1 Keyword Phrase - New Project

Keyword in domain name?

[jdhuk]

My second attempt at SEO, my first a disaster as i chose a domain that turned out to be expired so this time i want to research much more before i waste weeks of work again.

I'm looking to get a good listing for 1 KW phrase (the other KW's for this project are to competitive and i don't stand much chance of competing against the top 10 positions that are listed in G.

So, for this KW phrase would buying the domain with the KW in help?

Unfortunately thiskeywordphrasehasgone.com but this-key-word-phrase.com is available. 3 hyphens here so OK or bad?

Use this KW in the title, description and sprinkle in the body text 10 times in a total of about 500 words for that page.

Of course then get some inbound links.

Would this be seen as spam? What are your thoughts?

Thanks very much in advance

[treeline]

Lots of sites like that seem to do well on searches. So at least for now, if you're just looking for search traffic it might work. It's very difficult to tell a friend/customer that domain name over the phone, plus hard for them to type in, so it wouldn't be great in that respect.

[pageoneresults]

Be careful, if the first domain (non-hyphenated) has an operating business and you launch a similar site with a hyphened domain, you may have some issues to contend with.

One element that makes a good listing is company name. You may want to start a dba and make sure your primary word is in the business name. Then get a little more creative with your domain name selection.

[PatrickDeese]

Try using keyword +adjective .com - stuff like:

bestwidget
greatwidgets
widgetpro
widgetpros
prowidgets
allwidgets
everywidget
widgetguy
widgetguys

etc etc.

If all you want is one word, surely with a little creativity you can find an unused/never used .com domain.

I have gone both ways with dash domains - but it is obvious that both G & Y! now recognize keywords anywhere within the URL (because they are put in bold face in the SERPS) - so I would, in general, avoid multiple-dash-domain-name.com if I could.

[edited by: PatrickDeese at 5:58 pm (utc) on Dec. 22, 2004]

[TNJed]

I never go over 2 hyphens and they work well for me. Don't know about 3 though. I think 3 is overkill and the same can be accomplished with just 2. With 3 hyphens you are wanting 4 keywords in your url. It can't be that specific. Try coming up with a 3 word combo and then pick up the 4th within your text and titles.

Getting specific URLs with keywords is nice and can work well but don't block yourself out from potential tangent products by being too specific right out of the gate with your url.

[pageoneresults]

These days I would stray away from hyphenated URIs and that is just my perspective. That does not represent others who frequent WebmasterWorld. I look at it more from a branding standpoint than anything else.

Here is a short case study...

Client comes on board with me. This is their very first website. They have a company name already but it does not tell the consumer anything about their business, no tagline, no nothing, just a company name that is indiscriminate.

I convince the client to start a dba using his primary two word phrase. We were easily able to find a domain with that primary two word phrase and just added his company name at the beginning which is just one word. So, we ended up with a 3 word domain, fairly short and without hyphens.

Within 90 days after launching his campaign, he was #1, #2 in the major directories and pulling excellent results in the free search engines.

Remember, both Yahoo! and the ODP list by company name as the title link. Those two links alone are worth quite a bit in the overall benefits of search engine optimization.

And, having a company name that starts at the beginning of the alphabet puts you higher up in the alpha listings. This also has a benefit especially if you are in a category that is not highly populated and the category contains your primary keyword and/or phrase.

On top of that, your title contains your primary keyword and/or phrase. Get the picture? ;)

[jdhuk]

Rather then not replying and seeming ungrateful I would like to thank you all for your valuable and helpful comments. They have steered me in the right direction for this new project.

Thanks