Picking right words within domain name

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dave1928

Free Member
Dec 13, 2008
223
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  • #1
    I'm in the process of starting a website, and ideally want the main product catagory in my domain name. So for this example i shall use 'mens wallets' to explain my question.

    So, website selling mens wallets therfore want to have them two words in domain name. I know this is not essential but the way i want to go.

    Doing the google keyword search results show monthly hits as follows -
    Mens Wallets = 18000
    Mens Wallet = 22000
    (above figures are same as per my actual words for website)

    As you can see its just the 'S' at the end being the difference. Which is the better version to use? i know google telling me 'Wallet' has more searches but surley it picks up both anyway?? I can get suitable domain names to suit both options so looking for more professional opinion.
    Thanks
     
    S

    stand4

    Free Member
    Mar 24, 2013
    32
    5
  • #2
    Always opted for the "s" but thats just my opinion. When you type in the search term does G autocomplete the term with or without the s. That would be my first thought. The auotcomplete version obviously being the one to look at.

    edm's with an "s" have always done well for me, I wish you the best of luck with your new project.
     
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    M

    MASSEY

  • #3
    I don't think picking either will make much of a difference. You could have 'mens wallets' in the domain and have 'mens wallet' in the title or vice versa.

    I wouldn't go for two separate domains to begin with as you will have to work twice as hard. But it might be an idea to reg some other domains containing phrases you are after and post content on them to link to your 'main' site as an aid to getting you ranking.
     
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    ecenica

    ecenica

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    May 26, 2010
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    Leeds, United Kingdom
  • #5
    dave1928 said:
    As you can see its just the 'S' at the end being the difference. Which is the better version to use?
    Click to expand...

    In terms of SEO and Google rank there's no definitive answer.

    Some SEO experts recommend the singular whilst others suggest you'll see better results with the plural 's' version.

    Ideally you would register both singular and plural versions of the domain names. Assign one as the primary domain and 301 redirect the other domain to your primary.

    Rich.
     
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    T

    tukoko

  • #6
    dave1928 said:
    I'm in the process of starting a website, and ideally want the main product catagory in my domain name. So for this example i shall use 'mens wallets' to explain my question.
    Click to expand...

    Hi Dave,

    Congratulations on starting a website .. I wish you great success.

    With respect to the keyword in the domain, keep in mind that Search engines aren't "fooled" into thinking that presence of a keyword in the domain name has any relevance to the content of the site.

    BUT, if you're intentions are good and you have LOTS of great ORIGINAL content related to wallets (not just affiliate links of products from Amazon), then wallets vs wallet doesn't make much difference.

    This is because both words are semantically related -- these are usually treated the same by the indexing algorithms (it's technically called "latent semantic indexing" or LSI).

    It's a good practice to use LSI keywords on a web page to help boost quality content scores -- I wrote an article about this some time ago ...

    http://www.the-best-websites.co.uk/lsi-keywords.html

    Hope that helps,
    Cheers,
    Carole.
     
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    A

    adsengine

  • #7
    Its bad practice and will do you no favours in the long term.

    I just did a search for mens wallets, none of the first page results have the term wallets in the domain..

    ASOS
    House of Fraser
    Debenhams
    Next

    etc..

    Its all companies that have build a brand ... Google likes this :)

    Build a an online reputation for selling quality products and giving great customer service.

    Quick fix SEO worked a few years ago but those days are coming to an end.
     
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    D

    dave1928

    Free Member
    Dec 13, 2008
    223
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  • #8
    Adsengine....men's wallet I only used as example so your search is not relevant to my business. The two key words I plan on using is more niche compared to the likes of next and debenhams. What seem to be the top two websites do use at least one of the keywords I want along with lots of others doing similar. I do agree with you though that the biggest companies have a brand / name with no meaning to what the sell, but then there are lots that do that are highly successfully businesses in their own right.

    I've taken everyone's advice on the whole and gone with what seems to be best name rather than worry about the 's' so thanks again to all replies.
     
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    S

    Suzuki

  • #9
    If you use a product name in the domain you might struggle later on to expand or change directions if required.

    I would only use the products in the domain if you could get the exact match domain, and you felt you needed that bonus to compete. And I would only do this if I was absolutely certain that I wasn't going to want to expand into other things.

    I am sure Amazon.com were glad they didn't build their site on Books.com...
     
