Hyphenated keyword rich domains - is a hyphenated .co.uk better than a non-hyphenatedlesser TLD such as .org?
-
Hey there, Would anyone be kind enough to share their experience of using keyword rich hyphenated domains. Are they as effective at tanking as non hyphenated domains?
i.e would it be better to get a lesser non-hyphenated TLD such as .org for example rather than a hyphenated co.uk?
-
Carlos, thanks for taking the time, appreciated.
-
Here's some old posts that might help you further...
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-choose-the-right-domain-name http://www.seomoz.org/blog/rules-of-domain-name-selection http://www.seomoz.org/q/how-much-weight-does-google-give-to-exact-match-domains
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/exact-match-domains-are-far-too-powerful-is-their-time-limited You can see in the last post by Rand (2010) compared to the first link (2005) how things may have changed.
I am not sure what other views are on it now in 2012 - but again - I would always look at it as if I was creating a business first and not just a website. Go for the brandable non-hyphenated non spammy option.
-
Based on our experience I would I would stay away from keyword stuff over hyphenated domains. We have had better results going with brandable types names and just concentrating on content and other elements of SEO. If you are talking about a website with a UK audience I would stick to .co.uk unless of course it is some kind of org or charity etc.
If you do want to get keywords in the domain - then go for it - just don't go over the top to make it so spammy that you get penalized for it and you also don't need the hyphens. The keywords can get parsed in the domain without the separators.
Keywords in domains might have weight this year.... (again) - but next year after the herds have milked it to death (again) - they may not be given much weight... and on and on. I am sure I saw some study on SEOMoz some years back on this though (in terms of keyword rich domains versus no-keyword rich domains).
I think if it were me I would always lean on the side of creating a brand first - a business.... one that wasn't reliant on the swings and rollercoaster ride of the Search Engine algo's.
Do that, think about what the content is going to be - and your audience and your traffic will work itself out in spades no matter what your domain is.
Carlos
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
-
How we can rank two keywords
Here is my example. I developed a property inspection app, where the keyword I try to rank is property inspection app, and property inspection software. Property Inspection Software got slightly more traffic than app. I would like to rank both of this keyword high for my main website, but there is only one title, one H1 tag I can use to have keyword, where if I use "App" there is no way to have "Software" on the title, etc. How can I deal with such a case? Any help will be appreciate.
On-Page Optimization | | terrysun0 -
Rich Snippet Not Appearing? Why?
I run a price comparison website and am trying to get merchant name, product name and price appearing in SERPS I have used the Google Structured Data tool and after initally receiving some errors, I was able to remove the errors and ended up with what I thought would be my ticket for awesome looking SERPS. Here is a link to the Google tool with one of my products; Does anyone see any issues? http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/richsnippets?q=http%3A%2F%2Fcdkeyprices.com%2Fproduct%2FBatman-Arkham-Origins-CD-Key The product from my site used in that tool is http://cdkeyprices.com/product/Batman-Arkham-Origins-CD-Key Any ideas?
On-Page Optimization | | MrPenguin0 -
The seomoz on page keyword analysis tool is not showing title or keyword in document
the SEOMOZ onpage analysis tool is not not showing title or keyword for any page in one of my sites. It says there are no title elements on my page and there are, i checked the source code myself and they are there and correct. my title and keywords are in there and show up fine in firefox and internet explorer even after i refresh them. why would this tool show them as missing in one of my sites but not others? I'm worried that google's spider might not see them if the on page analyzer doesn't see them and my rankings might drop. they showed up the other day in the seomoz on page analyzer just fine and i haven't changed anything. Thanks mozzers!
On-Page Optimization | | Ron100 -
Optimizing for two keywords
Hi there, my question is: I need to optimze two pages related to almost the same concept but different orientations. One keyword is "emocional intelligence development" and the other word is "emocional intelligence workshops" I can't mix the two pages in one unique page due to web strucutre reasons. Is it possible to optimize each web for each keyword independently although they have the concept emotional intelligence in common? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
How long before I give up on a keyword
Making the assumption that all "controllable" factors are done correctly, and your DA and PA are competitive, is there a good rule of thumb on how long I should give a keyword before I try for a different keyword if I'm unable to break the first page on the Google's SERP?
On-Page Optimization | | ChadEdwardJ0 -
Keyword stuffing ?
howdy people, I had a quick question about keyword stuffing. I am creating a page on my website and on the page i am going to have multiple links, around 15 or so. they all have the word "pickup line" which will be hyperlinked to the respected page. this page is going to serve as a sort of directory to all the various pick up lines, "cheesy", "funny", "dirty" etc. I have written some content on this page as well. I wanted to know that since the keyword "pickup" line will be showing up a lot ( in hyper link form) will this be considered keyword stuffing? for this page
On-Page Optimization | | david3050 -
Keyword reversal
Suppose you want a page in your website to rank for a two word phrase like "red wagon". So you create a page mywebsite.com/redwagon.html and optimize it for "red wagon". Suppose the domain name redwagon.com is taken, but the domain name wagonred.com is available. Is it possible to take advantage of the available domain name wagonred.com to improve the rank of mywebsite.com/redwagon.html?
On-Page Optimization | | ChristopherGlaeser0 -
Keyword Optimization
I optimized this site filmeonlinenoi.com witch is in romanian for this keyphrase "filme online gratis" , i stuck on page 2, i cant get to the first page! I was, but i fall again to the second page...
On-Page Optimization | | Alexsmenaru0