by Ba Kiwanuka
The old school of thinking largely advocated one incorporating their most (desired) targeted keyword in their domain name. Of course if you were a little on the late side to the internet marketing fiesta then your choices in selecting a domain name which incorporated a highly competitive keyword were naturally going to be somewhat diminished. So for example if you were one of the early adopters of the internet and recognized its immense potential and duly embraced online marketing while the rest of us were still just figuring out how to surf, you may well have chosen a domain name incorporating either of the following keywords within your URL: 1. "internet business" or 2. "internet marketing."
However with the somewhat basic search engine algorithms of the time it would have been advisable to separate double or triple-worded domain names with hyphens to help the search engine spiders better understand that your domain name was composed of a keyphrase as opposed to a non-existent amalgamated keyword. For example in the case of my site, internetbusinessmart.com would have been more search engine friendly as internet-business-mart.com.
However be that as it may, these days the search engines are quite savvy and can pretty much differentiate the different words incorporated in a domain name that has more than one word in squeezed-together fashion. However given a choice, I believe the best practice is to hyphenate the separate words in a multi-word URL!
Okay, high time we tackled the issue at hand: why and what should determine whether you ought to incorporate your most desired keyword in your domain name?
Cons of Incorporating Keyword In Your Domain Name
You may or you may not be aware that quite recently (Oct 2007) the search engine deity (Google) pretty much gave the online marketing community at large a resounding Google Slap of disapproval which manifested as significant decrease of page rank for most marketing-related websites (not that PR (page rank) has really ever been of much significance except as a tool to sell links if you were into that sort of thing).
This widespread Google Slap was not restricted to the internet marketing community alone but also targeted websites that were selling links, even well established SEO sites. The distinguishing difference between the mainstream Google Slap and the one directed against internet marketing sites was that for online marketing websites it didn't matter whether they were selling links or not, Google pretty much lopped off a chunk of page rank here and there. Few survived the slaughter unscathed!
So it's not unreasonable to surmise that it appears as if Google is sending a loud and clear message to the online marketing community that they are fed up with the proliferation of marketing sites, many of which are little more than affiliate squeeze pages adding no new value to the internet but rather are platforms for disseminating largely duplicitous material...definitely a big No-No in Google's Brave New Web Paradise!
So what does this really have to do with whether you should incorporate a keyword in your domain name or not? In a word...EVERYTHING! In an effort to better control the internet (Oops - did I say control? Mybad! I meant manage) Google has developed a substantial number of filters and algorithmic checks and balances to curb the proliferation of sites targeting the same keyword and thereby largely displaying duplicitous content.
The Google Keyword Suppressor Filter
Google currently appears to have in place keyword filters whose purpose is to restrict the wanton proliferation of duplicative sites and control the maturation and advancement of new sites. These filters operate in conjunction with the so-called Google Sandbox working in concert for a greater synergistic filtering effect. The following description illustrates how the Keyword Suppressor Filter functions:
Let's consider an example of two webmasters respectively titled Webmaster A and Webmaster B who are developing two brand new sites from scratch. Webmaster A is so excited with the idea of making huge sums of money from online marketing (he just stumbled upon a particularly well-written promotional piece of copy) he decides to set up a domain named internet-marketing-success-tips.com. Webmaster B is into frogs and toads (don't ask me why, she just is) and is captivated by the African Clawed Toad (Xenopus Laevis) and respectively names her website african-clawed-toad.com.
Unfortunately for Webmaster A he has made 2 glaring mistakes:
1. He has dived into a fiercely competitive and already oversaturated industry; not only does his most desired keyword (in this case internet marketing) boast a difficulty level of about 84% (where 100% is the highest difficulty level), there are approximately 360 million websites listed for that term in the Google index!
2. He has incorporated such a highly competitive keyword "internet marketing" in his domain name; never mind the fact that it is hyphenated and associated with two other words (success and tips). The damage is already done and his inclusion of the words "internet marketing" in his URL will automatically trigger the Google Keyword Suppressor Filter. What this means is that his site is going to languish in search engine limbo (also known as search engine never never land) for a considerable length of time!
In a nutshell it is going to be extra hard to get that site out of the Google Sandbox unless Webmaster A is a wiz at amassing a ton of traffic from different (independent) IP addresses to his site. Furthermore Google is almost certainly going to take its sweet ole time before recognizing and accrediting any link strength to such a site!
So what of Webmaster B and her band of princes...Oops I mean frogs and toads? Her site is about Xenopus Laevis, otherwise known as the African Clawed Toad. The good news for Webmaster B is that there only 101,000 listings for her most desired keyword (or phrase) which in this case is "african clawed toad." One hundred thousand listings may sound a lot, but believe me it is nothing in the realm of online search! More good news for Webmaster B is that the keyword (phrase) african clawed toad has a difficulty level of just 35.57%. The one drawback in this case is that not many people look up this term, but since commercial viability is not really a concern here (Webmaster B is truly passionate about her toads and frogs) there is no real downside.
Altogether the limited number of web listings for the African Clawed Toad (101,000; at time of writing) signifies that there is less material on the subject circulating the internet which means that any new website focusing on the topic of the African Clawed Toad is going to have a far warmer search engine reception. Put simply, the URL african-clawed-toad.com is going to ascend the Google Index far quicker and easier than internet-marketing-success-tips.com in the face of good SEO application by both webmasters.
To ease the effect of the Keyword Suppressor Filter, Webmaster A could alternatively have named his domain name with a term totally unrelated to online marketing, such as his name. In fact of late, this appears to be the favored technique of veteran marketers because not only does it resolve the suppressor effect (to a certain degree but not completely), when you use your name or some catchy phrase, it could well end up as your brand identity in the future.
Note that I stated that not incorporating a competitive keyword in your URL will only negate the keyword suppressor effect to a certain degree and not completely neutralize it. That is so because today's search engine scripts are intelligent enough to determine the central focus of any web page via the content displayed on that web page. So if your site is about marketing but your URL doesn't incorporate any keywords associated with marketing the search engines will still be able to figure it out and then guess what...the Keyword Suppressor Filter will kick in!
That pretty much covers the cons against inserting a highly desirable yet competitive keyword in your domain name but what of the benefits? Click link below to find out:
Ba Kiwanuka is the webmaster of
http://www.internetbusinessmart.com