I'm convinced these are vital for easy ranking of small niche sites but... When I look for good ones, they are almost always taken but... I can usually get something like <keyword phrase>x.com or <keyword phrase>y.com i see that there are lots of sites that seem to rank well eg commissionblueprintx.com (damn I hate that guy - he's just too good ) any opinions if i cant get the main domain name should I go for a variant with another letter stuck on the end? Or would this be a huge waste of time Thanks Folks
Domain name (keywords in it) is one of the definitive point for ranking currently. So, do not hesitate to extend the desired but occupied domain name, but extend it with something meaningful, not with just 'y'. That works pretty well.
Right, keywords in domain name would be helpful for ranking purpose, especially on Yahoo and Bing. I would like to recommend you to use "-" in your domain name or pick up suffix like .net with your main keywords. Have a nice day,
I would not recommend you focus too much on keyword in domain name, even it does help. You should not forget about brand building in the later stage too. Most of domain name ended with x or y like you mentioned seems like a Spam and not convince enough for peoples to pay a visit.
Keyword in the domain name is just an added advantage and it is not a necessary one. You better make a user friendly one rather than a keyword rich one. If you got a keyword rich domain which is user friendly then no problem go with it.
keywords in domain name make you rank easier with less links and work than others. Especially if the 1-2 punch is there. Keyword domain + full Keywords in title + Keywords in description + Keywords meta tags + keywords in start, middle and end of content ie. H1, H2, H3 tags.
keywords in domain will rank well, it's good for small niches blogs, but if you wanna make some brand, you should build your own brand domain.
The keyword which will be included in the domain name chould be chosen very thoroughly, because incorrect name will spoil all other marketing efforts.
Keyword on domain will give you point on optimizing the site. But don't keyword stuff your domain. Your site would still rank for your targeted keyword even it's not keyword domain it all depends on your techniques of optimizing on how your site will improved SERP.
I agreed with other comment above, but may I suggest you to get domain name with similar or maybe more specific keyword phrase I often use ajaxwhois dot com to get fast information available domain name. You can try this and you would be like it ajaxwhois dot com
There are many variations to creating domain names such as: weightloss.com weight-loss.com wight-loss101.com lose-weight.com weightlosssite.com etc
For niche specific sites, you should always try to get your keywords in the domain name. If it has been taken, then put hyphens in between the words. Failing that, then yes - dont be afraid to use another word at the beginning or end but dont use "x" or "y" as you suggested as it looks a little too spammy and lazy. go,now,my,the,so ....... they type of words will often fit nicely at the start of end of the domain and looks a lot better to potential visitors and will help your site rank in the search engines for your keywords still (which is where most of your traffic will be coming from anyway).
You should also check different types of domains. We all know that .com is the most preferred, but .net is can bring in the same amount of traffic.
How about .co.cc? Will it have the same effect? there are a lot of domain extension lately. from .name .me .mobi you name it the rest. Even I'm a noob were overwhelmed with the bulk of options available. My domain might be a little off from my niche. That's why I expect to deliver quality content to compensate it. CMIIW.
Searching keyword rich available domain names is a bit diificult job but it would really help you in getting good returns in future if you succeded in finding good domain name. So, don't think that you are just wasting your time.
Man that is an outstanding answer and I am glad to see someone with a lot of green bars say this! Too many people are looking for the magic bullet, without doing hardwork, backlinks, and relevant, quality content. This domain thing with keywords is what makes domain brokers and resellers rich. Stephen C
Yeh, if you have to use dashes and think about what your trying to sell and incorporate that as well. Just remember that it has to be easy to remember so if you put a letter or number in it someone who is trying to link to you may accidentally link to your competitor because they forgot the extra letter or number.