Is using key words in a domain necessary, I am building a website focusing on vacation travel homes and packages, I named the domain Islandrs.com my main concern is ..... am I wasting valuable time trying to use at this domain to conquer Kauai vacation homes packages and condos........... after all were dealing websites that use keywords in their domain it is quite obvious that keyword relevancy could be what Google.com Yahoo.com and MSN.com are looking for in a domain...... Can anyone add their comments or specific ideas about dominating the search engines for certain key phrases using domains that do not have keywords in it.............. I am very concerned because I'm building this website for a client, and not only that this website is to help people looking for a great vacation deal and the Hawaiian islands Please leave your comments and statements about how you would add your ideas as to keywords in the domain....... I have a feeling that most of you will say it doesn't matter...... but what I am looking for is someone that has a keyword rich domain that already has this experience...... Thank you
You don't "have" to use keywords in the domain name. If there is one major keyword phrase you're trying to rank that will likely drive most of your traffic then I think it will help a LOT to get a domain name that matches that keyword phrase if possible. For example, if you have an affiliate site for Las Vegas Vacations then having a domain name like LasVegasVacations.com or LasVegasVacations.net or Las-Vegas-Vacations.com or Las-Vegas-Vacations.net will help you a lot anytime someone searches for "Las Vegas Vacations" or possibly "Las Vegas Vacation". But if you have a site that is not as extremely focused like an affilate site would be, it's probably less important. If you have some general theme like vacations, but nothing really specific... then I would still try to work "vacations" into the domain... but it is less important in this type of scenario. It's not going to kill you to have a general vacation site without "vacations" in the domain.
I see ... but you agree the keyword is important .... hmmmmmm do you have domain that focus in a keyword that isn't in the domain ....
It does help with Google to have your keywords in your domain but is is not a must have. An example would be Amazon. Search for about any product and you will find them there. For my video game site I instantly made top for "home computer games" because of my domain name. So indeed a keyword rich domain will get you swifter results. Ken
I dis agree above Amazon doesn't bring up website and keywords ... unique for online shoopers in wholesale .....
?? I'm not sure I understand. Amazon is an example of not having to have keywords in your domain yet ranking well. Search "pc games" You will see them there.
The word "amazon" had no association w/ shopping until Amazon.com decided to use it as their domain. There is no shopping related word in their domain name yet they rank well for literally hundreds of thousands of keyword phrases. Just like if you search for "TV episodes" hulu.com ranks #2. WTH is a "hulu"? It is just a made up sequence of characters likely that someone thought sounded good and had absolutely nothing to do with "TV episodes". Keywords in your domain are not crucial to good rankings. It typically helps a lot only if your domain name exactly matches the search phrase. It helps to a lesser degree if it's only a partial match to the search phrase. I agree w/ HomeComputerGames.
It is all about building authority. How do you build authority? you get authority sites to link to you. Sure having keywords in your domain is a slight advantage, but you can still get outranked by a domain with no keywords in it.
Amazon should be the definition as a "trusted" and "mature" site. They've been around for a long time so I wouldn't compare them to a new site. A good keyword domain will get you ranked faster for your keywords. Unfortunately they are hard to come by, so you'll probably end up with a few hyphens. This makes it harder for your clients to remember your url. It's kind of a double edged sword. If you have a site that people will want to come back to (by memory) stick with a cool name, but you will have to work extra hard to get it to rank.
I agree with this viewpoint entirely as these non-keyword domain sites have been around awhile and got ahead when there was far less website competition compared to now. Alot of those old sites don't even have more than a few link but have high PR because they're been around a long time. Definitely put you keywords in your domain or it will be an uphill battle!
webbuilder71 ....I see your actions and agree with you ... although the theory of old web design sourund the action used by designers not seo's ... with good reason ... im sure an seo would promote a keyword rich domain before a single not relevant one ..... designers are stuck with client request ..on a grand scale most customers are very unaware but the still go fo none relevant domains... it is all on our heads as optimizers to convince clients what best for their niche.....