domain names with keywords

I know this subject has been thrashed to death but ...

[Andy_White]

entries in the search results seem to suggest that any benefit gained from this would be short lived.

I have a new client who has a perfectly good (unused) domain name reflecting his company name
(firstcompanyname-secondcompanyname.com)which tells you nothing about his profession.
When I search on google using his profession as the only keyword the top 10 all have the keyword in the domain name.

I could buy him firstcompanyname-secondcompanyname-profession.com but I'd be interested to hear if anyone has any up to date insight into how google is dealing with this.

Cheers

Andy

[tigger]

Maybe short lived, but its working now use it, I've got quite a few clients that are using keyword domains that are ranking very well, if it changes I'll then consider alternatives

[takagi]

A three-word domain with 1 keyword is not as successful as a one-word domain with the same keyword. And what about printing the URL on a business card, or using it in an add. Do you think people will be willing to enter a very long domain name? And will they be able to do so without a typo?

[mil2k]

takagi has some good points :)

If you are interested then try something along the lines of keyword1-keyword2.com or .net or .org .But that should be your secondary website and a full fledged one. If you try to make a dummy site with no Back end and then try to feed traffic from the Keyword rich domain site to your primary site there might be loss of visitors. HTH :)

[DaveN]

You will be fine.

what abot AOL's -> time-to-read.com

sometime dashes make all the difference take is example

therapist.com

the-rapist.com

dave

[Andy_White]

I agree with you about the domain name on the business card it might look a bit naff with xxxxxx-xxxxx-profession.com

Would there be any benefit in seting up the index.html to redirect to www.xxxxxxxx-xxxxxxxxx.com/profession/index.html
and having the site sit one level down in a specific directory.

[vincevincevince]

profession.domain.com as the URL that you SEO

www.domain.com / domain.com as the URL you distribute (business cards, letterheads, etc)

301 www. -> profession.

Similar to the above but without the PR drop for the /subdir/ etc...

[Andy_White]

Vince,

That's an interesting idea, would google index to my advantage with profession.xxxxxx-xxxxx.com and if so why aren't more people doing it.
I've used this myself to meet a specific requirement but had not imagined it could aid in SEO.

[vincevincevince]

Andy, I don't have evidence for it working, but on the basis of keyword-in-domain working I don't see why it shouldn't.

I'd be most interested in anyoneelse's opinion on this?

[dotbiz]

I heard that Ink. does not like subdomains, so you may have difficulty to be indexed by Ink. and get MSN traffic.

[wackmaster]

Andy_White,

Ten different players will give you ten different opinions. Here's one more for your stew...

If your client is really running a business with a brandable name and he intends to brand it (i.e., with a recognizable logo, store presence, advertising, mail or any combination of the myriad ways there are to brand a company/product), then by all means go with the company name as the url. A year or two from now you'll be glad you did.

If nine-tenths of the business, however, is the Web site, and it's highly dependent upon traffic from Google's SERP's, then the simplest and most foolproof way is probably best: firstcompanyname-secondcompanyname-profession.com. Or, some entities, especially those that rely mainly on Web traffic, don't restrict themselves to making the company name and the Web site URL match...if you get my drift.

wack

[Tony_Perry]

If it's a very competetive area, like financial serrvices then it WILL make a difference. I have a client using a 4 keyword domain and this has helped keep him page 1 for over a year.

[manilla]

<And what about printing the URL on a business card, or using it in an add.>

Andy - just for what its worth, I'd register:

www.your-long-winded-company-name-that-you-hope-will-work.co.uk to appeal to your internet customers, and SEO this domain.

Also I'd register www.thecompany.com to print on business cards and use in advertisements, but point this domain (napping) to the other. People finding you on the internet will see the long winded name, but people typing you in the address bar will see the shorter one.

[Skylo]

"then by all means go with the company name as the url. A year or two from now you'll be glad you did.

If nine-tenths of the business, however, is the Web site, and it's highly dependent upon traffic from Google's SERP's, then the simplest and most foolproof way is probably best: firstcompanyname-secondcompanyname-profession.com. Or, some entities, especially those that rely mainly on Web traffic, don't restrict themselves to making the company name and the Web site URL match...if you get my drift.

wack"

There we go! Our business is totally dependant on traffic, conversions and ROI. We made the decision 3 years ago to go with our brand name as the url. You know what now we have 12 sites selling the same concept but totally different content. All associated with our 1st site but totally stand alone sites. We are top 3 of all the imporatnt keywords. The big boys are now worried about what we are doing and we have recieved many an offer from them to purchase the business. But back to my point, all our competitors know us now and our brand name is hugely respected in the industry.
But it all started with 1st site and the brand name it was selling.
It sits on the top of the most important keyword serp still serving as the mothership;-)

Happy surfing
Skye

(P.S. sorry don't want to sound like I am bragging it is just that I am trying to prove how important straight out promotion of your brand can be:)