Hi all. I'd like to know how important exact keywords are vs having a lot of links. For example, say that bigbutt.com was unregistered. When people type big butt into google, other related sites come up. If I registered bigbutt.com, would I get priority in google's algorithms or would I have to build up a ton of backlinks to get onto the first page? Does that make sense? I realize you ideally would want both. But I'm wondering how much of an advantage I'd have if I had the exact keywords in the url when I setup a new site. Thanks.
if you ask me, backlinks aren't as important as they used to be... in my opinion, having bigbutt.com would give you a tremendous boost and while while you probably wouldn't shoot to the #1 spot right away if there is any competition in the big butts niche, you'd still have a good shot at nailing the #1 spot with a little bit of link building and actual traffic. true story: this was earlier this year, about april 2010. i registered an exact match domain for a pair of keywords in a niche that nobody was competing in, i.e. the results were all organic. a week later i had the #1 spot. my site had no backlinks, not even one. i had the #1 spot for about 5 months. then - and this is really weird - i added a backlink to the site and now my site is on page 2. i'm not sure if it's the sandbox - a coincidence - or google noticed the artificial linkbuilding. i may try removing the link and see if i go back to the #1 spot on page 1. anyway, i'm pretty sure backlinks (i.e. PR) don't mean quite as much as they used to say in 2007.
well i guess both have their pros and cons, some works for others and some does not. try it yourself and see what is best for you
An exact keyword match com / net / org domain will always be extremely beneficial to rank for the keyword in question. Buying an aged domain is also helpful. Combine that with useful content and get some relevant backlinks and you have a good base, SY
If you go for low competition keywords you will find back links are not as important, the higher competition keywords you want to rank for the more backlinks you will need!
For me, both keywords and backlinks are very important. You know why? Keywords = Exposure to the search engine ranking pages (SERPS) Backlinks = Building traffic I suggest you stick to both, not just one.