SEO - The Importance of Exact Domain | Warrior Forum - The #1 Digital Marketing Forum & Marketplace

16 years ago

I would agree with you, Google absolutely loves exact domains. I have a whole portfolio of websites that do nothing but affiliate marketing on exact domains and they make me some nice residual income with nearly zero effort after setup.

I usually try to scope out keywords that have less then a 100k in competition and the top guys don't have much SEO going on for the long tail keyword. I then buy the domain name, throw up some content, and fire away 10 links a day for 10 days. It should be ranked within 2 weeks or less. Works like magic.

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chini

16 years ago

I think it will change soon, i don't see why google gives soo much love to exact domain name. So many people can build a **** site, low quality, one page of crap content, rank for a term against other sites which are superior in quality, but just because the keyword isn't the exact domain name get beaten? GOOGLE needs to wake up and realize this.

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kwality

16 years ago

Have to agree with having an exact domain. Your domain name should at the very least be related to the theme of your website.

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Goran Zinic

16 years ago

Well I don't agree with this. Google don't give some high importance to a domain name anymore (maybe at a beginning). For example my site... it's on 1st page for keyword "resell rights" and my domain is indigitalworks

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hommi_16

16 years ago

I have no doubt that your site is on the first for your desired keyword but for you to say that Google doesn't give much importance then I don't think you have done any research! You're telling me that it wouldn't have made your life easier to have a domain like resellrights.com....

For the record, I'm not saying that you can't rank without an exact match (or even a variation), I'm just saying that's it's a whole lot easier.

Originally Posted by gzinic

Well I don't agree with this. Google don't give some high importance to a domain name anymore (maybe at a beginning). For example my site... it's on 1st page for keyword "resell rights" and my domain is indigitalworks

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paulgl

16 years ago

Just do a search for internet marketing forum and see which sites are #1 and
#2, #3, and even #4. Then look where the one is with those keywords.

*sigh* if it were only that easy.

You need content, backlinks, and/or authority.
But, there are domain brokers who try and sell the koolaid.
Just don't drink it.

Paul

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hommi_16

16 years ago

Originally Posted by paulgl

Just do a search for internet marketing forum and see which sites are #1 and
#2, #3, and even #4. Then look where the one is with those keywords.

*sigh* if it were only that easy.

You need content, backlinks, and/or authority.
But, there are domain brokers who try and sell the koolaid.
Just don't drink it.

Paul

I just check and it really doesnt prove anything. First of I looked at internetmarketingforum .com, .net and .org and one gives me an error and the others seem to parked domains so obviously they are not ranking. Other than that, when you do the actual search and look beyond the 3rd page, the domain names become irrelevant to the keyword (with the exception of a .info).

Before this gets too heated, guys, I wasn't saying that you can just get a relevant or exact domain and then sit on your ass expecting to rank at the top. What I was saying is domains do hold weight and make it that much easier for you to rank.

It was more of a tip then a debate.

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jasonmorgan

16 years ago

I want some poof.

what is the competition for they keyword of your exact match domain?

every time somebody brings this up it's for a keyword that has very little competition or is an extremely low traffic keyword.

something that is often overlooked.. with most websites, especially if you are using wordpress, by default you're domain name is also you're page title... could it be the page title and not the domain name that is giving you that seo bump?

I think most of us who disagree with the whole domain name issue would agree that the page title is a very important seo element. I think it's the #1 thing that SE bots look at when getting a first impression of what your site/page is about is the page title. It's also what is displayed in SE listings followed by meta description or an excerpt of page content relevant for that search.

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hommi_16

16 years ago

Originally Posted by jasonmorgan

I want some poof.

what is the competition for they keyword of your exact match domain?

every time somebody brings this up it's for a keyword that has very little competition or is an extremely low traffic keyword.

something that is often overlooked.. with most websites, especially if you are using wordpress, by default you're domain name is also you're page title... could it be the page title and not the domain name that is giving you that seo bump?

I think most of us who disagree with the whole domain name issue would agree that the page title is a very important seo element. I think it's the #1 thing that SE bots look at when getting a first impression of what your site/page is about is the page title. It's also what is displayed in SE listings followed by meta description or an excerpt of page content relevant for that search.

If you want proof, then try it yourself. Get two domains one with the exact keyword and one that's not and see for yourself.

I dont use wordpress, but I do optimize my title tags. I have tried this a few times with my own sites and the one with the exact keyword always ranks better. This would also mean that in the long run, if you were to do off-page SEO equally on both, the one with the more relevant domain would still outrank.

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brp002

16 years ago

Well it helps but from my understanding it only gives you like a 5% boost. But remember that will only help you rank for that one keyword. There is 1 million other keywords that get traffic.

