How to proceed after accidentally misspelling a domain name
-
Hi guys,
I was looking to create a nice microsite and was using the Keyword Analysis tool to help find some good ideas.
The problem is that I didn't know how to spell the item I was curious about. When I typed in the wrong spelling, it gave a pretty good result, so I went ahead and bought the domain and started thinking about content.
Now I have a domain with a bad name. The correct spelling domain is ranked through the ozone and there's no chance I can compete with those guys.
What do I do? Give up on the domain? I'm thinking to go ahead and continue outlining my site as if the domain had the correct spelling all along. But I confused over whether the home page should rank for the correct or incorrect spelling.
Any help would be great.
-
Thanks!
That's what I was thinking. The pages should rank just the same as always. But the domain name will probably never rank, even though SEOMoz shows 18K people searching for it under the misspelling every month.
Perhaps other search engines besides Google might pick it up. Never know.
-
If you're going for an exact match domain but you misspelled the keyword, I don't really see the point of continuing to use it.
Are there people still searching for your misspelling? Does Google autocorrect the misspelling? (chances are it does) These are factors to consider. It also might deter people from visiting your site if the fact that it's a misspelling makes it look like spam.
Of course you can still rank for the keyword your targeting. Exact match domains are no sure bet anyway, plus any domain can theoretically rank for any term.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does Exact Match Domain really works?
Hey!
Keyword Research | | ayofztk
I heard that exact match domain is helpful in ranking over popular keywords. I have two websites Tech Crunch SmallSEOTools My question is, will it be helpful to rank over Tech Crunch and SmallSEOTools, respectively?0 -
Is 11k-30k search traffic too high for a small blog with low domain authority to compete for? Is competition all that matters?
Trying to decide on a keyword phrase for my next post. One of the two phrases I'm deciding between has 100x more traffic but the priority is wayyy higher and the competition is just one point higher (54 vs 53). I'm hesitant to write on a post that gets 11k-30k monthly volume however b/c it just seems like too much traffic for a small blog with a domain authority of only 18 to compete with. But if the competition is nearly the same and the priority is higher, should I go for it anyway? I generally go for things with lower traffic thinking I will be able to better compete. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Omniafunction1 -
When is it wrong to use a competitors brand name?
I recently started with a company who've benefited from using a competitors brand name to explain why theirs is superior. They're not wrong and neither have they been derogatory, however they have had significant traffic to their website using the competitors branded search terms. I'm concerned Google will penalise us for this (if so can you point me to case studies/similar examples), or am I worrying unnecessarily?
Keyword Research | | LJHopkins0 -
Brand Name Keyword Stuffing
I'm targeting Roho Cushions and the category page has many products starting with Roho underneath it. I know the keyword "Roho" shows up at least 70 times. I'm not targeting the keyword Roho, but could this negatively effect the rest of my keywords that start with Roho, such as "Roho Wheelchair Cushions"?
Keyword Research | | Mike.Bean0 -
Two domains, a .ca and .com, for one company
Hey we are looking for some advice on this. We have two online shopping carts, a .ca and .com for our Canadian and American customers. The information on both is obviously very similar in both content and display, with just pricing, shipping information etc. being different. Does anyone have any feedback regarding how Google would view this? The domains are the same, ie. walmart.com and walmart.ca so would Google recognize this and not penalize us for having two identical sites or would it be penalizing us and should we be going about this in a different manner? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | absoauto0 -
3 (similar) keywords - 3 (similar) domains - best strategy?
Hi all! I've got head scratcher here, your input would be super valuable! We have these 3 exact match domains. FloatTank.ca
Keyword Research | | BrightIdeas
IsolationTank.ca
SensoryDeprivationTank.ca The domains are all 3 different ways of saying the exact same thing - and each of the 3 keywords have roughly the same amount of traffic. Right now we are just providing information on Float Tanks / Isolation Tanks / Sensory Deprivation Tanks, their benefits are and how to use them, where to find a location etc. Do you have any strategies or advice considering the current domains and the points below? The content on each site would be VERY SIMILAR, as they are all talking about the same thing, "floating". Any suggestions for this? We want to (sometime in the near future) create a branded website. ie. FloatNation.ca in which we rank for all 3 of the above terms. Should we spin content for each site, and then create a 301 down the road to our main domain? Your input is appreciated! All the best,
Bright.0 -
Domain Suggestion Tool?
Does anyone know of a good domain suggestion tool? I've tried some of them, but wasn't happy with the results. I'd basically like to put in some key words, and get some suggetions. Thanks.
Keyword Research | | NoahsDad0 -
Should we change our site domain name to include our keyword?
Our niche has one keyword phrase that is much, much more active than any other comparable phrase. Let's call that phrase "math problems". Within this phrase, the "math" is absolutely the most important keyword, as it is also used in every spin-off search phrase, like "math answers", "math practice", etc. We've had our domain since 1996, and is currently the company name - "Rocketproblems.com". Over the last year (2010-2011) our SERPs have steadily dropped to the point where we're not getting a sustainable level of business from organic search, whereas in 2009 we were doing fantastic. However, we've also had "Rocketmathproblems.com" since about 2000, just gathering dust. What I've noticed from the top search results is that nearly every domain has either "math" or "math problems" in its URL. Do you think it's worth it to switch to the keyword-rich URL? It is a bit more verbose, and the "Rocketmathproblems.com" v.s. "Rocketproblems.com" example perfectly captures the different feeling. My inclination is that SEO is only becoming more competitive, and if we aren't getting worthwhile business from organic search at the moment then we should bite the bullet and make the switch for the future, along with ramping up our content generation. However, I also noticed that in late 2009 a previous webmaster switched to "Rogermath.com" but switched back within a month when our SERP for the key phrase was a page lower - I gleaned this from a Moz Juicy Keywords Report :). Thoughts?
Keyword Research | | ACann0