Domain length
-
Does Domain length matter for SEO?
-
I think there may be an important distinction here - are you talking about potentially registering dozens of domains to rank for long-tail phrases? I think we're all assuming that you mean your primary domain choice.
Registering dozens of exact-match domains to rank for long-tail phrases is a lot less effective than it used to be (and will probably get even less effecting over the next 1-3 years). People abused that tactic, for starters, but it also splits your link-juice, social signals, and typically creates either doorway pages or large-scale duplicate content. The negatives outweigh the positives in most cases.
If you're only talking about one domain, and it really is a very long-tail phrase you want to target, then that's a bit different. In the example you give, most of the keywords are very common and a bit ambiguous, so you're right - a short version might not make much sense. On the other hand, the long version is going to target one very specific phrase that probably gets a small amount of traffic. You could target that phrase through on-page cues, inbound anchor text, etc. (the domain name is just one small piece of the puzzle).
-
Ooops I read this after posting below... Sorry about that
-
"the more words in your domain, the less SEO impact each word is going to have. At some point, it may start to look a bit spammy." I think I missed a good article on this can you please provide a source?
I would not use this for over the phone lol... Only to tap into search engine traffic, lets say I found a term that is highly competitive. However, the rankers are not optimizing for that specific query. Its only highly competitive because these sites are authoritative for other relavent keywords.
Example.
I want to rank for the keywords "how can i be sure this is true"
When I type this in a search engine, lets say I get youtube/ebay/etsy/etc... for the SERP (highly authoritative according to SEOmoz but they are not targeting the long tail question)
Would I be better off buying a domain canthisbe.com? I dont see how this makes sense....
-
It's confusing, but best practice is generally no hyphen in the root domain, but hyphens in the sub-folders (so, "www.mydomain.com/my-domain"). Google is good about separating words in root domains, but not always in folder and page names (and they recommend the hyphen as the preferred separator). Traditionally, hyphens in the root domain are also a (small) negative trust signal - people tend to think you couldn't get the non-hyphenated domain.
-
I am not 100% about hyphens. However, I noticed that most sites use hyphens in all their sub pages. (Just look at the URL of this thread http://www.seomoz.org/q/domain**-**length) I think that Hyphens are bad on a root domain.
"The reason behind it is that words such as: what, is, right etc. do not really give you any keyword value. Your main keyword would be France and then something to indicate that you want to relate to the current time - like 'now'."
Are you sure about this?
I never heard of this... Can you please provide a source?
From my understanding exact domain helps (no telling how much). By exact I am implying [iwanttogetonthefirstpageofgoogle] for the term "I want to get on the first page of google"
-
I think the comments here cover the bases - I'm not aware of any kind of outright penalty, but it's always a balancing act - the more words in your domain, the less SEO impact each word is going to have. At some point, it may start to look a bit spammy.
Of course, there's the practical side, which includes the usability aspects, too. Imagine you want to give someone this URL over the phone, print it on a business card, use email addresses at it, or even post it on social media (without a shortener) - at some point, a long URL just isn't practical. It's also a negative trust signal - people aren't going to take an overly long URL seriously, IMO.
-
Domain length extends your urls, and long urls are seeing as a negative factor. My recommendation would be to forget about hyphens - as these are also additional characters and are more difficult to type together with the rest of the alphanumerical characters on the keyboard.
As to the length - keep it short and do not try to put all of the words from your phrase in the domain - try to use the most important ones and no more than 3 combined together. For instance I would convert your domain : whatisgoingoninfrancerightnow.com to something like : francerightnow.com or even francenow.com
The reason behind it is that words such as: what, is, right etc. do not really give you any keyword value. Your main keyword would be France and then something to indicate that you want to relate to the current time - like 'now'.
The rest of the keywords could be easily included in the page names and that should give you a perfect structure to drive your SEO.
-
There are some minor negative correlations when it comes to length of domains. If it's a competitive search, then it may not be worth the minor interference. However, if it's a low competitive vertical, then go right ahead.
My opinion, though, would be to use a shorter search phrase like goingoninfrance.com. This will give you a broader appeal to consumers by not having the "right now" part, and it is short enough to remember. This also keeps you safe if the algorithm would change to further impact long urls.
-
I did an additional case study.
I took a longer domain with not just 1 or 2 but 3 hyphens
http://www.high-higher-highest-rankings.com/
I located one of it's high competitive keywords that it ranks for
"increase website ranking"
I'm sure if you type this in the Google search PPC ads will fill both top and right side
Now we check to see where it's ranking for this key phrase
You will notice that it's located number 2 only losing to an article about Google by About.com
So, I guess that statistically we can't necessarily rule out that the length of the domain with hyphens constitutes a ranking factor. Maybe only on a broader scale with other underlying issues
-
There is a lot of mixed opinions on both of these and personally I would rather not use a domain that's long. I rarely see websites ranking within the top 5 for long domains and I'm sure many people own these long-tail phrases and use them as domains.
According to the SEOMOZ's Google's Ranking Factors 2011
Long Titles + URLs are Still Likely Bad for SEOYou should definitely take a look at this as it breaks down some interesting facts.
