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Time to Forget About Keyword Based Domains?

by NeilC
11 replies
There's no doubt that keyword based domains was a very effective strategy but do you think it's now just over rated and maybe time to move on and think bigger.

Do you still spend hours trying to find a good keyword domain and get it ranking well. Only to find a trickle of traffic or get blown out of the water when the search engines think you're over optimizing.

I know keyword domains can still give you an edge sometimes but with Google making it known that they're looking into this it could be a risky strategy if you rely on it too much.

I think sometimes real business branding and keyword domain names get confused as being exactly the same, but are really just related and not always dependant on each other.

Keyword based domains can also be very restrictive sometimes and you can often reach a wider audience with a broader website.

Interested in your thoughts on this?
#based #domains #forget #keyword #time
  • Profile picture of the author Sire
    Personally, I think if you can get the right keyword domain it helps your SEO rather than hinder it.
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    • Profile picture of the author NeilC
      Originally Posted by Sire View Post

      Personally, I think if you can get the right keyword domain it helps your SEO rather than hinder it.
      That's certainly been true and still seems to be at the moment but there are many other factors having an effect on how a particular keyword based domain ranks.

      Perhaps the big G is trying to come up with a way of filtering real business branding with domains from what they see as "thin sites."

      By thin I don't just mean not much content either, there's a lot more to take into account as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author Sabiha
    I wouldn't write off the keyword based domains completely because they may not be as powerful as they used to be but they are not totally out either.

    I think what Google's Matt Cutts said here:
    was that Google will "turn the knob down on keyword domains" he did not say that they are out of the mix it's just that their importance is reduced.

    With the series of Google Panda updates what's happening is that Google has started judging a site based on it's overall keyword optimization (as well as many other factors) in deciding what it is about rather than depending too much on it's keyword domain as they previously used to do.

    So now even branded domain name sites have an equal chance of making it to the top of the search engine if they are sufficiently well optimized.
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  • Profile picture of the author Gene Pimentel
    Keyword rich domains and brandable domains live in two different worlds. They have two different purposes (when used correctly). A brandable domain is the way to go when building a long term website that you will advertise heavily. A keyword-rich domain is used to catch traffic without heavy advertising, and are most effective in creating sattelite websites that point back to your main money site.
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  • Profile picture of the author NeilC
    Originally Posted by Tumbarumba View Post

    My wife sells a Netball Umpiring ebook and her domain name is UmpiringNetball.com and 90% of the traffic is not looking to buy an ebook on how to umpire effectively. They are looking for rules or other netball game statistics.

    The name while keyword based is too broad.

    She is about to sell another ebook on how to coach netball. But coachingnetball.com or similar name is again too broad and not specific enough.

    Her coaching site (not hosted yet) is called TheNetballTeam.com because players mistakenly think that teamwork is more important than being coached properly.

    So the domain name is more centred on how players think rather than keyword based.

    My wife's other netball websites are far from being keyword based but have a lot of targeted traffic through page titles of article on her sites.

    All her sites rank high in Google (not page rank) but on specific keywords players' type into Google.

    Domain name based or page title based I always go for the latter.
    Nice example of the way to cast your net a lot wider than just a single keyword based domain.

    Good luck with the sites and eBooks, hope they do well for you both.
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  • Profile picture of the author CTonline09
    If your going to establish a big brand name then looking for exact match keyword domains isnt going to help your business.

    I mean do you think the creator of Squidoo thought about this? NOPE!

    If you have something good and of great value then it doesnt matter it will catch on.

    If your building small affiliate sites then its something still to consider.
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  • Profile picture of the author Rough Outline
    I commented on a similar thread yesterday, the two do not have to be mutually exclusive, you can include a keyword and a brand keyword together. Here are some examples of this technique used successfully...

    Blogspot.com
    ehow.com
    megaupload.com
    blogger.com
    photobucket.com

    Those are just a few examples, but you can create extremely popular, authority sites even if you do include a broad keyword in the domain.
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    • Profile picture of the author NeilC
      Originally Posted by Chris Kent View Post

      This is what I'm doing now. Have at least one related keyword and ideally two in your brandable domain. Probably has 3 to 4 total words in the name.
      Nice work and is a good way to avoid EMD's without loosing all of the advantages.

      Keep the ideas flowing!
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  • Profile picture of the author Praveen Kumar
    I think Keyword rich domains only help us to reduce some On-Page SEO and the most important thing is what is the content on your site.
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