Domain names & SEO

[furca]

I now have 25 minisites and all are performing in top 3 pages for their keywords. 0 backlinks.

[4u-domains]

I now have 25 minisites and all are performing in top 3 pages for their keywords. 0 backlinks.

Nice one.

I genuinely believe that strong keyword domains themselves will get people well up in the rankings, with decent content and a modicum of optimization.

Further SEO and some decent backlinking is then just required for the final push.

[David G]

There are even a couple forums dedicated to the subject.

Was not aware there are forums dedicated to the keywords in the url issue

There are no silver bullets

Targeted keywords in the URL are not necessarily a silver bullet by themselves but it comes much closer to being a magic bullet compared to most any type of SEO factors involved with the possible exception of lots of content and links but even then the keyword url's may still rank better, IMO.

[DomainsOz]

Many people talk about exact match domain names and their influence on rankings. In my experience yes they do help a lot.

Think about it this way.

Phone books and telephone directory assistance have been replaced by search engines. Many people will search for a company they already know. e.g. "New York Widgets" company. If this company's website is newyorkwidgets.com they will usually rank #1. It's in the search engines best interest to do this to give a better user experience and I can't see how or why they would change the way it currently works. If you were smart enough to register it or have enough cash to buy it you should get a bonus.

[dncsacnt]

I agree to some here, that having a domain name that is exactly the same with the keywords you're after on rankings, somehow helps in your serp ranking. However it wouldn't be enough in my opinion or wouldn't give you too much help either. You still need to work hard on your seo.

[furca]

I am performed "SEO" by getting someone to write an article about my site then posting it to various social networking sites. The site's traffic remains stable. However, the sites of which I have not optimized at all externally continue to increase in page views.

Thus, this prompts me the suggestion that I should waste no time on external SEO factors.

[David G]

Are you extremely more likely to rank high if your domain matches the keyword?

The short answer is yes (not sure about extremely) but much more so than most believe (depending to a degree on the keywords).

[furca]

Thank you. My recent success is reflected from the knowledge shared in this thread.

[Aleksandar]

I think that google doesn't make any differences between generic extensions like .net/.info etc...

.com wasn't designed as a premium extension back in the days, and I think it ranks like every other generic extension. It has some advantages now but it's surelly not better by default when it comes to search engines.

[HarveyJ]

.info does attract a penalty due to overuse by low-quality and spam sites. The ones that rank do so through good external SEO.

.com is only king because it's the extension people remember, although peopel are more than happy to remember .net as well nowadays.

You won't get a penalty in GoogleNCR for having a ccTLD, although you will get a nice fat bonus for it in the correct GoogleCC. Several of my .com.au domains rank in the top 5 in GoogleAU, but aren't even on the first 3 pages in regular search.

[DomainsOz]

You won't get a penalty in GoogleNCR for having a ccTLD, although you will get a nice fat bonus for it in the correct GoogleCC. Several of my .com.au domains rank in the top 5 in GoogleAU, but aren't even on the first 3 pages in regular search.

Have you had any experience with .net.au's. I don't think they get as much of a bonus. What are your thoughts Harvey?

[Banned: PRIYE]

keywords in the URL can help rankings, but you don’t need that in order to rank. Please comment if you have more to add, or can help me better understand your own knowledge or experience.

[chimeara27]

google much prefer a domain.