these days. Such a site will have much more potential to become an authority site than smaller ones, you would have less headaches, and the yearly renewals wouldn't be a problem.

      I believe that everyone involved in IM should think in terms of concentrated and accumulated efforts. Meaning that we should concentrate on one or two things, and everything we do needs to be cumulative.

      If you have 20 sites and add 60 reviews a month, you'll be adding 3 reviews to each site in average. But if you have a single site, it will grow very fast since you concentrate all your effort on ti.

      Regarding the sub-domains, I haven't used it myself, but I see toptenreviews.com ranking with their sub-domains on all sorts of keywords like dishwasher reviews, best dishwashers, etc. They have more than 3,000 pages in Google's index and are also using PPC to a degree in addition to links. Like I said, concentrated effort on one huge site.
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      • Profile picture of the author cooler1
        Originally Posted by TheNewGuy2010 View Post

        This is the EXACT strategy I use. I'm glad I only have 1 domain and I add 2 pages everyday. Every month, my site grows by 60 new pages. It's a traffic magnet. It'll probably be the only site that I ever own. Since it's a big site all I have to do is add content, no need to get more domains.
        Do you use a silo structure for your site? I've read up about it, but it sounds damn confusing. Linking pages, categories, etc..
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        • Profile picture of the author Berkinb
          It's not that confusing really mate.

          Basically, all you do is to link posts/pages within a category to each other. What you're trying to achieve is to keep everything tightly related. So, you don't link to posts in other categories.

          You can also use a theme like Catalyst to keep your sidebar under control; on my sites, each category has a different sidebar and each sidebar contains links within that category only.

          Hope this makes sense.


          Originally Posted by cooler1 View Post

          Do you use a silo structure for your site? I've read up about it, but it sounds damn confusing. Linking pages, categories, etc..
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          • Profile picture of the author cooler1
            Originally Posted by Berkinb View Post

            It's not that confusing really mate.

            Basically, all you do is to link posts/pages within a category to each other. What you're trying to achieve is to keep everything tightly related. So, you don't link to posts in other categories.

            You can also use a theme like Catalyst to keep your sidebar under control; on my sites, each category has a different sidebar and each sidebar contains links within that category only.

            Hope this makes sense.
            So when using a silo structure, does it mean that your sidebar cannot show any links to anything other than the topic of the page which is currently being viewed by the visitor? So if the visitor is reading a review about a stand mixer, you can't have links in the sidebar to reviews on something such as power generators.

            Is it possible to edit an existing theme to keep the sidebar under control or is that a difficult task?
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            • Profile picture of the author Berkinb
              It's better to have links to related posts on the sidebar; but it's not set in stone. If it's logical to have links to other categories/content on the sidebar, you may as well put them there. After all, the websites are for humans But from a PR/SEO point of view, yes, it's better to have links to the same category only.

              Unfortunately I found editing the sidebar of an existing theme hard (but my PHP and CSS knowledge is limited, so you may have better luck than me).

              Originally Posted by cooler1 View Post

              So when using a silo structure, does it mean that your sidebar cannot show any links to anything other than the topic of the page which is currently being viewed by the visitor?

              Is it possible to edit an existing theme to keep the sidebar under control or is that a difficult task?
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              Create Authority sites that rank for hundreds of long-tail keywords with the Revolutionary Review System
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              • Profile picture of the author cooler1
                Basically, all you do is to link posts/pages within a category to each other. What you're trying to achieve is to keep everything tightly related. So, you don't link to posts in other categories.
                Say for a review site which covers 20 different niches and each niche has 10 reviews, how many pages and posts would be needed.

                If you're using WordPress, do you recommend putting the reviews as posts then having 1 page which has a link to the review posts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Berkinb
    Yes, Google prefers related content mate; but you can create the same level of relevance even if you have multiple niches in your site. You just need to carefully design the site architecture. You can look up "silo structure" in Google or here in the forum to see how such structure is created.

    But of course if you want to go with a "one site/one niche" route, you don't need much of a structure; you can just categorize the products according to type or brand and go on from there. It's easier to create a tightly related site when you're going with a single niche. But what I said for concentrated efforts still stands imo.
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