How To Pick A Domain Name That Will Rank Well in Google

Hey digital pointers,

Just wanted to let you know a little thing I've noticed about domains that rank well in google.

For an example, lets look at the keyword 'seo' since it is one of the most competitive keywords there is being that there are a lot of people that know how to do search engine optimzation competing for it and it is a very profitable term since so many people search for it who are looking to learn how to make more money. If you do a google search for the term 'seo' you will see that 6 of the top 10 results out of 189,000,000 have the term 'seo' as the first part of their domain name- SeoChat.com, Seo.com, Seo-usa.org, Seobook.com, SeoMoz.org, and SeoAdministrator.com. Disregard the fact that the top 2 results are wikipedia and google- those are ranking there mostly because google puts a ton of weight on wikipedia results being that they are non profit and usually unbiased, and they rank their own pages because they can.

Google wants to display results that are as relevant as possible, and what is more relevant that a domain name with the exact phase in it that you searched for?

So, the next time you buy a domain name, remember that you want to choose one that has the phase that you want to rank for in the domain name. It also helps when people link to you as they will use their phase in their anchor text which will further increase your rankings.

Any other tips for choosing a domain name that will rank well in google?

 

When choosing a domain, the first decision you will need to make, is whether you want a domain that you will build a brand around, or a keyword rich domain designed to attract search traffic.

A brandable domain should be short, and easy to remember. It should also be original, and unique. When people use the domain in a conversation, it should be easy for them to remember, and difficult for them to confuse it with a different brand with a similar name.

Keyword domains should contain a string of words that people are likely to search for, but which don't have too much competition in the search results. If necessary, add some additional words to 'drill down' to a tighter niche, and eliminate competition. Keyword domains are all about picking your fights, and not punching above your weight. Also, be careful about where the word separators are in the domain. Consider using dashes to separate words if there is a risk of words overlapping and giving the wrong meanings.

Here's a few sites that can be used to do keyword research for domains.
http://www.keywordindex.com/
http://www.spacky.com/
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

To check keyword competition, do a quoted search in Google and see how many results turn up. The lower the number of results, the better. More than a million is probably a waste of time. More than a few hundred thousand will make it difficult to establish a foothold. Also check the top results returned. If there are a lot of high profile/high PR sites in the top results, you will have a fight on your hands to get a good rank.



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