How Important is the URL for SEO?

[JacobTeal]

I am looking at starting a new site, all about making money for teenagers.

The market for domains in this area is very crowded, with obvious choices like teenmoneymaking.com all being taken.

I was wondering, would it be best for me to use jacobteal.com and try to "brand myself" so to speak, and focus on other SEO techniques, or would it still be best for me to go for something obscure but with keywords such as teenagersmakingmoney.com?

 

[Annoying Donkey]

I'd go for branding. Keyword domains are subject to algorithm changes and impersonal. Create an online personality and get it associated with your subject.

 

[lynxus]

Agreed:
Branding is the best way.

if you make a good website and it does the job well.
Word of mouth should have you making money in no time.
Even if you called your site FlabbaMooWiggle.com

domains stuffed with keywords just looks cheap and dirty.

 

Bad advice keyword rich domains have a considerable benefit for SEO.

Branding although important is in general for companies turning over millions.

Earl

 

[crossdaz]

Keyword domains can be useful but for money making ideas you have to think what the popular search tems would be and they are likely to be quite long and random?
If you can bag a catchy domain like easymoney.com or something like that then by all means go for it - but the benefit is with brandability rather than seo

 

[ScottB]

Branding all the way, even if your market didn't have dubious conations potential (cash4teens.com sounds like you're in the child trafficking business!).

The market is limited to a few keywords, but they aren't so hugely competitive that you need to lean on a keyword domain for success. Go old school - brand it, market it and you'll gain a whole lot of credibility in the industry where it's paramount.

 

[Andrew Baker]

Invest in building your brand...

I predict within a year the significance of keywords within a domain name will be greatly reduced - if not sooner.

More importantly from a trust / conversion perspective a branded domain will work better.

Pick a brand name that you can secure usernames on all the main networks

Twitter
Facebook
Youtube
Tumblr
Google+ (when they release business profiles, vanity urls)
etc

 

[lynxus]

Bad advice keyword rich domains have a considerable benefit for SEO.

Branding although important is in general for companies turning over millions.

Earl

Nope.

Keyword domains have little impact on search unless its with a huge amount of backlinks with anchors using those keywords.

Creating a domain with ANY name and have thousands of back links saying your keyword will work just as well.

This is yet again another one of those annoying SEO theory's.

Spamming a domain full of keywords will not add any significant gain to your SEO

 

Nope.

Keyword domains have little impact on search unless its with a huge amount of backlinks with anchors using those keywords.

Creating a domain with ANY name and have thousands of back links saying your keyword will work just as well.

This is yet again another one of those annoying SEO theory's.

Spamming a domain full of keywords will not add any significant gain to your SEO

Do you offer SEO services to your clients.?

http://www.v7n.com/keyword-descriptive-domains-2.php

Earl

 

[crossdaz]

It's a pointless argument as there are no decent keyword domains available

 

[MASSEY]

It would be nice idea if an seo mod was to look over all these threads about this topic and make a sticky up that basically bullets it all into perspective.

 

It's a pointless argument as there are no decent keyword domains available

That is not true if one uses hypens .

There are also a lot of different extensions available that will effect the SEO marginaly if at all.

Earl

 

[ScottB]

The V7N article is a rebuttal to the myth that keyword domains are penalised, which we all know isn't the case. On the issue of keyword vs branding all it really does is cite some anecdotal evidence of big brands using keyword domains for high volume queries - there's no actual data there.

While I'll happily contend that the presence of a keyword in a domain name can be a positive ranking factor, the actual impact it has is negligble and can easily be ignored and lieu of good marketing and/or link building. Lynxus is spot on.

That aside, I believe (in my modest 9 years exp as a SEO, several years working for marketing agencies, marketing degree, etc) in the case of the OP's case, a keyword domain would not just be a bad choice, but has the potential to be entirely innappropriate and act as a negative factor on his *business*.

Branding although important is in general for companies turning over millions.

Hmmm I've got dozens of small/medium sized business clients that beg to differ. Branding is very important. Certainly a KW domain can become a brand or be part of a brand, but at some point early on in a business's life, if the intention is to take the business to a serious level, then branding should be carefully considered.

I think non-marketing types think about brands as being big companies that plaster their logo everywhere. It's not. A brand is the personality that defines the business. Do you really want that to be 8th choice-narrow-vertical-market or would you rather define the personality of your business through your product quality, customer service and so on?

It's a no brainer.

 

[cmcp]

but the question on everyones lips is, will a keyword domain with a hyphen work as well as a keyword domain without a hyphen?!

 

[crossdaz]

That is not true if one uses hypens .

There are also a lot of different extensions available that will effect the SEO marginaly if at all.

Earl

Lets not go to fantasy island today?

The reason there are hyphenated domains available is because they are no good. If you think otherwise then put all that money you keep saying you've got where your fat mouth is and buy some.

Dolls houses would be a good starting place, no?

 

[MASSEY]

but the question on everyones lips is, will a keyword domain with a hyphen work as well as a keyword domain without a hyphen?!

The outcome of the last thread was basically no.

 

Anyone on this thread actually earn any money doing SEO?

Earl

 

[Corpy]

Use googles SEO guide

But in my advice of building sites.

If your company is called JOE BLOGS PARTS use

joeblogsparts.co.uk

DO NOT use JBP.co.uk

A recent study showed that people are more likely to remember joeblogsparts.co.uk then jbp.co.uk.

also more people use google to find a site and 80% of the time dont bother to look at the url.

also full web URL will help with seo

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Anyone on this thread actually earn any money doing SEO?

Earl

I do. Lets face it old man, you just can't compete with us top guns

 

[Rags]

Do a Google search for 'diy' (no quotes)

There's nothing to stop you branding AND having a keyword-rich domain.

