does the domain name play any part in keyword searches...? simple example: let's say you have a site on mustard (lol)... would it make a difference if your domain was named mustardmaker.com or mustardking.com versus a random name like vanillabean.com? This is all in regards to Google searches and results. So if I type in 'mustard' would those first domains mentioned above rank higher before the vanillabean.com site (even though they all contain the exact same content [about mustard]), or is it all about the actual content? Basically, will a domain name help the site to be ranked higher in searches because of the actual name of the site? i hope i make sense!

I'm guessing it will matter. As google will probably see by domain name that your site is concentrated about this subject, and if your content is also good then I'm pretty sure you will get better rank.

For example. If you search "Game Cheats", and probably there's tons of sites that are concentrated on this, you get 3 pages of sites which all contain "Game" or "Cheat" in their domain or at least sub-domain. After that there came one site which didn't, but this one had "Cheats" as directory name..

I don't know it 100%, but I'm guessing domain name will matter a little. Cant be too big influence though.

EDIT: Also, in firefox, and I think also in latest IE - when you type into address-bar something like "Rotten Tomatoes" then it will automatically search it from Google. I use it, and I'm sure a lot of people use it as well to search Google. Now, if you make a site www.rottentomatoes.com and slowly start to build your Google rank up, then apparently if someone searches "Rotten Tomatoes" from address-bar, then Google will automatically direct them to your site, which can give you a lot of good traffic. This would only work with terms that people search a lot.

For example, at least in firefox, if you type "Bike Guide" or even "Bike guid" to your firefox address bar it would direct you to www.bikeguide.org, now if I check "Rotten Tomatoes" which I randomly chose as example, also directs you to site "www.rottentomatoes.com" which is apparently Movies/Games Review/Preview site, same with "Flowering help" which points you to www.thegardenhelper.com . But if you type in for example "Potato gun" it will just go to Google and search term "Potato Gun" and give you all the results, because there is no GOOD site, which has similar domain. There is "Potatogun.com" put that's just this stupid domain-reservation site, inputting "Website Babble" will also direct you to Google.. don't know why, as this site will come as first result, and has Google rank "3", same as bike guide..


Like I said, I'm not sure but it seems that domain name does matter..

Hi digital321,

Forget about Google for a minute and think about your human visitors. If you had a site about mustard and named it vanilla bean visitors would be expecting content related to vanilla beans rather than mustard. Once they saw the site was about mustard they would leave and never return.

A good domain name should be relevant and descriptive of the websites content!

As far as Google is concerned the domain name is just one piece of the SEO puzzle. My thinking is; the more pieces I have , the closer I am to solving the puzzle.

So yes I recommend using keywords in domain names.

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Greg
Choosing a Domain Name
Small Business Website Development

Hey Greg,
I just used mustard and vanilla beans as examples. To make it easier, let's scratch vanillabeans.com and say 'virtualexample.com'... if both had the same content, would a keyword in the domain make any difference in Google ranking or even traffic?

Thanks!

Hi digital321,

I understand they were examples.

Say you have two identical websites about vanilla beans the only difference is the domain names. One has the domain name vanillabeans.com and the other has the domain name JohnsPlaceForDeals.com. If you were searching for vanilla beans and these two names came up in the serp's which would you click on first?

Like I said the domain name should be descriptive of the website content. This is true for both the human visitor and the search engine spiders.

Again, as far as Google is concerned the domain name is just one piece of the SEO puzzle. My thinking is; the more pieces I have , the closer I am to solving the puzzle.

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Greg
Choosing a Domain Name
Small Business Website Development

...good point Greg. Thanks alot for the advice!

Yeah i think it does make a difference you cant have something completely random but it is possible if you have a great traffic intake as you are bound to rank high i guess its just a matter of preying to 'Google Bot'

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Yeah...You would have a problem with me. As I said in one of my other posts, I am a skimmer. When I google, I sometimes look at the domain name first then the description. So even if you were #1, you would miss me. I'm sure I'm not the only one who does that....am I?

Yes, the domain name definitely has a big part in the search engine listings. Just go ahead and do some searches and you'll see. Sometimes, sites even get listed because of domain names and they really don't even have much relevant content.

But, I don't recommend the no relevant content part because that won't keep your visitors there.

Definitely do some serious brainstorming and research before you go ahead and register your domain name cuz your stuck with it.

Sheree

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I found out the other day from my post in webmasters - google groups, that yes it does matter, also the names of your pages eg. a site on blue ice creams.

If the page was called blue.html it doesn't rank as high however if you call it blue-ice-creams.html you are more likely to be picked up with all these factors, getting the domain name you want is another story i have to wait another year before my dream domain is dropped into the 'pool' again!

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