We all know that for humans, short domain names work best. For search engines, domains with targeted keywords generally rank best. My domain is named like www.absomething.com. Would it benefit my SERPs if I registered its SEO-friendly equivalent www.alpha-beta-something.com and have that site do a 301 redirect to my already-established site?
In the short term www.alpha-beta-something.com will perform better. In the long term - www.absomething.com.
A new domain name utilising the 301 re-direct will not help the existing domain with serp positions. You could use a second domain as marketing tool, using unique related content, which then uses anchor text back links that point back to the main site. But make the second site beneficial to your visitors not just for the SEs
Thanks guys. It was just a thought that popped into my head. If I had thought of it before my established site took off it might be something I would pursue, but since it would be after-the-fact I'm not going to bother. I'm happy enough with my current domain name.
If you buy just the domain and do a 301 redirect - it will not help at all. If you do however buy the domain and create some related content (on a different IP), then you could use that new domain for the backlinks. But in this case, you will have to work on 2 different sites.
I second what most have already said. Develop that second domain with relative keywords and anchor links that have your keywords that lead to pages on your first domain with your keywords in the URL and title and other normal places. Do not use a 301 redirect.