Domain Names - do they make a difference to SEO?

[mixer25]

Does anyone know if the name of the domain helps get you a higher google ranking that much?

i.e. if I sold sports shoes and my online shop was called www.greenexample.co.uk then would it make it better if the words were spaced with a hyphen, i.e www.green-example.co.uk or if altogether I had a different name i.e www.greenexample.co.uk and the site was keyworded right and meta etc etc etc, would this make that much of a difference?

Thanks

[edited by: Webwork at 11:20 pm (utc) on Feb. 7, 2007]
[edit reason] Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[treeline]

It certainly helps indirectly. When other sites give you links, the text of those links is often influenced by your url. If you've registered bluewidg.com and want incoming link text to say "Free Widgets" it's an uphill battle, but if your url is freewidgets.com then they're likely to link the way you'd like without being asked.

[Tiebreaker]

In my opinion, it makes a significant difference.

I have several domains that rank #1, with zero page rank and without 1 decent link pointed at them - I'm pretty sure that is largely due to the fact that the domain exactly matches the search term.

I think Yahoo and MSN definately give the ranking a boost - google slightly less so

I do have other domains that do not have the target keywords in the domain - and these can easily be made to rank #1 too, but you have to work a little harder and gain incoming links - unless you are working in a very small niche.

BUT - the most important factor, I believe, is something that is often overlooked - the "Clickability Factor"

If you are searching for "blue widgets" and the domain BlueWidgets.com is one of the results in the top 2-3 results - most people are going to click that first.

It's just the most credible and professional looking option.

For this reason alone, I would always try to register the domain TargetPhrase.com - even if it doesn't actually boost the serps placement, it will probably get you double the search engine visitors than GenericName.com - purely because of the clickability factor.

[georgeek]

...if I sold sports shoes and my online shop was called www.greenexample.co.uk then would it make it better if the words were spaced with a hyphen, i.e www.green-example.co.uk or if altogether I had a different name i.e www.greenexample.co.uk

If you are intending to brand your domain name then a go with a neat sounding name like your example greenexample.co.uk.

If branding is not an issue then choose a hyphenated keyword domain like your example green-example.co.uk.

Keywords in non-hyphenated (i.e. concatenated) urls are not indexed by Google or Yahoo and only occasionally by MSN.

[edited by: Webwork at 11:22 pm (utc) on Feb. 7, 2007]
[edit reason] Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[stu2]

Keywords in non-hyphenated (i.e. concatenated) urls are not indexed by Google or Yahoo and only occasionally by MSN.

I think this is blatent misinformation. All search engines will treat the concatenated keywords and the hyphenated keywords in a domain name exactly the same. They are all intelligent enough to separate the word "sport' from the word "shoes", and they all treat a hyphen as a space.

[georgeek]

I think this is blatent misinformation.

I don't do misinformation.

All search engines will treat the concatenated keywords and the hyphenated keywords in a domain name exactly the same.

If you can support that assertion then provide some evidence. Better still send the evidence to Michael Duz because his experiments show the opposite. Search for 'callipygian screak quindecillion' (the words used in the experiment) and its title is 'Keywords in urls'.

They are all intelligent enough to separate the word "sport' from the word "shoes", and they all treat a hyphen as a space.

If space and hyphen were treated the same then a search for 'sport-shoes' and 'sport shoes' would bring up identical serps. Try it.

I will leave it as an exercise for you to determine exactly how and why they differ.

[stu2]

If space and hyphen were treated the same then a search for 'sport-shoes' and 'sport shoes' would bring up identical serps. Try it.

Duh! I'm not talking about a search for "green-example". Nobody put a hyphen in their search. I'm talking about how the search engines index a site with concatenated or hyphenated keywords in the domain name.

[edited by: Webwork at 11:23 pm (utc) on Feb. 7, 2007]
[edit reason] Charter [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[georgeek]

Duh! I'm not talking about a search for "sports-shoes". Nobody put a hyphen in their search. I'm talking about how the search engines index a site with concatenated or hyphenated keywords in the domain name.

Try re-reading my post slowly because I don't have the time or the inclination to explain it further to you. Maybe someone else will oblige.

[Serpent]

It looks like Stu is right.

[edited by: Serpent at 11:10 pm (utc) on Feb. 7, 2007]