The Reciprocal Consulting Blog

I have to admit that when I read the title of this article at SiteProNews I thought, “OK, here’s another shallow article on how domain names are the Holy Grail of SEO. Isn’t that so 2005?”

After reading the article I have to agree with its premise.

Much has been said of link building, link baiting, and other here-today-gone-tomorrow SEO schemes. But Google always seems to find a way to make these “hot” SEO tactics not so hot after a series of algorithm changes. But one thing Google has never seemed to target for limitation is the domain name. It could very well be the most important SEO ranking factor long term.

I like the way the author puts it in these paragraphs:

Many SEO experts would suggest high quality backlinks from keyword related authority sites to be the overriding factor for high rankings. Others would suggest, in the new improved Panda-Empowered Google, on-page and on-site metrics are now the most important ranking factors to be considered for high listings.

However, I would suggest another old ranking factor, which is still one of the most over-riding factors for getting those top listings in Google. Simply put, having the exact keywords or keyword phrase in your domain name and title, is the most important ranking factor.

Unlike other SEO ranking factors, domain names are a tight security against fluctuating algorithms intended to kill search engine spam. Just by putting your exact keyword phrase – your primary phrase – in your domain name and ensuring that your website is full of high quality content, that alone is a goldmine of search ranking potential. In many cases, link building isn’t even necessary. I’ve seen sites rank on that alone.

The key is in choosing a keyword phrase that accurately depicts what your site is about without getting cute. Then, filling that website’s pages with high quality content which also targets that keyword phrase without going into excess.

Domain names are like real estate. If you build your business on the most desirable corner in a city, then you will no doubt get tons of traffic. People will stop in to see what you are about. And the real estate is limited. In the same way, a domain name can be like that street corner. Its value can increase according to market demand and the limitations imposed on the space.

Do it well and your domain name can serve you for years to come.

Domain Sherpa conducted a study involving generic domain names and non-generic domain names on pay-per-click advertising. Their conclusion was that generic domain names were better for PPC advertising than non-generic domain names.

Heck, we could have told you that.

Generic domain names are not only good for PPC, they’re also good for organic search. The reason is real simple.

Searchers perceive generic domain names to have more credibility in the search results. Taking the divorce lawyer example provided in Domain Sherpa’s article, would you rather sit down with an attorney from DivorceLawyer.com or one from VladimerLaw.com?

For some reason, DivorceLawyer.com carries more points in terms of credibility and reputation when conducting a search at one of the search engines. That’s because the searcher is looking for a divorce lawyer. Unless that searcher is searching specifically for a brand name, no single brand is going to stand out as most credible in a generic search for a service.

That’s why generic domain names are preferred for SEO and PPC by most search engine optimization experts.

I think generic domain names work better for SEO as well, for similar reasons. It’s a matter of credibility where the generic search is concerned. When planning your next online marketing plan, take that into consideration.

There are three trains of thought concerning domain names. There are the exact match domain name advocates, the “close enough” domain name advocates, and the branded domain name advocates. Each camp has its good reasons for believing as they do and have some good points of defense, but is there a right way?

Not really.

The reason some people think an exact match domain name is necessary is because of SEO. There have been times when exact match domains ranked better as a result of a keyword appearing in the domain name. Now is one of those times. But there have also been times when it didn’t matter. That’s because Google is always tweaking its algorithm and things change.

This might sound like a reason to ensure you have an exact match domain name because, after all, if you’re living in such a time that it does matter for SEO purposes then you’ll want to cash in. But not so fast.

There are plenty of online businesses who have a branded domain name and they’re doing just fine. Google is one of those. Facebook, the most trafficked website online, is another. Obviously, they’ve done pretty well without exact match domain names, haven’t they?

There is something to be said for building a brand. Traditional business and marketing techniques suggest that branding yourself has a lot more long-term benefit than an exact match domain ever could have. If you can do both, great, but if t comes down to one or the other, you’d be better off with going with a name that will give you long-lasting benefits.

Learn more about search engine optimization and Internet marketing from Reciprocal Consulting.

Did you know that you can change your domain name and still keep your search engine rankings?

Changing your domain name is not something we recommend to do if it is avoidable, Google doesn’t recommend it either, but we recently pulled it off when we had to change our main website’s domain name from foremanpike.com to reciprocalconsulting.com.

The problem was that we had top rankings in Google for “internet marketing firms” and many other keyword phrases we were targeting. We knew that it was important to do 301 redirects, but what other factors were involved. Here are a few we had to consider:

• Domain “trust”
• Content changes
• Duplicate content
• Apache and hosting issues
• Sitemap issues

Taking those factors into consideration, we were able to move our site to the new domain name with only about a 30 day interruption in our rankings. In fact, we are now ranking better than ever with the brand new domain name! If changing domain names and keeping your search engine rankings is something you need help with, feel free to contact us about it.