Keyword domains
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Hi everyone.
Two questions regarding keyword domains (e.g. "widgets.com")
- If we have to choose a domain with an extra word, does it make a difference to have the added word before or after? E.g. "my-widgets.com" vs "widgets-now.com"
- Does it make a difference if the extra word is a generic vs a 'real' word? E.g. "my-widgets.com" vs "japanese-widgets.com"
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
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Wow thanks everyone for the immediate and very insightful answers. Cheers!
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Keyword domains are most effective when they are a perfect match for the query.
I have a few keyword domains and from my experience their ranking value declines quickly when even one letter is added. For example bluewidget.com would receive a small rankings boost for "blue widget" but very little to none for "blue widgets".
So, your question about adding an extra word.... I'd say that you will get almost no benefit.
From what I have seen keyword domains work better on Yahoo and Bing than they do on Google.
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I don't have an answer for you on your first question, on your second question however, I am pretty sure domains with those spammy "godaddy suggested" alterations are going to come across as spammy to both users and googlebot.
Get rid of them all.
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What i have learned from other SEO Authorities around here is that unless your domain name is exact ex: widgets.com targets "widgets" keyword the rest having the keyword in the name doesn't affect rankings as you wish.
so if you have either my-widgets.com or widgets-now.com it's the same won't help you much on rankings.
Also i would suggest you get a better name without hiphens as well as one that you can build sort of a brand on it.
Also you may want to look at 2 keyword match domains... ex: my client sells school books and i bought buybooks.tld so the idea is "buy books" and long term "school books"
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Feedback from Matt Cutts recently hinted / said that having the keyword in the domain although helpful isn't as significant a factor as before. And on the answer to your question.the order should not be significant really. Having a Generic word may even help a little to give the site some color as may people go for the generic and having a descriptor may help.
Best of luck
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