How Important Is Domain Name Selection For Search Engine Ranking?
I often get asked this question and I would like to open up a discussion with you regarding domain name selection in relation to search engine ranking. In my experience, I feel that the domain name you choose can strongly influence the keywords you rank for in Google. I know that this isn’t always the case, because there are plenty of popular blogs that have odd names, that rank for keywords that aren’t found in their domain name.
The difference I see though is with popularity and backlinks pointing back to these more popular sites. For me, I build very low traffic and low key niche sites. Just about every web site that I build has a domain name with the primary keywords in it that I am targeting. Typically it doesn’t take very long to rank for the keyword phrase I am targeting. Within that, I will also rank for many relevant keyword phrases based off the primary keyword phrase due to me writing content that specifically targets these other phrases.
All in all, I have had and continue to have great success with doing this. With that said, I’ll admit, I have never tried to target keyword phrases using a domain name that didn’t match up with the primary keyword phrase I target. So I can’t say for sure that what I am doing is truly a legitimate tactic or strategy. That is why I wanted to carry on a discussion with you about it. I’d like to know your opinion on how important do you think domain name selection is for search engine ranking? Share your feedback and opinions using the comment form below.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:27 am
I think some times it does come down to the name of the domain. But it also comes down to how you link your websites to other domains that google ranks. More times your domain shows up on other sites the better your ranking will be.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:34 am
Domain name has nothing to do with your search engine ranking and that can be proven by looking at any website.
Look at your own blog, you know that you can rank for a key phrase by just writing a post about something. Once that post gets indexed you start to see search engine traffic.
When I do a search on Google I always look at the title of the web page first, the description of that content and then the domain name. Even if the domain name is something quite odd I will still click through. Digg, Technorati, Squidoo, HubPages…..and so on, all of those receive traffic from the search engines. Why? Because of what is shown in the title and description of that particular web page. The only reason why I do check the domain name is to look for authority websites. Because of my knowledge of the net I can tend to figure out that a Wikipedia article ranking in 4th position will likely provide me with great information compared to some random site ranking in 1st position.
However, I don’t believe this to be the same for most web searchers. They don’t know the difference from Wikipedia and a random site. All that they look at is the title of the web page and possibly the description.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:38 am
IMO, it doesn’t necessarily need that the keyword you target is in the domain name. What matter is the relevant and quality content in your website. Another thing is, domain name extension doesn’t matter. Even if you have .info it will rank good in search engines. Domain extension only matters in trust of readers. Readers will definitely trust more .com domains rather than .info domains.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:51 am
I’m going to have to agree with Garry on this one, although Jarret does bring up some good points (for a boy xox Jarret
) I have found that domains with keywords in the title do rank FASTER and with less effort. Now this is not necessarily due to Google’s recognition of the keyword in the domain, but certainly as a result of back links containing that keyword.
I think it’s also important to keep something in mind; when comparing websites based on their domains in comparison to their SER, it’s important to remember that heavier traffic’d sites (such as garryconn.com or digg) are obviously ranked higher based on factors other than keywords.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:05 am
I don’t have much experience outside of micro-niches, where I often rank by being one of maybe 10 people with a specific phrase. I just thought it would be fun to get in between BrilliantJeni and Jarret.
November 12th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Garry’s right, even if there are too many R’s in his name. I believe the affect would be minimal, but it certainly exists. Case in point, take a site with little content and search part of the domain–unless it’s an ultra crowded category, it should appear somewhere in results. My question is, what if someone used off-spelling domains…would Google suggest a correction and/or would you be at the top of the list?
November 12th, 2008 at 4:49 am
I’m leaning towards the fact that a keyword-rich domain name isn’t necessarily the single most important factor for higher search engines ranking.
Yes, it may help to a certain extent but without it, we could still rank higher for our primary keywords if you could get enough backlinks pointing to it.
A case in point is carlocab.com which has consistently ranked in the top 5 for “make money online”. It goes the same for garryconn.com…;)
So I’m pretty much with everyone here.
Yan
November 12th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Yeah man…I agree that I think it makes some difference. Especially when you’re building niche sites and the main idea is to get search engine traffic and not necessarily become a popular site.
I’ll continue to do it, just because it seems like a great thing to do and more often than not it seems to help a site get ranked for that keyword.
November 12th, 2008 at 6:46 am
Garry;
At the end of the day, when you do a search, it is pretty clear that Google computes a score for your page and puts the ten pages with the highest score on page one.
Because of the reasons that you mentioned, it is pretty clear that domain name is not the most important factor (wikipedia is the best example I can think of). However, it makes sense to me that it would be considered.
So, in the case of a tie — all other SEO factors being the same — the better domain name should win.
Now there are never really ties. But if you are creating thousands of niche pages on hundreds of domains, it make sense to me that choosing good domain names would help in the long run.
Also, this helps the user experience. It is natural to have a domain name that matches what you are searching for. I think it also helps increase your clickthrough rate from Google. If the user sees their phrase in your domain name, I think they are more likely to choose your site from the SERPS on the page.
Like you, I have no actual data, but choosing SEO-optimized domain names makes sense to me.
Regards,
Mark
November 12th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Finding a good keyword rich domain name can be challenging in more competitive niches.HoweverIf you can find a keyword rich domain name that has your keyword or phrase in it then do it.
It’s true of course that you can rank for your keywords by properly optimizing your website but it will be much easier if you are able to find a good keyword rich domain name. Also if you are in a very competitive field you will still need to get backlinks.
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May 5th, 2010 at 3:49 am
.I agree that I think it makes some difference. Especially when you're building niche sites and the main idea is to get search engine traffic and not necessarily become a popular site.
June 11th, 2010 at 8:50 am
it will be much easier if you are able to find a good keyword rich domain name. Also if you are in a very competitive field you will still need to get backlinks.
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