Keyword Rich Domain Names

Keyword rich domain names are simply domain names that have keywords in them. We are examining them as part my SEO ranking factors series and this is lesson 1.

I have decided to look at keyword rich domains first because it is my opinion that they are an extremely important factor the search engines algorithm takes into account when deciding where to rank a website. Although I cannot say for the exact importance of them, I estimate (and many other SEO professionals agree) that the search engines may give them as much ‘onpage’ SEO value as 40 – 50%. While it can’t prove this, simple exercises time and time again demonstrate the value of keyword rich domain names for SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). I would suggest to anybody who is launching a website to seriously consider choosing a keyword rich domain name. Let’s look at keyword rich domain names in more detail.

What is a keyword?

A keyword (s) is very simply a word that a user types into the search engines. Say for example I am searching for cheap flights; I may go to Google and type in “Cheap Flights”. That would be my keyword. It doesn’t matter if it is one word such as “flights” or even more keywords such as “cheap flights to New York”. They are still known as keywords with the longer ones known i.e. 3 to 4 words known as longtail keywords (more about them in another lesson). All you need to know is that any word or phrase that you type into the search engine is known as a keyword.

What is a domain name?

A domain name is a name of a website. For example Google, Facebook, MySpace, Youtube, Technorati are domain names or the name of a website. Every single website has a domain name.

What is a keyword Rich Domain Name?

A keyword rich domain name is a domain name that has a keyword or keyword combination in it. For example www.weightloss.com would be a keyword rich domain name, with the keyword Weight Loss. Another example might be www.printing.com, this has the keyword Printing in it or www.howtoloseweight.com obviously has the keywords How To Lose Weight in it.

Why are keyword rich domains names an important seo ranking factor?

As mentioned if it is my opinion that the search engines place a serious amount of importance on keyword rich domain names. If you do a quick search for a variety of keywords on any of the search engines you will very quickly notice that a high proportion of the top ten results have keyword rich domain names. Therefore it is quite easy to conclude that the search engines give keyword rich domain names a lot of SEO value. Now of course there are other ranking factors (which we will be exploring as part of the seo ranking factors series) but I ask the question, why if keyword rich domain names weren’t important are so many of them in the SERP*’s. To prove my point let’s have a look at the top 10 results of totally unrelated keywords searches on Google.

* SERP stands for Search Engine Results Page

Keyword: ‘Weight Loss’
(SERP)

1. webmd.com
2. weightwatcher.com
3. weightloss.about.com
4. en/Wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_Loss
5. freedieting.com
6. jennycraig.com
7. mayoclinic.com
8. nutrisystem.com
9. lookcut.com
10. weightloss.com

Keyword: ‘Dog Training’
(SERP)

1. dog-obedience-training-review.com
2. uwsp.edu/psych/dog/dog.htm
3. cesarmillaninc.com
4. dogproblems.com
5. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_training
6. dogtraininghq.com
7. dogtrainingways.com
8. dneprimport.com
9. petco.com/petco_Page_PC_dogtrainingclasses
10. sitmeanssit.com

Keyword:‘How To Publish A Book’
(SERP)

1. soyouwanna.com/site/…/publishbook/publishbook.html
2. books.eserver.org/nonfiction/how-to-publish.html
3. writeandpublishyourbook.com
4. bookpros.com/bp2006/…/how_to_publish_my_book.php
5. howtopublishabook.org
6. onerbooks.com/paper.htm
7. ehow.com/how_107987_self-publish-book.html
8. lulu.com/
9. howtopublishabookblog.com
10. masternewmedia.org/how-to-publish-a-book-under-a-creative-commons-license/

Keyword: ‘Cheap Phone Calls’
(SERP)

1. cheapestinternationalcalls.com
2. cheapphonecalls.org
3. moneysavingexpert.com/phones/home-phone-calls
4. planet-numbers.co.uk/cheap_international_phone_calls.jsp
5. skype.com
6. telediscount.co.uk/accessnumbers.php
7. call18866.co.uk/
8. call2ua.com
9. sitenumberone.org.uk/cheap_phone_calls.html
10. wwcallback.com

Conclusion? The fact that keyword rich domain names constantly appear in the top 10 search engine results leads me to believe that the search engine give them value when deciding where to rank a website.

Tips when choosing a keyword rich domain names

When choosing a keyword rich domain name, you may find that many of the good ones are already taken, although you may be surprised at some of the ones that haven’t. Here are some tips to help you find a good keyword rich domain name.

1. Add something extra to the keyword to find an available domain name.

For example you might be in the weight loss niche and find that Weightloss.com has been taken (of course many generic keywords have already been taken). You can always try searching for Weightlosshq.com or weighlossmagic.com. You will find that the search engines have the ability to ‘parse’ the keywords out of the domain names, so you will still get ranking value from them.

2. Consider Using Hyphenated Keyword Rich Domain Names.

There may be some debate whether to use hyphens in domain or not. For branding purposes they are not ideal but for SEO value they can help. So if you find that all the non hyphenated keyword rich domain names are taken, search for some hyphenated ones. For example bestdogtraining.com might be taken whereas best-dog-training.com might not be. The search engines will still be able to pick out the keywords and pass SEO value to you.

3. Try searching on Deleted Domains.

You’ll be amazed at some the of the domains that people let expire or drop and may of them have keywords in them. Head over to www.deletedomains.com or www.justdropped.com and see if there any keyword rich domain names that have been let you that you snap up cheaply.

4. Try to use keywords at the beginning of the domain name.

If you can’t get the exact keyword rich domain name that you want, then try choosing a domain name that has the keywords at the beginning and put another word at the end. For example Seobook.com, has the keyword ‘SEO’ at the start and then finishes with ‘Book’. It can help when trying to find keyword rich domain names that may have already been taken.

That just about concludes the lesson on keyword rich domains. I deliberately chose to use this as the first ‘onpage’ SEO ranking factor simply because I believe that keyword rich domain names carry serious SEO value. So when you decided to do the SEO planning for your next website seriously consider trying to use a keyword rich domain name.

To your massive success,

Guy