Domain name question

Try the one hyphen one then. For seo purposes, it doesn't matter.

Your domain name is a small factor regarding SEO.

I wouldn't even worry about that part....for example I can rank a site for a competitive keyword that's not contained in the domain because of SEO strategy. Even if you had the EMD I may be able to outrank it...my point is...

Focus more on buying a catchy or memorable domain name. Instead of keyword filled.

A combo of both is preferable.

An EMD isn't going to make up for poor content or design. Get something that has your KW or part of your KW in it, and focus on building a quality site, with good content.

For a url, some people prefer shorter: it's partly personal taste, I think.

For SEO it'll almost certainly make no difference. Hyphens are ignored. (Google, and Matt Cutts, have gone to great lengths to clarify this for people. It's on various Google sites and blogs and in yellow-boy Cutts' videos.)

Fair enough ... the main problem with a hyphenated domain is that you can at some point lose some type-in traffic to the owner of the unhyphenated version. I don't think that would really bother me very much, because comparatively few people type in url's, these days - most traffic is click-on-a-link traffic, isn't it, really?

Resale value might also be lower, but that's probably not very relevant to you?

I think most of the answers depend far more on what you do with the domain, rather than on the precise details of its url.

I think you're right that "poor SEO" is the reason for the sites you've seen ranking badly.

You can use this name: keywordhq.com and you can rank this site without problems if you will have good content.

Don't do it! What good would it do to build your online business on a mark that is taken twice? Hyphens are good for mini-sites and other seo campaigns, but not it will cost you later when you go to sell the site.

I stay away from hyphens because they are harder to remember. In my opinion, it is better to go with a short, brandable domain name that is relevant to your niche than a long-tail keyword domain name especially with a hyphen.

If you have a quality site, then you will get more clicks to your brandable name and more return-visits from people that like your site.

Thanks for the replies. Here is where im probably confusing myself. I have seen so many people say "use google keywords and do this and this etc". So I did this. The problem is..

This is just a make believe example for demonstration but if I put "losing weight" into google keywords it may suggest this is a bad suggestion for a domain due to competition or hits. If I put "how to lose weight" it might be ok but "how to lose weight fast" would be great. not too many hits. low competition etc...

So I would want that whole phrase as my domain name right?

Just picking out 1 or 2 of those keywords I.E loseweight would not be going on the findings of the google keyword search and the competition count and google keywords would not be relevant.

So am I paying to much attention to google keywords? am i trying to make a sniper site for targeted traffic when I should just make a domain name like loseweight

My blog site would be about providing information and advice on a specific area. long distance relationships in fact. So i kind of feel the need to put all these keywords into the domain...

thanks

For a domain name, just focus on trying to get something relevant. The content on your site is going to be much more indicative of relevance in Google's eyes. In addition, you want to make sure sites related to your niche also point back to yours. This can be done through guest blogging and providing them free content.

Most people give up when they realize how much content is needed to be successful. Put this first - domain names end up being a very small piece of the whole puzzle.

Thanks for the replies. Here is where im probably confusing myself. I have seen so many people say "use google keywords and do this and this etc". So I did this. The problem is..

This is just a make believe example for demonstration but if I put "losing weight" into google keywords it may suggest this is a bad suggestion for a domain due to competition or hits. If I put "how to lose weight" it might be ok but "how to lose weight fast" would be great. not too many hits. low competition etc...

So I would want that whole phrase as my domain name right?

Just picking out 1 or 2 of those keywords I.E "loseweight" would not be going on the findings of the google keyword search and the competition count and google keywords would not be relevant.

So am I paying to much attention to google keywords? am i trying to make a sniper site for targeted traffic when I should just make a domain name like "loseweight"

My blog site would be about providing information and advice on a specific rea. long distance relationships in fact. So i kind of feel the need to put all these keywords into the domain...

thanks

Hi

It depends somewhat on what your longer term goals are too.

Are the other domains active or are they parked? What is the competition like at the top of the SERPs?

If the other domains are active sites, it may be a competitive keyword. An EMD gives more of a boost in less competitive niches. Once the top of the SERPs get crowded, other factors start to outweigh the EMD boost. Such as age, PR, backlinks, etc.

So you want to look at your longer term goal.

If you just want to maximize SEO and try to rank, then a wordword-word.com domain may be useful. As sbucciarel said, for SEO it doesn't matter.

But if you want brand your site and/or sell it in the future then an awkward domain with one hyphen might not be worth the small benefit you get from EMD in a competitive niche.

Mahlon

Ok I will go for a short but sweet domain name. Am I right in assuming that the google keywords tool is best used to find out which words and phrases to put in your blog posts, or to put in your meta tags?

thanks

I wouldn't knock yourself about trying to get an exact match in your domain url; it just gives you a few extra points in Google's algorithms, there are other seo criteria collectively you need to consider. You won't be able to depend on SEO completely for traffic anyway, there are many ways for exposure; PPC for one.

All I can say is that I watched this for advice. I'm too new to give any real advice. However, I've been looking at the google webmaster tools a lot for tips.

What about making a domain name plural to make it unique..? Say you wanted to get the domain WeightlossAdvantage.com but it was taken (and it is, of course - LOL) would it be detrimental at all to get the available domain WeightlossAdvantages.com ? Lets say, for arguments sake, that my main keyword phrase was Weightloss Advantage, and it was the name of the actual product. Anything wrong with simply adding an s to the end of the domain name?

Another thought would be to turn the words around, and go for AdvantageWeightloss.com ?

Interested to hear thoughts on whether adding of an s would be bad against your keyword phrase which wasn´t plural as standard.

Sorry if this is a silly question. New to this and was just sat thinking about it.

Your concern is baseless. It would not affect to your overall traffic. What i want to suggest you that you need to focus on the content of your site. Google and other search engines really care of fresh contents.

I´m really not sure why many (highly respected) IM professionals recommend getting your best keyword in your domain name then? If it is completely baseless.

That seems like a good domain name. To me ones with too many hyphens or dots get a little hard to remember to type, but I think just one would be fine.

Of course get the best domain possible.

Having said that, if you are creating a blog, why are you so worried about one particular keyword?

Sure the keyword would be nice, but if you are creating a solid blog (rather than a keyword specific blog) then why are you spending so much time worrying about it?

My recommendation is to only use .com... get a domain very similar to your keyword (mentioned above was the suggestion of adding 'hq') and be on your merry way.

"Wordwordword-advice .com" is fine. Just take a look at my domain name:

internetmarketing-rules .com. I still get search engine traffic and sales.... and traffic from a ton of other sources too.