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How important is keyphrase in domain name?

by racasper
16 replies
Hello

I want to promote a series of related affiliate products. SEO advice given to me was to get domain names that include your key word phrase, to help with organic traffic. A separate domain name for each product micro-niche.

But instead of making 10-20 different wordpress sites under separate domains, I would rather have a single domain name that contains one keyword common to all the products. Then create blog pages that have specific keywords in the page titles.

This would reduce the amount of organization, cost for domain names, and also reduce duplication of effort in setting up all those similar blogs.

In terms of SEO would this be a bad idea? With WP permalinks I can put keywords in the categories and post titles. What would I lose by not having the whole key phrase in the domain name?

Thanks
R.A.
#domain #important #keyphrase
  • Profile picture of the author Rob Thayer
    If you want to use just one domain name, think about setting up several subdomains (keyword1.domain.com, keyword2.domain.com, etc.). That way the keywords are still in your domain name, but you don't have to buy a bunch of domains. You can also use the keyword in the URL (i.e. keyword1.domain.com/keyword1/post-title.html).
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    • Profile picture of the author snapcontent
      Originally Posted by Rob Thayer View Post

      If you want to use just one domain name, think about setting up several subdomains (keyword1.domain.com, keyword2.domain.com, etc.). That way the keywords are still in your domain name, but you don't have to buy a bunch of domains. You can also use the keyword in the URL (i.e. keyword1.domain.com/keyword1/post-title.html).
      That's good advice. I still think the engines still give more 'credit' to subdomains than folders, simply because they are slightly harder to set up. Unless you know what you are doing, setting them up with a script, for example, is rather tricky. Creating folders isn't. Subdomains... require more commitment. They should therefore be more important.

      Re the backlinking post, you can interlink your subdomains if you like.

      Re the OP, keyword in the domain is very important, and likely to remain so. Commitment again. After all, if you want 'income.com', it's going to cost you big bucks. If you want to get i-nc-0m-e.com it's going to cost you $9.
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    • Profile picture of the author ListBuildingForNewbies
      Originally Posted by Rob Thayer View Post

      If you want to use just one domain name, think about setting up several subdomains (keyword1.domain.com, keyword2.domain.com, etc.). That way the keywords are still in your domain name, but you don't have to buy a bunch of domains. You can also use the keyword in the URL (i.e. keyword1.domain.com/keyword1/post-title.html).
      I agree that you should use sub domains, rather than separate domains for each product micro-niche. However I need more concrete information about your venture before I can voice a reliable opinion. What is your niche? What is your main domain name? Can you provide a URL to your site?
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      • Profile picture of the author thedigitalshopper
        Having keywords in your domain has always had some significance in SEO. A few years ago, this used to be a very powerful way to get your site ranking, but many SEOs feel that it's importance has diminished over recent years.

        Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt MacPherson
    It's debatable how important this really is for SERP rankings. Personally, I use my main keyword as the URL and as my title tag (title tag is more important than the URL in my experience). Then I try to get lots of backlinks with the various phrases as anchor-text. This works well for me and I'm on the first page for many of my desired phrases.

    This is just basic SEO 101. I believe if you create 20 separate wordpress blogs you'll be creating too much work for yourself. It's much easier to stay focused and interested in one main blog than it is to spread it out over 20 sites. Consider that variable before you start making 20+ sites.

    EDIT: Also consider how hard it will be to get backlinks for 20 separate sites. All of that backlinking effort could be put into one site and the results would be MUCH better.

    Cheers,
    Matt
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    • Profile picture of the author racasper
      Originally Posted by Matt MacPherson View Post

      This is just basic SEO 101. I believe if you create 20 separate wordpress blogs you'll be creating too much work for yourself. It's much easier to stay focused and interested in one main blog than it is to spread it out over 20 sites. Consider that variable before you start making 20+ sites.

      EDIT: Also consider how hard it will be to get backlinks for 20 separate sites. All of that backlinking effort could be put into one site and the results would be MUCH better.

      Cheers,
      Matt
      This is what I was thinking. I could focus my efforts by making (for examples) one site with 50 pages instead of 10 sites with 5 pages each. Then I can work on promoting the one site.
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      • Profile picture of the author paulie888
        Originally Posted by racasper View Post

        This is what I was thinking. I could focus my efforts by making (for examples) one site with 50 pages instead of 10 sites with 5 pages each. Then I can work on promoting the one site.
        If your 10 sites are going to be fairly tightly niched around the same topic (and thus have a "common denominator" core keyword), just purchase one domain and use subdomains as described above. I believe that Godaddy lets you create up to 100 subdomains, so I'm pretty sure you won't run into issues creating 10 sites on the same domain.
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  • Profile picture of the author karenloye
    I've had success using the primary keyword in the main domain name and then using additional keywords to name individual pages (i.e. permalinks in Wordpress). Of course, the title tag is immensely important so by all means follow leverage your keywords in the title tag for each individual page.