EMDs (exact match domains) have a HUGE impact even post-Panda.

 

[DesignerNick]

Spamming a domain full of keywords will not add any significant gain to your SEO

Really? Ever tested this?

I wish people on here would test things and actually try things out before posting some crap they have read somewhere or something that is on SEOMOZ. Just test things and try them before saying "No that isn't true" when all you know is a third party article you read on the internet.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Really? Ever tested this?

I wish people on here would test things and actually try things out before posting some crap they have read somewhere or something that is on SEOMOZ. Just test things and try them before saying "No that isn't true" when all you know is a third party article you read on the internet.

And have you tested keyword domains? Or just beleived what you've heard... Yes, we've been here before...

 

[Annoying Donkey]

Just to remind people, Jacob's original question was

best for me to go for something obscure but with keywords such as teenagersmakingmoney.com?

Which kinda makes any argument about keyword domains ranking better rather pointless... What's the point of ranking for an obscure term which nobody is searching on?

The advantage of having a personality (which, incidentally, doesn't have to be your real name...) is that people relate better to people and there's a certain degree of built in trust. Put out good stuff and the eventual sale will become that much easier.

 

[jhardy2008]

do keyword basis promotion

 

[ScottB]

Anyone on this thread actually earn any money doing SEO?

Yes quite a lot for over 9 years now.

 

[Rags]

Just to remind people, Jacob's original question was

What's the point of ranking for an obscure term which nobody is searching on?

Just because it's obscure - doesn't mean that NOBODY is searching for it - just not that many in comparison to the main search term. (commonly referred to as 'long tail')

The point is that when a long-tail searcher lands on your site, conversions can be through the roof.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

One obscure keyword does not a business make

 

[searchsouth]

I would also go for branding in this case.

Keyword-rich domains can certainly give your site a boost, but you need to think about your long-term approach. Will the benefit from a keyword-rich domain (in terms of visitor numbers from a few searches) be of more benefit than having a brand that is recognisable and looks professional?

 

[Rags]

One obscure keyword does not a business make

Ahh...why just have one website? I make a business of having many websites targeting long-tail keywords. Works just fine!

 

I would also go for branding in this case.

Keyword-rich domains can certainly give your site a boost, but you need to think about your long-term approach. Will the benefit from a keyword-rich domain (in terms of visitor numbers from a few searches) be of more benefit than having a brand that is recognisable and looks professional?

So whats the problem with running two sites one for branding and one for making money.

Earl

 

[Alby10]

Interesting thread this, and one i have some experience of, in a small way.

I have had several finance related urls, due to being in the finance game as a packager a few years ago, and i noticed that one of my domains did well in yahoo and google, even though it had no links to it. Yet several other domains, with some backlinks, which were related were in poor positions. The only reason i could find for the difference was the fact that the keyword was contained within the url.

I am not an experienced SEO like some of the people on this forum, but this was an actual result that i witnessed. The keyword was a good keyword which had reasonable amounts of competition and traffic and as i say i was unable to explain why the domain did well. Maybe someone could shed some light on it.

 

[Annoying Donkey]

So whats the problem with running two sites one for branding and one for making money.

Earl

15yr old may not have the budget. Extra work involved in running two websites.

But this is the common sense solution.

 

[pcproblems]

Not sure if this is relevent but i've been using
salisbury-computer-repairs.co.uk for over a year now and it works very nicely. I realise that it relates to a specific location but i'm more than happy.

For the search computer repairs salisbury it's the first organic result on google,bing and yahoo search

 

15yr old may not have the budget. Extra work involved in running two websites.

But this is the common sense solution.

well if money is tight then there is no reason not to have a keyword rich domain and use the company name for the branding.

Does not seem to have done http://www.diy.com much harm.

Earl

 

[thetime22]

Can't believe there are SEO people saying that branding ranks as good as keyword rich domains.

 

[Rags]

Can't believe there are SEO people saying that branding ranks as good as keyword rich domains.

Strange isn't it?

 

[fisicx]

The reason there are hyphenated domains available is because they are no good.

The outcome of the last thread was basically no.

However:

Not sure if this is relevent but i've been using
salisbury-computer-repairs.co.uk for over a year now and it works very nicely. I realise that it relates to a specific location but i'm more than happy.

For the search computer repairs salisbury it's the first organic result on google,bing and yahoo search

Hyphenated domains may or may may not work depending on your market and the size of the competition.

But back to the OP. Using a keyword rich domain name is great for those specific keywords. It may however be a hindrance if you want to expand into new areas later. That's why a brand name could well be more useful as a long term strategy.

 

[thetime22]

Strange isn't it?

It's laughable really. Can't believe someone actually said the algorithms have changed and brand names rank as well as keyword rich domains. THis is just crap advice from someone that has NO experience in SEO.

Yes Matt Cutts released a video maybe 3 months ago saying "Google is changing the algorithm" BUT as of right now at this very second keyword rich domains still have a massive advantage over branded domains, you can't even argue otherwise. Unbelievable!

 

[JohnnyCash]

well if money is tight then there is no reason not to have a keyword rich domain and use the company name for the branding.

Does not seem to have done http://www.diy.com much harm.

Earl

You keep going back to this flawed example of B & Q...

Their brand name is "B&Q" - they had no choice but to use something else for their domain name since B&Q.com isn't a valid domain, and bandq.com looks like crap & would be confusing anyway.

 

Their brand name is "B&Q" - they had no choice but to use something else for their domain name since B&Q.com isn't a valid domain, and bandq.com looks like crap & would be confusing anyway.

I would put you on my ignore list.

But you are a constant source of amusement.

I would think back in 1997 people had a different view of domain names.

Earl