The other day I created a blog LogicInstrument.com about logic instruments that crash and I was rather suprised to see that after a few days I was on the first page of Google.com ! Meanwhile the amount of searches for these terms were quite low (around 3,000), so I guess there is little competition which could explain why I am so well ranked. Meanwhile, maybe the domain name has an impact on my google ranking. Therefore I have decided to do a study on the impact a domain name can have on your Google ranking. I have created various domain names for blogs where there are larger amounts of searches on Google: 1) PDA Handhelds: www.pda-handhelds.com 2) Handhelds Computers: www.handheldscomputers.com 3) Eyes Surgery: www.eyes-surgery.com As you may notice, two of thems have "-" in the domain name to seperate the words. I have done this on purpose to see the impact this has. For the moment I am not yet ranked in Google as my blogs are recent...but in the next few days they should appear. I will keep you updated of my analysis on DP forum but also on my Dollar James blog I know some of you may already have an opinion on the subject, but the best is to try and see from yourself! Please also note that I have chosen topics where I have a minimum of knowledge.
I've been doing some research on that and I've been applying it. You won't be able to measure the results too soon because you will have a hopefully brief sandbox stay. I tell any of my new clients to buy 2 domains, 1 is the keyword domain and the other their company domain. I tell them to just park their "company" domain. The problem is explaining to them if anyone ever gives you a link, make it go to my-keyword.com, not mycompany.com I hope my two cents made sense!
i have always thought that having your keywords in your domain name has to have a big impact on your ranking.
Google will sandbox your serps. Let me explain, if you buy "buy-peanuts-online.com" for a domain name and launch your site (with great peanut content) you will not show up for the search phrase "buy peanuts online" for a few weeks to a few months unless you get some high PR links pointing to your website. Google does this to prevent spamming obviously. If it was that easy everyone could be on top. Just be sure you bought your domain name for at least 3 years, if you bought it for only a year you could have a long sand box penalty unless you have no competition. Like the saying goes, "yes Virginia, there is a Google Sandbox"
Oh ok I see what you mean now! Thanks! I guess I will have to work on link building maybe to make sure my domains show up! We will se what happens!
One question is this sandbox concept valid also for domains which existed in the past ? Lets say that one domain existed in 2004 but was not renewed afterwards, and I ordered it a few days ago as it was available... What is strange is that the other day I created a website and after only a couple of days I was in Google on the first page for the same keywords as the domain name
This would still be considered a new website, and the sandbox rules would apply. However if the domain still has some links pointing to it, or if the industry is not that competitive, then the sandbox period might be shorter or not happen at all.
So if you only care about search engine traffic, and not a URL that is easily remembered by someone, would you rather have firstwordsecondword.com or firstword-secondword.com?
Choose a name which the visitor can remember easily, they don't have to search your domain in order to find them.
I like to use the keyword domain for traffic, but also get a "phone friendly" domain and just direct that to the same site. but...when you are acquiring links to your site, always be known as your keyword domain.