Starting a new site. Keyword in title? Anything else for new site?

[serengeti]

I am about to start a new website that I am certain will do well based on the unique content and forum I have in mind for the site. However, I am not able to purchase the best domain names. Even second best ones are taken for the most part.

Suppose my site is about a subject "abcdef".

If I got a domain name such as this:

abcdefforum.com

does google recognize the "abcdef" as distinct from the "forum"? Or should I purchase abcdef-forum.com?

Even if google has stopped giving importance to keywords in the site/domain name, I would still like the keyword in the title.

Also, if I end up having a forum on the site, it might be located at abcdefforum.com/forum. Bit strange to have two "forum" words in there, but at the moment, the forum is the most important part of my idea for the site and since I can't get domain names like abcdef.com, I am thinking of getting abcdefforum.com.

[FranticFish]

Having a relevant keyword in the domain name is still something I'd consider, but is there no way to combine that and your take on the niche to come up with a 'keyword brand'?

What do you expect people to do on the site? Can you combine an action word that describes this with the keyword - or a descriptive word (indicator of quality, further definition of what you offer) - to come up with something?

If it's a forum the extra word(s) could be 'talk', 'focus', 'chat', 'discuss', 'spotlight' etc.

[webmarketingxpert]

I would suggest trying something unique mixture of words. Using keywords in the domain good but today what matters most is what your site is all about, how well it helps users in understanding it and navigating. Good inter-linking, proper mentions of required links and resources. As Matt Cutts has said to focus on good Title tag and description and rest will follow.

Thanks

[ZydoSEO]

There is no need to get the hyphenated version of the domain. If your domain is abcdefforum.tld then the engines will be able to figure out that it's "abcdef forum". Plus, other sites will end up linking to your with "abcdef forum" as the link text.

Personally, I would not include forum in the name unless the entire site is the forum.

[LostOne]

You could use other terms instead of forum. I agree with the above. I have a message board/forum where the name is abcdeftalk.com with two keywords included. No problem with ranking for forum or message board. Never optimized for it either. Semi competitive industry with a half dozen similar. It even does good with The Gorg! But as things happen today, it's probably a matter of time it gets whacked by some update.