How to beat a great domain name

[cliveant]

Several of our competitors have perfect generic domain names and we are wondering if it will ever be possible to rise above these companies in the google rank.

Two in particular have the actual domain name of the product itself which we are all selling. One has the .co.uk and the other the .com so when you do a google search they are no. 1 and no.2

We have included the product name within our domain name but are only at the bottom of page 1 on google.

Will it ever be possible to knock these companies off the top spot given that they both have the perfect domains and how do we go about this as all our seo efforts to date have not acheived this.

 

[benjamin_c]

what is the product?

 

[cliveant]

quite a niche product...but not prepared to say on a public forum

 

Will it ever be possible to knock these companies off the top spot given that they both have the perfect domains and how do we go about this as all our seo efforts to date have not acheived this.

Yes.............

Domain names are only part of the equation.

Earl

 

[cica]

Would you say that your service is better than those 2 that have the perfect domain names and all the others above you? That's where to start. I know Google likes to juggle things around sometimes to see if searcher prefer different sites.

I'm in a similar circumstance but I have confidence of delivering a better experience and hoping that at least they'll be SOME effect of that rubbing off in the SERPs.

 

[MASSEY]

Its pretty soul destroying in my opinion the sheer volume of extra effort it takes to outrank keyword domains.

 

[Nine Fish]

I wouldnt worry, keyword domain names work at the beginning (sometimes) but if another site is more proactive with its marketing, links, seo etc it will generally overtake its competitor.

You can see this in many different niches where if you type in exactly what you are looking for you will often see a generic keyword domain further down the page.

 

[akirk]

I would say that everything else being exactly equal (i.e. same content / same other SEO etc.) then I would expect them to do better...

but it is unlikely that everything will be equal - so the better your efforts, the more chance you have of poaching that spot!

Alasdair

 

[gemd89]

So if it doesnt count why did bnq register diy.com?

They obviously didnt want to be outranked or didnt think they could beat diy.com|
Gemma

 

[sysops]

Would you say that your service is better than those 2 that have the perfect domain names and all the others above you? That's where to start. .

How does google know you have better service?

 

[sysops]

Will it ever be possible to knock these companies off the top spot given that they both have the perfect domains and how do we go about this as all our seo efforts to date have not acheived this.

Unless they have made some major errors, you will never knock them off top spot for the exact match.

Does the field support a good longtail profile?

 

Unless they have made some major errors, you will never knock them off top spot for the exact match.

Tell that to the bloke who bought

carinsurance.com.

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...rance&btnG=Search&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Earl

 

[kulture]

The top spot on google depends on many things. The domain name is just one. Good SEO can beat the domain name site. Getting more respectable inbound links will help. getting deep links into the site will help.

If you offer better service then you will gain repeat customers. The more visitors you have, who stick around and not exit back to google search in a second, the more google thinks your site may be important.

These are just a few of the things google looks at to decide where a site is listed.

 

[pageonetraffic]

It sounds as if they have an exact match domain... which will work for those types of searches. However I think the future of young exact match domains is limited...

What counts more is age. Is your domain age older than the ones in the top spot - if so then ensure the keywords you are ranking for is at the beginning of your title, and SEO against that.

 

[Setfire]

It all depends on the product as to whether you should have it in the domain. If its someone elses trade mark, I wouldn't do it. If its a generic word then it is possibly worth it - it then depends on your strategy for building your business.

Keyword in domain works for at least a couple of reasons. Firstly, the search algo takes it into account (at the moment). Secondly, back-links to your website home page contain your keyword by default. Thirdly, when you then appear in the results, there is bolding applied to the search terms within the URL.

If you are only going to sell widgets, then cheap-widgets.co.uk works - but what happens when you want to sell something else?

 

[pageonetraffic]

In light of SetFire's comment... to get a fast ranking... only an exact match domain works. ie. If your primary keyword is "Red Widgets" then "Redwidgets.co.uk" will rank very fast indeed (no hyphens no other characters). If you cannot get an exact match... then an old domain name (any name) is (IMO) the best way to get trust and ranking.

Paul

 

[tomderrig]

check out there links, and beat them with a better link building strategy and pop in good long tail keywords in your content and html...if that fails step into PPC and buy the words

 

[Adam_Watson]

Domain name is important but it when your doing local business that way you can chose domain name like if you are in the uk you can chose .co.uk and target your audience.

 

[robertt]

Good domains cost money - but they have added value on and offline.

 

[cliveant]

In this case the competitors have exact match one word domain names. We have the word but at the end of our domain name. They have virtually no links at all but both companies are right up at the top. We will keep plugging away at link building but it can be frustrating to say the least.

 

Good domains cost money - but they have added value on and offline.

Depends what you mean by good domain names.?

If you are talking about domain names that help get you high rankings on the SE then that is not true in most cases.

Earl

 

[ecenica]

What counts more is age. Is your domain age older than the ones in the top spot

When it comes to age. Does Google look at the domain names WHOIS data, or is the age based on the date when Google first indexed the domain name?

^R.

 

[cica]

When it comes to age. Does Google look at the domain names WHOIS data, or is the age based on the date when Google first indexed the domain name?

^R.

I'd be surprised if they use whois a lot. I bet they are more interested in the history of the content. Google doesn't list (and for good reason, they are not relevant) domains that are parked.

 

[laguna]

Register many website variations using those keywords but avoid duplicating your content except maybe your contact info. even then to avoid duplication I would suggest using an image.
Make these new websites interesting and engaging for the reader and write your content compelling enough for them to click over to your main site. If the content is original, Google will like you.
Include links on each of the homepages pointing to your main site but not forgetting outbound links to other related sites too (not competitors) .
Make those links qualified top level domains and include "http://www" avoiding hypers such as CLICK HERE.

A lot of work but best way in my opinion on getting those backlinks!

I held No1 in Google for single word keyword: "moulding" & "molding" both English & American-English spelling from 1995 - 2005 (10 years) using this very tactic and that was hosted with Dixons "Freeserve".