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askloz

16 years ago

it makes me smile when people use percentages...

who gave you a percentage? Certainly not Matt Cutts; Google don't give out percentages.

You're partially correct that a domain name with your desired keyword helps, but not when it will help you rank for "one" keyword only.

Granted,

KeywordA-KeywordB.com

will rank higher than

KeywordA-KeywordB-KeywordC.com

BUT, I say that loosely.

It all really depends what other factors

KeywordA-KeywordB-KeywordC.com has over KeywordA-KeywordB.com has. If they're lousy, it's still possible to out rank.

Nothing is impossible, just takes resources and a time.

Originally Posted by brp002

Well it helps but from my understanding it only gives you like a 5% boost. But remember that will only help you rank for that one keyword. There is 1 million other keywords that get traffic.

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Bertil Jenner

16 years ago

Originally Posted by hommi_16

So I've tested this more than once and I have to say that when it comes to SEO, Google puts extreme weight on exact domain when deciding its rankings.

I've done the research on this with a few of my sites and lets just say that months of months of SEO can be overtaken by a domain with no SEO that has the exact keyword domain.

Some food for thought!

As others have stated, your reasoning is incorrect.

If you can get a domain with the exact keywords then chances are that the competition is very weak for that keyword phrase.

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hommi_16

16 years ago

Originally Posted by brp002

Well it helps but from my understanding it only gives you like a 5% boost. But remember that will only help you rank for that one keyword. There is 1 million other keywords that get traffic.

Yes, I will have to agree with you on this but again, better than nothing (especially if the keyword is good).

Originally Posted by Bertil Jenner

As others have stated, your reasoning is incorrect.

If you can get a domain with the exact keywords then chances are that the competition is very weak for that keyword phrase.

Well, you see my reasoning as incorrect but I have done this many times! Second, while I don't go after the most competitive of niches, they are competitive and this will give you an automatic boost in the rankings.

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rypher21

16 years ago

choosing relevant domain for your site is good practice, much better if your using one of the keyword for your site e.g. internetmarketing...... .com a high chance of getting a good rank in the keyword "internet marketing" keyword but then its up to you whether you want it that way. your always free to choose your own domain format

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emigre

16 years ago

How about if the target phrase is within the domain eg. "lose weight fast" and domain is loseweightfaster.com. I think you still get the benefits even without exact match.

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shmeeko69

16 years ago

Originally Posted by hommi_16

So I've tested this more than once and I have to say that when it comes to SEO, Google puts extreme weight on exact domain when deciding its rankings.

I've done the research on this with a few of my sites and lets just say that months of months of SEO can be overtaken by a domain with no SEO that has the exact keyword domain.

Some food for thought!

I think your spot on there mate. I've put so more effort to keywords not exactly the same as my domain names & still on page 2 with both & yet the one that has an identical name & the least amount of effort put in, still remains on page 1, position 5 ?

Sometimes the chess game with the search engines is baffling & I don't think the majority of folk really know how the maths work & what to do for the best & for their business.

Mark :confused:

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JackBenson 16 years ago

I believe this is true but I also think its probably only a matter of time before the algo is adjusted in a way to "fix" this. Especially with the thousands of useless MFA niche sites people are putting up now on EMD's.
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JamesM

16 years ago

Exact match domains *do* work well, partly because backlinks you acquire where anchor text is the domain name still contain your targetted keyphrase.

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JamesM

16 years ago

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paulgl 16 years ago

Working well is different than being a "must."

They can work just as well without them.

Paul
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daddyoh

16 years ago

In my opinion, having the exact keyword term as the exact url is VERY important to ranking for that term. But the same is true for the Title Tag.

Here's a little case study:

I was doing some research yesterday, looking for some info on something I wanted to learn. I typed in the phrase without quotes and Google came back with 79,200,000 competing pages and with the term in quotes, there were 5,160,000 competing pages and the site is at #2 in Google.

The Global Monthly Search Volume is only 480 in Broad Match and 110 in Exact Match so obviously, it's not a very heavily searched-for term.

I scrolled down the Google results to see what looked interesting and lo and behold, sitting there in spot #5 was a site with the exact KW phrase as the domain name. It's a .net domain name. The term is also the very first term in the Title Tag.

The Google description said, "Coming Soon!"
I thought, "What the heck???" "Coming Soon?"

I clicked on the link, went to the site and sure enough, the only content on the site was "Coming Soon!".

There is a .gif image for the logo of the site, but that's all.

Also, this site has only 1 backlink showing up in a Yahoo backlink check.
Thus, it's not the backlinks that got it ranked so highly.

It's not clear to me whether the site is sitting at #5 due to the url or the Title Tag (or both) having the keyword term.