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    D

    dave1928

    Free Member
    Dec 13, 2008
    223
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  • #10
    I think my business name is perfectly fine for my future plans. I don't intend on being the biggest retailer on the planet! If I become one of top sites for the sector I aiming for then I be very happy and not want to branch out into other sectors.

    I do think sometimes that people look at a very small percentage of businesses that are global companies and think what they do is the only way even for the small one man band sole trader.
    If a business plans on being national or bigger with big budget then yes, a brand is essential but if it's a standard business happy to make a living then I don't think this matters. Corner cafe call daves sandwiches is fine but plan to go national, subway and the like is obviously the better way to go.

    Amazon vs books......I'd rather books.com if I only intended to sell books. But they wanted to take over everything so the very right to have amazon. But I like to think books.com was already taken anyway!
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

    Moderator
    Sep 12, 2006
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  • #11
    dave1928 said:
    I think my business name is perfectly fine for my future plans. I don't intend on being the biggest retailer on the planet! If I become one of top sites for the sector I aiming for then I be very happy and not want to branch out into other sectors.
    Click to expand...
    So it's really about branding then. If you want to be the #1 in wollysocks or whatever then you need a brand name not a keyword rich domain name.

    Better to buy Dave1928.com than wollysocks.com. This gives you the oppotunity later to sell cotton socks. It also looks a lot less naff when you hand out your business cards to investors and buyers and whoever.
     
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    S

    Suzuki

  • #12
    dave1928 said:
    Amazon vs books......I'd rather books.com if I only intended to sell books. But they wanted to take over everything so the very right to have amazon. But I like to think books.com was already taken anyway!
    Click to expand...

    The problem here is, who knows whats around the corner? I know your niche isn't wallets, but just using that as an example for a second. Probably a high percentage of guys carry a wallet every day - they need one for their bank cards and some cash. So it looks like a good long term business selling wallets right? Well maybe... right up until banks start letting people access their account via fingerprint or eye scan rather than cash cards. And shops start doing the same... now you don't need a wallet at all.

    No doubt someone will come along and say the above is far fetched or can't happen... but do you think anyone would ever have predicted paper books would have ended up bordering on extinction? Or physical storage of music would almost disappear?

    Your product doesn't even need to vanish completely to destroy your domain name. If you built cdplayers.co.uk or buydvds.co.uk you're on a slippery path too :)
     
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    fisicx

    fisicx

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    Sep 12, 2006
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  • #13
    Or maybe the wallet is replaced by a 'leather organiser' that holds my phone and CC.

    Or maybe you become a designer of bespoke leather goods or whatever.

    Keywords in domain names can be useful but can cause you so many issues down the road. Brand names however can live on forever even if the business changes direction.
     
    Upvote 0
    S

    Shelly Watson

  • #14
    dave1928 said:
    I'm in the process of starting a website, and ideally want the main product catagory in my domain name. So for this example i shall use 'mens wallets' to explain my question.

    So, website selling mens wallets therfore want to have them two words in domain name. I know this is not essential but the way i want to go.

    Doing the google keyword search results show monthly hits as follows -
    Mens Wallets = 18000
    Mens Wallet = 22000
    (above figures are same as per my actual words for website)

    As you can see its just the 'S' at the end being the difference. Which is the better version to use? i know google telling me 'Wallet' has more searches but surley it picks up both anyway?? I can get suitable domain names to suit both options so looking for more professional opinion.
    Thanks
    Click to expand...

    I think the two names will not affect the rank greatly, if i must make a decision, i will choose Mens Wallets. A success of business is up to many factors, once you have detailed promotion plan, don't think too much about it. As adsengine mentions, some famous companies don't have keywords in their domain names, but they succeeded. Good luck.
     
    Upvote 0
    T

    tukoko

  • #16
    seosopt said:
    We also went for words that had low competition because this would would give the builder a better chance in making the first page of that keyword search.
    Click to expand...
    The competition data is NOT about competitiveness of the search term for ranking -- it's the competitiveness of the search term for ADVERTISERS bidding for the keyword in their campaigns.

    So unless you're planning to run an Adwords campaign, you can completely ignore this data (unless you want to use it to see where the "herd" is going --i.e. high competition for money keywords that convert visitors to customers)

    Cheers,
    Carole.
     
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