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I think this shows us the power of pre .com keywords in the algo.
Assuming that Blue Widgets is my keyword string, should I just join up and register smartbluewidgets.com? Some of these keyword laden urls look so dumb, you'd think its time for an algo tweak?
Have you checked their backward links? They might all be owned by the same people.....site rings, etc etc etc
>>Home Page
"untitled document" ranks higher than me for a good phrase...but thats because they have a redirect :)
The backward links check was telling - Of the top ten guys who had the keywords in their url, the range of backward links was from 34 to 78 and pr from 4 to 5. I am at #15 with pr6 and 662 backwards links - all from on theme sites.
this is making me bitter :(
Yes.
If keyword url's are helping in the SERP's, then it might be time to consider this as a component of your SEO strategy. (I know I have!)
should I just join up and register smartbluewidgets.com?
Better would be smart-blue-widgets.com?
This is going to be really hard to swallow....
I do well without the hyphens or underbars. Google doesn't seem to have any trouble zeroing in on the phrase "keyword1 keyword2" in keyword1keyword2.com That said, I know some affiliates here doing well with the hypen ...I don't think Google really cares as long as the kws are there.
That checks, in my example, there weren't any hyphens or underscores...
I just cannot duplicate any major change about this isolated factor from here. I monitor many hyphenated domains each month. I did not notice any unusual changes from this factor alone.
Like it has been sayed many times, just keep in mind hyphenated domains are probably promoted by some professionnal SEO guy also fighting on other fronts to improve rankings. Wich explains some people notice they get on top and all the noise beeing made around this.
From what I see from here, it is time to tone down on this rumor of any algo change regarding this perticular component.
Google doesn't seem to have any trouble zeroing in on the phrase "keyword1 keyword2" in keyword1keyword2.com
But perhaps because of the link text? The oft-quoted example of artsexpress.com comes to mind here - where does the engine make the break?
I agree with Macguru that I haven't seen much change with this. But if you are in an area which needs the extra edge, then the impetus from the sites that link by just using the URL may help.
Personally, I don't like the hyphens and think they cause more problems in other ways (phone calls, etc). But, for the original point, it may be this that is making the difference.
So a single link in ODP will get you a granted 5?
I am getting tired of this... ;)
Please take a deep breath and, like stever did, read this thread all over again. Especially the first 2 replies from brotherhood of LAN and pmac.
The keyword in URL has been a pimple on roaches butt for Google from start. It never had any important meaning.
I am sick of getting_serps_that_have_spammy_urls.
What use is hey-look-im-number-one-for widgets.com if people look at it and laugh, but not click?
Who says what spammy urls are? Are all those keywords relevent to the site? I bet they are. It seems to me that if they happen to be in front then they did both their homework and their job and deserve to be rightly rewarded for their work.
How about the guy with "Home Page" for his page title?
The reason is not because they have keywords in their URL.
From brotherhood of LAN :
Have you checked their backward links?
What are the words used in eack anchor text area of links they are getting from other pages?
What is the PR of each of those pages?
How many links go out of each of those pages?
From pmac :
Because the url is flush with keywords, it increases the chances that the anchor text of any incoming links to his "home" page will be also keyword rich.
That is how Google works, the basics : if everybody links to you with "potato" you will score high with "potato" even if it is written only once on your "tomato" page, and even if page title is "Wecome to Adobe GoLive". If people use potato-company.com to link to you (most will) you score another potato point for each links.
If any is interested in digging deeper :
[webmasterworld.com...]
Then
[webmasterworld.com...]
Those links do more than cover the basics. A must read.
[edited by: Macguru at 10:20 pm (utc) on Sep. 5, 2002]
Why does anyone find a problem with this?
[webmasterworld.com...]
Brett says:
Domain name:
Easily brandable. You want "google.com" and not "mykeyword.com". Keyword domains are out - branding and name recognition are in - big time in. The value of keywords in a domain name have never been less to se's. Learn the lesson of "goto.com" becomes "Overture.com" and why they did it.
This thinking has been my marketing branding mantra - my url is not keyword1 etc. - i have worked to get over 650 links from authoritative sites in my market - i have lots of good content and i have worked hard to build a brand.
My achilles heel, though, is that lots of my inbound links aren't keyword rich. I can't control the text that most people use when they link to me. But a guy with a keyword1keyword2.com domain gets keyword rich link text on EVERY inbound link. I am not criticizing people who set up keyword1 urls, I am willing to do it myself if I have to. I just don't want to have to wear the t-shirt ;)
btw I am not talking about my profile domain
why do you think people laugh when they see keyword1-keyword2.com? I doubt many non seo's would laugh, the regular folk probably believe they are going to see what they are looking for and if an se's algorithm is so bad that a page with kw-kw comes up month after month, but does not have relevant content, then the se will probably die sooner than later.
>added< look who hosts this site
To me it makes sense: Create a site name with keywords that are on theme:
chef recipes
Are the keywords used in my domain name, after 14 months of work, I am now ranking for very competative searches and doing very very well with secondary key word searches like:
tuna recipes
Lately I have been branching out with new sites and have continued with this stratagy and my fingers are crossed. While I understand that "long_and_silly_keyword_stuffing" urls look goofy I see nothing wrong with using two or three keywords in a url.
Chef Brian
Just think about it .. It makes perfect sense. If a website is about "widgets" (whatever the hell they are, actually can someone inform me?) then the company would go out of their way to get it in the URL, not for search engine friendlyness, but for user friendlyness, so they should be rewarded for that in some way I think.
Plus the anchor text is really a big bonus. I absolutly love my current domain, its got the 2 best keywords in the world (for my industry) and I think I should be rewarded for taking the time to research the name and get it right.
Also, a webmaster is likely to design a site whereby the pages reflect the contect (as on my site), where each filename identifies the product with good accuracy, but I've not done this to spam or get good search engine results. I did it because
a) it makes it easier for ME to find the pages instantly
b) it makes it easier for VISITORS to identify what the page will be before they even load it ...
Makes perfect sense to me.. I think google handle this aspect perfectly.
"Wedding web design" is quite likely the cheesiest category for keyword-in-the-domain-name url.
<snip>Click here to view these hideously spammy urls
Now, review this <snip> search on Google for the keywords "wedding web design" and you'll see that the first 5 listings aren't even wedding related, much less have the keywords in their domain name.
Number six and nine are maybe halfway spammy, then 7,8 and 10 don't have the word wedding in it.
Now the big question: Where are all those spammy url's that we looked at in dmoz? Nowhere. The keywords didn't help them.
Other factors, on the page and off the page are coming into play with a stronger force than the keyword in the domain. It's a mistake to insist that the keyworded domain has dominance.
Give it a rest. It's not the keyword in the domain name that counts, it's the keyword in the text of links linking into your site, it's the number of links, it's on the page factors, etc.
Quite possibly, your index page may inadevertantly be optimized for the word "home" because of all the inner pages in your web site with text links back to your home page with the word "home" in it.
[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 6:14 am (utc) on Sep. 8, 2002]
1) Find the article more quickly when I want to revise it.
2) Provide the URL off the top of my head if I get an e-mail from somebody that asks, "Can you tell about doughnut shops in Venice"?
(Note to moderator: "doughnut shops in Venice" is not a real-life example; if there are any doughnut shops in Venice, as opposed to bakeries that happen to sell a few doughnuts, I have yet to find them.)
