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
-
Moz is advising that a page has too many of the same keywords.
But this sub-category page includes products that have the keyword in the product name. Should I be concerned?
On-Page Optimization | | Tacony_Corporation0 -
Keywords dropping
My website http://www.refrigeratedtransportuk.com/ is dropping like a stone for the keyword 'refrigerated transport'. Even though the page gets a grade A, can anyone help?
On-Page Optimization | | CreativeCow0 -
Exact keyword vs connecting words.
Hi guys, I'm wondering if there's a huge difference between exact keywords vs connecting words. i.e. "limo service chicago" vs " limo service in chicago" or something similar. It's tough to have 4+ keywords on a page sound great without using some form of connecting word. Will google still rank the page as high if I use connection words in a few instances of the keyword? Or should I just leave the exact keyword fir all instances. Thanks in advance. Aron
On-Page Optimization | | aronwp0 -
Which one of them works better?
Hello everybody, As I need to improve the title tags of the site I manage, I was wondering which one between the hyphen (-) and the the vertical bar (|) when writing title tags?
On-Page Optimization | | PremioOscar0 -
Two keywords in one page
Hi guys, I have a question...is it possible to posicionate two keywords in one only page? If yes, how would it be the process so that Google take note of that action/s. How many criteria/keywords are recommended to positionate in one site? Thanks all
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
Target keywords on homepage or sub page?
Is it better to target main keywords on a site's homepage, or in a sub page. I would usually assume the homepage, but if the domain for the homepage doesn't include the keyword is it better to have a sub page with an exact match URL? For example we target the keyword "abc123" Is it better to optimise the homepage: brandname.com Or create a page to target it: brandname.com/abc123/ And leave the homepage to target brand keywords, but link to the "abc123" page. Whats the best option?
On-Page Optimization | | timscullin0 -
Google Webmaster Tools - Inappropriate Keywords
In December our website was the victim of a devastating pharma hack. Google Webmaster Tools never reported malware on our website, but our keywords within Webmaster Tools were all changed to keywords related to mens and ladies watches. Our Google organic search rank and resulting traffic has been dramatically impacted. Since realizing we were hacked, we rebuilt our website from the ground up with a clean and updated installation of Joomla CMS (from 1.5 to 2.5) and changed to a more secure server. As of December 21st, 2012, our website has been clean of the phama hack. We wrote Google and told them what happened. They replied with a "no manual spam actions were found" message. Unfortunately, Google Webmaster Tools still reflects all of the hacked keywords for mens and ladies watches. We are watching our Google Webmaster Tools everyday waiting for Google to remove the hacked keywords. It's been a little over a month and still only about 5 of the first 100 keywords have anything to do with our website. What do you recommend we do to expedite the removal of these inappropriate keywords in Google WMT?
On-Page Optimization | | TCM-SEO0 -
Branded keyword domain not appearing in Google
Hi, I have a site called www.emv-cards.com but the site has a very poor showing on Google for the search term 'emv cards' and this does not make sense to me. It has position #6 on Bing but is not in Google's top 50. Any assistance would be appreciated. regards, George.
On-Page Optimization | | sirgeorge0