Domain Name Keywords – Do They Matter?

Domain Name Keywords – Do They Matter?

Posted on 09. May, 2009 by Michelle in Niche Marketing

domain name keywords

I’ve seen time and time again people question whether having their keywords in their domain name will really make any difference to their search engine ranking.

A fairly common response to this question is that if you’re building an authority site then it isn’t all that relevant and if you’re niche marketing then it ‘might’ help but it’s really not all that important.

Well with a case study under my belt I’m here to tell you that if you’re not trying to grab a domain name with your niche phrase in it then you could be missing out on organic traffic.

“But Michelle don’t you know all the good domain names are taken anyway?” Well for .com they might be but there are still some .org, .net and .info names up for grabs. So that then brings up the next question about whether a .org, .net or .info is worth venturing into right? This is another area of debate and often people giving their opinion have absolutely no proof behind their statements. Well again, my case study says at the very least a .org will perform just fine! I’m working on pulling together the facts of the case study for my blog readers so stay tuned for that, it’s definitely going to be eye opening!

It can seem as though there are so many myths and hurdles to wade through when it comes to making money online. When it comes to niche marketing what are the biggest hurdles you face with your business?

delicious | digg | reddit | facebook | technorati | stumbleupon | chatintamil

Related posts:

  1. Domain Name Case Study Results In my last post I mentioned that I’d  conducted...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: , ,

11 Responses to “Domain Name Keywords – Do They Matter?”

  1. Lillea WoodlyndsNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    I’ve been wondering about this for a while, so I look forward to reading about your results! Logically it would seem like a good idea to have domain names that target keywords but the ‘experts’ all say different things so it’s confusing.

    ~ Lillea

  2. Craig McPhersonNo Gravatar (1 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    Interesting post Michelle. I have answered a similar theory many times where people say that you must have keywords in the domain name and that .info is no good for ranking high.

    My main money making site is http://www.craigmcpherson.info and it ranks top 3 for the search term “free money making website”. There are over 70 million competing pages. Obviously, It is a .info with my name, no keywords at all.

    I get over 200 uiques per day to this from this search term alone.

  3. Mark Sierra at MeAndMyDrum.comNo Gravatar (4 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    Indeed, this is an age old question and it’s good to hear you’re gathering facts to finally clarify the matter.

    Like you, I’ve heard that it doesn’t matter, but could help. Though I haven’t done formal research on the subject, I’d say that any TLD would fair just as well as the other and that it’s all about how well the site has been promoted and SEO.

    Personally, and again I don’t have formal research on this, I can’t see why any search engine would favor any TLD if they’re truly interested in the content behind.

  4. Josh SpauldingNo Gravatar (6 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    I’ve never been one to spend too much time looking for a domain. I just grab one and go, but I’ve seen a few instances lately where keyword rich domains made a big difference.

    It could be that Google changed that in their algorithm, who knows.

    Great idea with the case study, Michelle.

    Keep up the good work!

  5. RebeNo Gravatar (12 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    My experience has been the same as Craig with re: to domain/keyword. A client of mine wanted to use her business name which does NOT include any keyword related to her niche. With 1.9 mil competing websites for this niche, the expectations for good SE positioning were low.

    However..within two months the site got to page 2 of Google and today is #1…surpassing Martha (as in Stewart).

    I believe (KW rich)content, regular additions to the site and inclusion of KWs in tags propelled the site to its position. Maybe not super quickly but the tortoise and the hare fable applies. :)

  6. MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    @ Lillea Yes it can get confusing and one case study doesn’t prove things outright but what I’ve found got my attention. I’ll have the details up in a day or two.

    @ Craig I haven’t experimented with a .info entirely but I have to say I’ve never heard a good thing about them! Perception is reality so I’d carefully consider when and when not to use a .info. Great to hear about your experience.

    @ Mark I agree with you fully. At the end of the day the search engines can only place so much emphasis on the domain name given how rife domain squatting is. There is still some evidence in my results that Google are weighting the domain name a little heavier than we might assume.

    @ Josh Yes I’ve seen a few examples of this lately too other than my own. It will be great to get feedback on my case study as there are always many ways to interpret results.

    @ Rebe Yes, there are plenty of sites ranking number one for keywords that have nothing to do with their domain name. My case study is just one example of how using keywords in the domain helped me rank a site in the top ten for a niche phrase. There are so many variables to SEO and the domain name is just one of them.

  7. ForestNo Gravatar (21 comments)

    09. May, 2009

    I pretty much always go for keyword rich and have a few sites that concentrate on one keyword…. Plus I have a .info in top 10 of Google for a very competitive phrase and it has hardly any content!

  8. MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments)

    10. May, 2009

    @ Forest Another example of a .info performing well, that’s interesting!

  9. Donnie @ Chattanooga Web DesignNo Gravatar (7 comments)

    29. Jul, 2009

    I’m finding it also helpful to have keywords in the site or company name. This might be cliche, but I thought it worth mentioning. AAA Storm Doors would perform better than just AAA.

  10. Ruri @ free online article directoryNo Gravatar (5 comments)

    25. Nov, 2009

    Hi Michelle,
    Putting keywords on domain is stronger aspect in SEO but currently creating simple name that include our nich is hard. However putting keywords is not really a matter because we want to develop brand name, not keyword name. We cannot depend our business on Google.

    Having one simple word and easy to remember is more important. That’s my opinion.

    MichelleNo Gravatar (232 comments) Reply:
    November 29th, 2009 at 4:39 am

    Thanks Ruri. If you’re focusing on niche marketing and want organic traffic then building a brand name isn’t important but free traffic would be so any efforts toward that, ie a keyword rich domain name, is important. If you’re building a brand, then yes I agree that the domain name needs to be arrived at with brand recognition in mind.