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SEO and Keyword-Rich Domain Names

by philo
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Many local businesses I work with registered their business name as their domain, eg. Dr. Bob Smith. Not exactly keyword rich when someone is searching for "chiropractor Anytown." Obviously I can load up the meta keywords, page title, H1, etc.
My question is this: would there be any advantage to registering a keyword-rich domain name and re-directing to the main site? Or alternatively, should the main site be the under the keyword-rich domain and just re-direct the old "Dr. Bob Smith" url?
Thanks.
#domain #keywordrich #names #seo
  • Profile picture of the author Brian Alaway
    Redirects may bring traffic but not link juice. Before redirecting the existing domain remember that there are other possible positive factors e.g. domain age that could be lost. Does the current site have traffic that could also be affected? If the current site is fairly new with little traffic and/or links then it may be ok to start new. Otherwise, leave it alone.
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    • Profile picture of the author philo
      Brian--
      Are you saying that a keyword-rich domain name redirected to the main site, assuming it has some age and links already established, might be helpful? The only cost is the name registration.
      Thanks.
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      • Profile picture of the author Djeims
        Redirects may bring traffic but not link juice
        not true at all. 301 redirect pass link juice

        philo -good practice for established website is to use some aged keword rich domains and use 301 redirect to your main website. Even better decision is to put fresh content in these websites and to link to your main website.

        Using 301 is faster method and you do recieve some link juice. For one of my last projects i bought 6 aged domains with some IBLs and 301 all to my main brand new website. After 6 months opensiteexplorer.org shows Page Authority 66/100 Domain Authority 60/100
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        • Profile picture of the author Brian Alaway
          Originally Posted by Djeims View Post

          not true at all. 301 redirect pass link juice

          philo -good practice for established website is to use some aged keword rich domains and use 301 redirect to your main website. Even better decision is to put fresh content in these websites and to link to your main website.

          Using 301 is faster method and you do recieve some link juice. For one of my last projects i bought 6 aged domains with some IBLs and 301 all to my main brand new website. After 6 months opensiteexplorer.org shows Page Authority 66/100 Domain Authority 60/100
          You're comparing apples to oranges. The op is talking about registering a new domain and redirecting to the existing domain. Google's not that dumb.
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  • Profile picture of the author Brian Alaway
    Sure it could help. But the competition is so much less with local search that I'd concentrate on all the easier stuff first - e.g. content, Google places, vertical directories, citations, reviews, etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author ausmarketer
    If you can get an exact match domain or very close to it, then I would create a small site with one main page of content, and all the utility pages (i.e. About, Contact, Privacy etc) on that domain to start with (perhaps even add a blog with a few posts on the benefits of Chiro for the search engines).

    On the main page you presell Dr. Bob and link to his main site.

    With the weight that Google is giving keyword rich domains in the search engines right now, especially exact match domains I would definitely be taking advantage of this if you can.

    My partner is a massage therapist and I have her at number 1 across the board (Google, Yahoo, Bing) for massage + city by using an EMD with a few anchor text links thrown at it.

    Also, as Brian says above you definitely want to have a solid business listing in Google for Dr. Bob. (i.e. completely filled out with as much information as possible, including photos and video if available).

    I've also found that using the business name along with the keyword + town in brackets next to it in the business title for example: Dr Bob's Chiropractic Center (Chiropractor San Diego) can give you an edge in the local listings when people search for that term (i.e. Chiropractor San Diego).

    Beyond that, positive reviews / ratings will help you get that local listing nice and high. If I were Dr Bob I'd give my clients some kind of incentive to go and write a review about my practice.

    Anyways, hope that helps.
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  • Profile picture of the author Wechito
    Originally Posted by philo View Post

    would there be any advantage to registering a keyword-rich domain name and re-directing to the main site? Or alternatively, should the main site be the under the keyword-rich domain and just re-direct the old "Dr. Bob Smith" url?
    Thanks.
    It SEEMS that Google will no longer give as mach weight as it used to to having an exact-match domain name.
    I'm not 100% sure because, as you know, most of the time an educated guess is the closer you can get in SEO.
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