Sorry to be so ambiguous and inconclusive but I can't say if the url or the Title tag is responsible for this site being at #5 in Google.

Incidentally, I picked up an excellent report on the WF 2 weeks ago from a Warrior that got his site ranked at #1 in Google with absolutely NO content on it. He wrote a report about how he did it and said that he did it with backlinks and anchor text.

By the way, the site:

 had no textual content whatsoever
 did not have a relevant Page Title
 had no On Page SEO whatsoever...obviously

It's called "SEOn Trial" by Warrior member "SMS".

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thecableguy 16 years ago

All things being the same (backlinks, SEO) exact match domains do give an advantage, no question about it.

I once registered a domain and while waiting for it to propagate I plumb forgot about it, created the account and pointed the DNS servers to it, but other than that absolutely nothing. Didn't even submit it to the searchengines. Yet about a week and a half later while searching Google I found it on Google's second page (might have been higher if I noticed it sooner). All that was there was the "blank" index file and folders showing, no meta-tags or anything. Ive seen that with another more competitive term as well (not mine). It ranked on the strength of the keyword domain alone. Try getting something like that with abc.com or some non-keyword related domain.
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dannycapri

16 years ago

Originally Posted by daddyoh

I
It's not clear to me whether the site is sitting at #5 due to the url or the Title Tag (or both) having the keyword term.

Sorry to be so ambiguous and inconclusive but I can't say if the url or the Title tag is responsible for this site being at #5 in Google.

I have seen something similar in various niches, i.e. exact match keyword domains, with no or very little backlinks, that rank in the top 10 of Google (exact position may depend on competitiveness of niche and strength of on page SEO) for their keywords.

SEOMoz states that a keyword used anywhere in the Title tag, has a greater on-page ranking factor than a keyword used in the root domain name.

But, the above are only two SEO factors, there are many more.

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Helps Here

16 years ago

I think it helps for sure, saves a lot of time from doing extra SEO work...but you can still rank w/out it.

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ARVolund 16 years ago

According to a google webmaster video I watched Matt Cutts said that yes having the keyword in the url does help.

But.....

Where in the url is of very little importance.

So...

www.keyword.com/index.html

does not really have any advantage over

www.yourdomain.com/keyword.html
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ashishthakkar

16 years ago

I disagree with this.

I have seen site ranking way behind others even when it is a .com with keyword in it.

regards,
ASHISH THAKKAR

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ashishthakkar

16 years ago

So...

www.keyword.com/index.html

does not really have any advantage over

www.yourdomain.com/keyword.html

Dont agree with this too.

A domain like weightloss DOT com would never be considered equal to letUsMakeOut DOT com / weight-loss.html

regards,
ASHISH THAKKAR

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Trent Brownrigg

16 years ago

I agree. I have seen many exact match domains rank on page one of Google when they are not nearly as high quality or have as much authority as others that rank below them. I can only assume they get that ranking because of the domain.

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t3ch

16 years ago

To add, not just exact keyword domain, but also the exact keyword folder, seem like a very important on page factor in SEO.

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manhal

16 years ago

I also believe domain name is really important

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Michael Fiske

16 years ago

Interesting discussion.

So -- if my keyword is "poodle training," then if PoodleTraining.com is not available, which is best:

Poodletraining.org, .net.
.biz .info
any other extension with exact keyword match
FastPoodleTrainingNow.com (i.e. whatever .com you can get with words added to exact keyword)
poodletraining.dogstuff.com
dogstuff.com/poodletraining

Michael

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Altug 16 years ago

Another vote for having your keyword phrase in your domain - I just stuck up a blog about a quality brand name golf clubs and I'm sitting ABOVE the actual brand names site at number 7 lol (No backlinks or promotion)

Also my bigger site has 2 out of the 3 keyword phrases in the title - It is a lot more competitive. Took me 4 months to get to the number 4 spot - Back down on the 2nd page now though and being outranked by shockingly bad sites that have my keyword in the domain

Angering stuff but true - Literally one page site with just ads.

So, overall my personal observations are that it's important.
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- John Hocking 16 years ago
  
  There are a lot of factors that come into ranking well but I do believe that all other things being equal, having your keyword in the domain is an advantage.
  
  Most of my sites have the keyword in the domain and most rank in the top 5 in Google.
  
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claytons

16 years ago

In our studies, the exact domain name in the URL comes into play a whole lot more when the competition is low.

Under 50k competing pages, we've seen exact url's rank very easily...over that...doesn't seem to make much difference.

Your mileage may vary, but we've looked at the top 10 serps for 100's of thousands of keywords to try to analyze this.

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SEO - The Importance of Exact Domain

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