keyword-loaded-domains.com

...if anything is the opposite of spam...!

[chowcat]

Looking through the posts regarding the August 2002 Google update, there seem to be loads mentioning the fact that keywords-in-domains.com seem to be ranking highest in the SERPS. Is this a bad thing? IMHO I'd say no. At least if it does play a significant role in the placing of your site, it has to be coupled with keywords in the title, links and content of the site itself. A keyword loaded domain name on its own won't cut it.

Therefore what you end up with, which is obviously what the hard working people at Google set out to achieve, is a SERP that is totally and uterly relevant to the "search term".... which equals happy Google User. :)

It makes it harder for people like ourselves to "brand" a site with a unique and memorable name, but what is it Google are after? Branded sites on the first SERP or happy punters? I'd opt for the second.

Which brings me to the question....

Does anyone know how Google would look upon a domain name that read for example: widgets-cheap-widget.com, using in effect 2 main keywords in one domain name, being "widgets cheap" and "cheap widget".

Any feed back would be grately appreciated. Bearing in mind I wouldnt be trying to fool any search engine as the content itself would be about "cheap widgets" and nothing else.!

[rfgdxm1]

>Does anyone know how Google would look upon a domain name that read for example: widgets-cheap-widget.com, using in effect 2 main keywords in one domain name, being "widgets cheap" and "cheap widget".

Because "widget" and "widgets" are 2 different search terms, likely you'd get benefit for both.

[chowcat]

Thanks.... so even if all you are doing is pluralising a search term, its looked upon as a different term. Thats what I was trying to clarify.

[rfgdxm1]

However, I see an obvious problem with a domain name like widgets-cheap-widget.com if you are hoping the name will stick in the mind of customers. The may remember it as widget-cheap-widgets.com and get a 404, or the name just not stick in their mind at all. Keeping it more simple like cheap-widgets.com might make more sense, and lard the home page with "widget" hoping that will get it to come up high on search engines.

[chowcat]

..In my situation, I don't think I'd get a huge amount of return traffic anyway, so that wouldn't matter. And I'm not saying that a well branded website can't be full of 100% key phrase relevant content, I just think its an easier way for Google to reduce the extent to which a site can be spammed, by giving more "points" to a domain name that contains the keywords that the site is targetting.

Any way I've taken the plunge and I'll use the widgets-cheap-widget.com domain name and let you all know if it is a big no no. :)

[dukeblue219]

I've noticed after the latest update that my site (see profile), which is a great keyword loaded domain, is doing much better in the SERPS. I think it is a generally good idea for Google to weight keywords in domains, because something like algebrahelp.com or majorleaguebaseball.com should come up near the top for those searches.

Perhaps there should be some sort of system where if the content is considered relevant and the site has a good PR, then the domain counts extra, but a site with no relevancy would not get a bonus for the domain.

What I mean, is that a search for "mousepads" would give a bonus to mousepads.com only if the site is relevant to mousepads. If someone used mousepads.com as a porn site, then it wouldn't get any bonus for being loaded with keywords.