Less words in domain, better?

by 10 replies
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Little story involved in this too.

Searched for a domain, that was taken, but did a whois and it was on auction at Godaddy (only 20 bucks total) and it was a perfect name. So put it in my cart, but for some reason godaddy seemed to think I was a client of mine instead. So took about 5 minutes to figure that out and go to sign up for an auction account myself.

Guess what happened? The owner renewed during that time.

Whois showed it expired in August 2011.
Whois now shows it expires in August 2012.

So two months after it expired, the owner just happened to renew it when I was going to purchase it. Although wouldn't it be September if it was just renewed?

That.. seems.. too strange.

Anyway, it is free as .net and .org, and I see for SEO purposes, shouldn't matter, but I really don't want the same domain name as this person. The name is available with "now" on the end of it. Making it 4 words.

Does anyone know if that would matter? Not a fan of longer names myself, but curious what some experts think.
#search engine optimization #domain #words
  • Update to the story:

    Did another check of it, little OCD, but it worked out. It was back on auction, purchased it and should own it in 10 days from now. Takes a bit longer, not being a "new" domain, but also worth it, since it'll keep its age.
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  • Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Crazy, spent the rest of the night looking up names and find this one is available again.
  • All sorts of interesting stories of Godaddy automatically grabbing domains when someone is interested in them.
  • Yeah, I was reading about that. Just odd they'd "grab" it, then put it back on the market 5 hours later. Price didn't change at all, lol.
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    • Less words is always good and at best your main keyword is in the domain name itself. Ultimately is easier for your visitors/readers to remember your domain name and thus returning visitors/readers.
  • Just one advice, if you want to buy that domian for targeting keywords then drop the idea.

    On the other hand, if that domain will help you in branding your website then go for it.

    To cut the story short... Use your domain name for branding yourself not for keyword targeting. There are several other ways to target keywords.
    • [1] reply
    • It depends on what sort of website you have. If you have your own product you are probably better to brand it. But if you have an affiliate website it is often better to target keywords in the domain - especially if you are focussing on one product.
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  • more searches is best. A more targeted buyer keyword domain is best. If they have both then it won't matter how many words it is. Not when you get on page one and are making money because of lots of targeted traffic.
  • Good comments. I think I more so posted to "vent" about the ordeal with GoDaddy. Worked though, after posting here the domain returned to auction, LOL. Although you all re-enforced what I had thought. So thanks.

    I think it'll work well for remembering and keyword targeting.

    It is "youdeserve" keyword .com. Still shocked I got it so cheaply and I imagine I could sell it for quite a bit more if my plans with it don't work out.
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  • I own domains with tons of letters/words and domains with around 4 letters. If you do proper onsite SEO, it shouldn't matter, especially if you have something to offer.

    If you want to build a brand, go for shorter domains, if you want to test things out, go for the longer domain.

    I own about 4 websites with the word "now" at the end of it and they do very well for me So it's really up to you and it depends on what you want to do with the website.
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    Less words in domain, better?

    Little story involved in this too. Searched for a domain, that was taken, but did a whois and it was on auction at Godaddy (only 20 bucks total) and it was a perfect name. So put it in my cart, but for some reason godaddy seemed to think I was a client of mine instead. So took about 5 minutes to figure that out and go to sign up for an auction account myself.