    I often do SEO research using Market Samurai and I've found that when all else is relatively equal, having the page titles feature keywords can absolutely make a difference in Google SERPs.
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    • Profile picture of the author Rolliesworld
      Originally Posted by Rob Thayer View Post

      If you want to use just one domain name, think about setting up several subdomains (keyword1.domain.com, keyword2.domain.com, etc.). That way the keywords are still in your domain name, but you don't have to buy a bunch of domains. You can also use the keyword in the URL (i.e. keyword1.domain.com/keyword1/post-title.html).
      Originally Posted by racasper View Post

      This is what I was thinking. I could focus my efforts by making (for examples) one site with 50 pages instead of 10 sites with 5 pages each. Then I can work on promoting the one site.
      Originally Posted by paulie888 View Post

      If your 10 sites are going to be fairly tightly niched around the same topic (and thus have a "common denominator" core keyword), just purchase one domain and use subdomains as described above. I believe that Godaddy lets you create up to 100 subdomains, so I'm pretty sure you won't run into issues creating 10 sites on the same domain.
      Apart from the fact that managing one site is much easier than 10 or 20, also be careful that using subdomains (niche1.mydomain.com ; niche2.mydomain.com etc) will still be treated as separate sites in the eyes of the search engines. That means all your link efforts will still have to be multiplied, as none of your sites will receive any backlink credit ('juice') if applied to your main domain (mydomain.com) or when one of your subdomains get backlinks, the rest will not benefit.

      Therefore, I think using subdirectories (mydomain.com/niche1 ; mydomain.com/niche2) or WP categories, pages, posts etc (i.e. one site model) will be the best.

      But then again, it all depends on the products, how they really complement each other and other factors.

      Also, don't forget the power of cross-selling. If you are thinking of cross-linking between 10 domains or even 10 subdomains, where all are hosted on the same server, you may not fare well in the SERPs, either. However, cross-linking within the one site is common practise and encouraged. Think about how many visitors may like the other of your 9 products even though they came to your site via the one product link.
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  • Profile picture of the author fated82
    You should have a blog with your primary keyword in it and in the bog, create post with the permalink which wordpress offer. For example your main domain is: MakeMoneyOnline[dot]com

    Your post with your affiliate products could be makemoneyonline[dot]com/social-networking-tool

    In that case, social networking tool is your secondary keyword.
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    • Profile picture of the author Adrian Williams
      I've had differing results on this one.

      Where my domain name contains an obscure product name I've had top rankings with a simple wordpress blog and a handful of articles directed at the main page.

      At another time I've used the same method and bought a domain that was related to a popular speaker manufacturer.

      Google binned my site!

      I have another project planned but this time im focussing on sending traffic to the deeper pages on the site or in other words the subdomains.

      In most cases when ive done this ive had no problems at all.

      As a rough guideline I'd say if your main domain is something like a niche product or something off clickbank it'll be fine.

      If its something world famous like nike-trainers.com it might vanish, maybe you could test it out first before doing loads of work and see what happens.
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  • Profile picture of the author homeworkin
    Having the keyword in the domain is very important for SEO - however, it is not the only factor.

    I have one site that is ranking very well for an extremely competitive term. It has 1.2 million results for the term and is outranking sites that are twice as old. The name is brandable but has nothing to do with the key words. Adwords for this key word are up to $19 a click.

    This is an authority site I have been building up for several years. Of course, it also ranks well for hundreds of lucrative long tail keywords I have not focused on. Many of those are number 1 in Google.

    So, my take is this, if you are looking for fast rankings for mini-sites - key words are crucial for the domain. If you are looking at building an authority site one key word related domain is plenty and you can do quite well with a brandable name if you are willing to put in the SEO work on and off site.

    Authority sites take longer to build, but in the end they make a lot more money than most mini-sites because they build status not just SERPs. It is much easier to focus on one quality site - 50 pages vs. 10, lots of real content vs. "made for SEO content," real value and repeat visitors vs. buyer key words and no relationship. It might take longer to build up, but I love the results from these type of sites.

    Subdomains are one option, but you can also build a silo blog with a strong category structure for each main keyword.

    I like mini-sites for set and forget keywords - but the authority sites have been much better to me over the long haul. I have one site I about set up years ago. I did some primitive backlinking and article marketing for a year or two - then I got sick of the topic and burned out from the almost daily emails from the starving crowd. I wandered off and left the site to it's own devices.

    That site is STILL pulling in cash every month. It still has good rankings. I haven't basically touched it in almost 2 years - no major new content in over 3 years. The design is hard to navigate and outdated. The content is old. I am not slaving over backlinks or social networking.

    Yet, I still get a hundreds of newsletter signups every month and a respectable number of ebook sales despite lots of new competition with deep pockets. Why? Because the site has authority and the initial content is still compelling enough that visitors are building backlinks for me!
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  • Profile picture of the author whyfrown
    i think that the keyword in the domain matters because when people link to you , they will quote your keyword in their link . This is what boosts your pagerank in the eyes of search engines ...
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  • Profile picture of the author trytolearnmore
    I think it is important. I mean, my brand new websites are ranking high without doing almost any promotions at all.
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  • Profile picture of the author luigi5v
    domian keyword scores highest point on SEO. using WP just use some plugins its quite easy. may depend also on the theme you are using. there are many variables to analyse on setting affiliates. like cloaking
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  • Profile picture of the author seanicasia
    If it were me and if I wanted to save resources, then I'd stick with buying the general domain, then have sub-domains for the various niche.

    Of course, this general domain still has to be related to most if not all the niche.

    Thereafter, just start a backlinking strategy for each subdomain for the keyword you are targeting.
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