This is the slide share of it: http://www.slideshare.net/randfish/ranking-factors-data-2011-smx-elite-sydney
Google's Ranking Factors
-
THis is somewhat helpful. However, it explains domain for users...
Let me give you an example..
If I want to rank for "what is going on in france right now" it is longer then 15 characters and no one will want to type it. If my domain is whatisgoingoninfrancerightnow.com it will help my SEO rankings, or do the search engines look at the length and say nonono?
The link you provided led me to another question. It recomends not using hyphens, are they talking about the main domain only www.my-domain.com, or main domain and extension www.mydomain.com/my-domain?
-
This is an excellent resource that gives all details in accordance with domains and SEO: http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/domain
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 to avoid duplication across multiple country domains
Here's the scenario: I have a client currently running one Shopify site (AU) They want to launch three more country domains (US, UK and EU) They want each to be a standalone site, primarily so the customers can purchase in their local currency, which is not possible from a single Shopify site The inventory is all from the same source The product desscriptions will all be the same as well Question: How do we avoid content duplication (ie. how will canonical tags work in this scenario)?
International SEO | | muzzmoz0 -
Choosing a domain name in 2016
Hello Everyone I am not new to SEO but new to the forum ! I am in the travel business selling high end bicycle trips to the US market. I am about to expand my business and sell cheaper bicycle trips to the European market. My company has a got a name in the industry as well as some amazing reviews on google + and other forums. My 1 st question, would you use a totally different domain name see that is a different market and different prices or would you use the same domain name ? If you were to use the same domain would you do fr.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com/fr. In terms of web domain, is exact match domain still powerful ? My current domain name is not an exact match domain and surfing the web, I feel like it still gives you a major advantage in 2016 ? If I choose an exact match domain, I noticed I can get www.mydomain.travel or www.mydomain.bike or get a domain for the country I am targeting www.mydomain.co.uk. Do you have advice on which domain is easier to rank ? or doesn't it change anything ?
International SEO | | seoanalytics0 -
Moving my site to one domain name .com from 3
Hi Guys, I'm ranking really well for my domains in my local geo - im wondering if it will be more effective if i moved the co.nz and com.au over to the .com - the only thing is will i still see my com.au and co.nz results on the .com?
International SEO | | edward-may0 -
Duplicate content on .co.uk and .com TLDs with different domain authority
What's the best approach to take for a site that has identical content on the .co.uk and .com versions of the root domain? The .co.uk version has a significantly higher domain authority (54 vs 32 according to Open Site Explorer - see attached screenshot). But it's an international company with its largest customer base in North America and customers in over 60 countries. The company does not intend to localize content. My initial thought before seeing the domain authority was to 301 redirect the .co.uk to the .com domain to consolidate all the link equity under one international TLD. However, I wondered if the higher domain authority for .co.uk would be passed on if we did this. I figured that a non-UK audience would be more likely to trust a .com site. I still think 301 redirecting .co.uk to .com might be the best strategy in the long term. But is there likely to be a dip in rankings and organic search volume in the short term until .co.uk is replaced in the index by .com? I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this. CbVnfSO.png
International SEO | | Torchbox0 -
Are NON French companies allowed to own domains in France?
Hi, I was wondering if any one knows if the French government has changed it's stance in recent years to the ownership of domains in their country. My understanding is that it can be pretty difficult to own a domain there if you do not reside there. In the past I have had people register domains using their passport as identification to prove their domicile in that country. We like many others have sites with .com/fr etc. and we do have one domain that is a .fr and seriously out performs the .com version. Many thanks for any input on this question. David *** UPDATE - Sorry no need for a response, I've just been informed that businesses who are located in a Member State of the European Union (EU) are allowed to own .fr domains which the French government needs to comply with. Best, David
International SEO | | David-E-Carey1 -
Delaying Redirection - Possible loss of Domain Authority?
Hey guys, I was hoping somebody might be help with my current dilema. We have a international website due to go live soon which has changed its brand name. The organisation whom we are working for want to leave the old site live for around 6 months after the new site goes live. The reason for keeping the site live is for users to be able to access many of the resources which will not be transferred over in time for when the new site goes live.The plan is to have a message on old site letting visitors know we have moved site. I'm concerned about this approach in terms of loosing some of the domain authority if the sites bounce rate starts increase due to people clicking over to the new site. Then in 6 months time when we finally redirect to the new site we might loose out on some of the domain authority. Is this something to be concerned about?The site currently has PR of 7 and Domain Authority score of 70.Cheers,Rob
International SEO | | daracreative0 -
Will duplicate content across international domains have a negative affect on our SERP
Our corporate website www.tryten.com showcases/sells our products to all of our customers. We have Canadian and UK based customers and would like to duplicate our website onto .ca and .co.uk domains respectively to better service them. These sites will showcase the same products, only the price and ship from locations will change. Also, the phone numbers and contact info will be altered. The sites will all be on one server. On each of the sites there will be a country selector which will take you to the appropriate domain for the country selected. Will doing this negatively affect our rankings in the US, UK and Canada?
International SEO | | tryten0