Brand, keyword or both

I plan to run a thematic business website and i have a 2-words hyphenated keyword domain name with the 2 most important words for this industry - something like bricks-tiles.com or travel-tourism.com, you know what i mean.

And i have nice 1-word domain name, 7 characters long, but this word is abstract and its meaning is far away of the site theme.

So, i dont know what to do - to run the site under the long, ugly and hyphenated, but keyword-rich domain name or to use the beautiful and elegant, but abstract domain.

Can i have your opinion. What about this - is it a good idea to use the both domains or it will be too bad for SEO? Do you know what's the Google opinion about sites with 2 (or more) very different domain names?

 

First of All I WELCOME you to DP !!

Webrover, I am facing the exact problem what yours is. see my sign.

I am asking the same question again and again to big SEO guys here, but no answer.

Hope you will get and we both will learn.

 

He is a question to answer your question Does Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Overstock, Ebay, Walmart, K-Mart, Ikea, or Microsoft use keywords in their domains? IMO, branding is way more important then having keyword domains. If you name is easy to remember, it's also easier for them to spread word of mouth. It's hard to tell someone a domain when it is keyword-keyword-keyword.com.

I have been reading alot that domain keywords have little to do with the Algo's anymore anyway (aside from Yahoo, they seem to like it a bit)

 

Hi, Dakait.

In fact this is the only important question from the SEO-field whose answer i dont know. I hope somebody will share his experience.

Palespyder, ya, that right, Yahoo, Google, Amazon, Monster, Microsoft, etc. - they dont use keywords in the names. But (Very Big BUT) i'm not the owner of Yahoo or Microsoft etc. I dont have their financial power. Thats why i'm wondering about using of both domains - no money for good advertisement.

 

Your absolutely right, and 35 years ago noone knew who Bill Gates or Steve Jobs or Sam Walton was either. If you think small then you will remain small. Just my 2 cents of course.

 

Huh, unfortunately, you are right . I know, i know, and everybody know this... Thanks a lot for the opinion.

 

I agree with Palespyder.

Webover, what do you think - how important having brand name in domain is?

Brand namming is big big thing and need a lot lot, having brand name in domain may be one effert. but having brand name in domain have more -ve than +ve.

 

It is really up to you on what you will use for your domain. Why don't you try combining both the brand name and keyword in your domain ? IMO it is a good option.

 

SEO is not everything for success.

If you're planning big and in the long term, avoid keyword rich domains as plague. They are going to make you look cheap, particularly offline. Stick for the abstract but make sure it sounds nice and it's easy to remember. Still, keyword rich doms are going to help you with SEO, so get them and use them too.

 

In order to try to answer your question, you have to figure out how you plan on getting your site traffic. Are you going after one-time visitors who find you through a search engine and never come again, or are you looking for repeat traffic from people who like to visit your site regularly? If you are mainly going after one-time visitors, then you should pick the domain name with the keywords in it. This will allow you to get the appropriate keyword anchor text when people link to you (the actual domain name itself having the keywords is only of minimal value). If on the other hand you are trying to build a business that gets repeat customers who find you because they know your name, than you should go for the better sounding domain. It really comes down to how you want to market your website, and what kind of business it is.

 

I total agree palespyder

 

I wana go for building business and long lasting clients.

Thanks apblake