Keyword domain usage
-
Hi
I have a client who wants some advice on the following and I haven't come up with anything decent yet. So wanted to throw it out here.
They own a domain like soccershoes.com which also houses their web site. They have now bought ussoccershoes.com because this US based search term is more popular than simply soccer shoes.
How can they utilise this new domain effectively to drive traffic to their main web site?
Thanks for any input.
-
Thank you Eli.
-
Thank you Peter. That all makes sense!
-
That is awesome, nice work.
All of my sites are on domains like that. It gives me energy to work on a great domain.
As for ussoccershoes.com. I would probably keep it registered so nobody else got it.... but there are so many others that they could register like greatsoccershoes.com kickasssoccershoes.com....
I would probably let it expire and use the saved money to buy beer.
-
Jake,
I completely agree with Peter. We used to buy keyword domains all the time - and it worked well - until about 6 months ago. We own counseling practices, so we bought many [city]+counseling.com domains for really cheap.
A year ago, those ranked on Google in top 5 spots within 2 months of purchasing and building out the site. Now, you cannot find those keyword domains anywhere, unless, like Peter said, they already had domain authority. The domains we had been working on for years are still fine, but starting with a new keyword domain now is like starting with just an ordinary domain.
Eli
-
Hi Jake
Depending on how long they have had their current domain (i.e. the one like soccershoes.com), then it may be better to focus their attention in optimising some of the pages on that site for US market.
One of the ranking factors for a site is the domain's authority which in part is based on its age. For a new domain there is no authority to start with, so if the existing domain they have is older and is already online and earning authority then concentrate on that one. The other domain they have just bought can then be redirected to the existing one, but there isn't any great SEO value in doing that.
Exact match domains like ussoccershoes.com used to be a quick route to target being ranked for search terms but because they have, Google is not paying so much attention now to ranking them well, especially when they are new domain. That isn't to say it wouldn't be possible to rank a site like that for the search term, but at the end of the day it comes down to having lots of good unique content for the keywords you are targeting.
I hope that helps,
Peter
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
-
Sudden ranking Hike For domain
Hello there, I have domain Which got penalized By google Before 2 nd half years & all First Page Ranking Gone Down by 7-8 pages, But Now It got Sudden up after 3 years, So my Question is Will I need Worry or that Can Be Positive Sign For My efforts Given to Website? Will It stay Up?? As i have Updated My website As Told by Moz experts. Thanx, in advance
Technical SEO | | innovative10030 -
Links from a nonexistent domain, what do we do?
Our website is receiving 15 links that I believe are negatively impacting us. The problem is, this website linking to us no longer exists. The domain is not even hosted. The website linking to us is: thepurpleelephantboutique . com/ How do we fix/resolve this issue?
Technical SEO | | spadedesign0 -
How to rank for several keywords
Hi there Mozers, So far I have been building my webshop ouibonjour.com over the course of several weeks while studying the awesome educational content here on Moz and other SEO-related sites. I think I have done an OK job so far, and I have managed to rank #1 on several long tail keywords after a couple of weeks. Problem is - there are more long tail keywords I want to rank #1 for as well! **What I have done so far: ** I have taken the strongest keywords that can generate conversion and added them in page titles, title heads, main anvigation titles, in my alt text in images and so forth. The page is not screaming "SEO!" and I am happy with that. Nevertheless, I think the SEO measures here are done in an effective way. If you bothered to click on my page, you can see that the home page has only 5 posts (posts, not pages). They redirect visitors to other important parts of my site, and I change the image and/or the title once every 3 weeks to not keep the page too static. In a /magazine subfolder, I have a blog that ranks pretty good for several keywords, but the content here is not directly related to my products, but rather articles that fits the interests of my potential buyers (lifestyle, culture, etc). **What I need - but not sure how - to do: ** I basically want to rank for way more long tail keywords that relate to my products, but I don't want to continue setting up posts that have these keywords, because the content on the main page will be too heavy on the SEO, and therefore lose value for my visitors. How can I rank for more keywords without having to pepper my site with posts full of these keywords? I do not want to write articles on my blog that focuses on different combinations of long tail keywords neither, because it will get too spammy and make my visitors not return. I need help! I hope I have managed to explain my problem clearly. If there are any Whiteboard Fridays or posts on this subject that I have missed, please link me directly. If not, I would be tremendously happy and appreciative for any tips and tricks 🙂
Technical SEO | | Fernando_0 -
RewriteQueryString and .htaccess usage
I'm trying to redirect a whole load of pages which use a query string to a different directory for example. Original URL: example.com/news/post.php?s=2011-01-28-some-text New URL: example.com/blog/post.php?s=2011-01-28-some-text My understanding is that because the url uses query strings I need to use a rewrite rather than the usual redirect 301 etc. I've come up with this but it is not doing the job. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? RewriteEngine On
Technical SEO | | RodneyRiley
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} s=
RewriteRule ^/news /blog [L,R=301]0 -
Sub Domain vs. New Root Domain for New Brand
Would you recommend a new brand be placed as a subdomain to the existing parent company or create a separate root domain for this new brand?
Technical SEO | | ScratchMM0 -
Domain Masking with New Keyword-Rich Domains
Hello, friends. We have an ecommerce site and we also own several keyword-rich domains but haven't done anything with them yet. Is there any value in using domain masking to point them to either product pages or special landing pages on our primary ecommerce site? Here's an example: Primary site is widgetzone.com Keyword rich URL is acmewidget.com (which is totally blank and isn't indexed) It could point to our category page for Acme Widgets: widgetzone.com/category/acme-widgets or it could point to a new landing page: widgetzone.com/acme-widgets My concern is that because the keyword-rich URL hasn't been utilized at all there's really no point in redirecting it. I'm of the mind that it's either going to be ineffective at best or a duplicate content issue at worst. What do you guys think? As a follow-up, if we don't redirect these domains, what should we do with them? Just try to sell them off rather than create totally new sites?
Technical SEO | | jbreeden0 -
Redirecting a domain
I was setting up a new campaign and received the following error from Roger Robot. "We have detected that the domain www.sitename.com and the domain sitename.com both respond to web requests and do not redirect. Having two "twin" domains that both resolve forces them to battle for SERP positions, making your SEO efforts less effective. We suggest redirecting one, then entering the other here." I know about redirecting a PAGE using 301 Redirects and how to specify the www. canonical in Google webmaster tools, but is there a "DOMAIN" redirect that I'm missing. What would you suggest doing given the error message above. Thanks, Bill Sqnch.jpg
Technical SEO | | Marvo0 -
Buying a new domain
Hello guys! We are in process of buying a new domain. How can we be sure that this domain is not blacklisted and are there any steps to take in order to be sure that whatever we are buying is actually in "good shape"? Thanks much!
Technical SEO | | echo10