New Domain Name?

Change the domain or maintain history?

[Clodbuster]

Howzit everyone, my first thread so I hope you will all bear with me and I look forward to a fruitful association. I've spent some time reading through the postings and gleaned plenty of nuggets. Hopefully you will be able to give me some advice on they way I'm thinking.

I have been trading for 3 years using a domain with my business name dominant. I have got myself to about 11 in Google for the broad product keyword but there are competitors above who use the product keyword as the dominant name in the domain and I have been advised I will get no higher (or unlikely to). When the specific product is searched for I am in the top few.
I am due to change store format from a frame-based store to one not using frames and will transfer in the next few weeks.

So, in your opinion should I purchase a domain name that reflects the trade, switch store formats and start with Google all over again or stick with the current domain and Google history I have developed and see if a frameless site will improve matters?

Thanx in advance.

[edited by: Webwork at 1:01 pm (utc) on Aug. 27, 2008]
[edit reason] Removed "sig" line. [/edit]

[jbinbpt]

Welcome to Webmasterter World Clodbuster,
Enjoy...

A quick opinion is that you don't want to lose what you already have. I would not mess with the current domain much. If you want to switch store formats, go ahead, but major changes may tank the entire site.

Domains are cheap. I would start another site that reflects the trade, without duplicate content, and work on getting that ranking better. Link to your store front from there.

Be very aware of any duplicate content.

[phranque]

welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com], Clodbuster!

the Moving to a New Domain [webmasterworld.com] and maybe the Moving to a Different Domain [webmasterworld.com] threads should be required reading.
you can also find these and additional important threads in the "Google Hot Topics" thread which is always pinned to the top of the Google Search Forum [webmasterworld.com].

[Clodbuster]

Thanx very much, I'm spending time reading thru the posts. Excellent information and the tone of the forum is pleasant as well, so many are decidedly bitchy.

[buckworks]

Google's algo weighs at least 200 factors when deciding how to rank pages, so the domain name is only one factor among many.

Having a product keyword in the domain name might be giving your competitors one small advantage but you can get past it if you do enough other things better than they do.

I agree with jbinbpt ... if you want to experiment with a keyword domain, do it in a way that will support your existing site, not replace it.

[Clodbuster]

Thanx again, just to reinforce what I've been told by other experts, should I ditch the website that is based on frames for one that is frameless? (I don't know what it is called) The frame site is still running as I have not changed over yet, still transferring all the content.

On what you guys suggest I think it is better to retain the history.

[buckworks]

I can think of several reasons to avoid frames, so as long as your new pages are well structured the overall effects of changing to pages without frames should be positive.

Take great care with how you handle URL changes, though. Do everything you can to get old links updated where appropriate, and be sure to set up proper 301 redirects from the old URLs to the equivalent new pages.

[Clodbuster]

Many thanx, I'm now head is now clearer than I was a few days ago. The 301 redirects are incorporated in the upgrade.

All the best.