Has Google Killed GEO and KEYWORD Domains

[Aussiejob]

Concerned, Just had a end user keen as, wanting to buy my GEO domain that match their business exactly with keywords for mid $x,xxx.

UNTIL they got their SEO guys involved who told the buyer, GEO and Keyword domains no longer are any benefit to a sites ranking, it's now only about content. They told the buyer they would be wasting their money.

As a newby, I did not really know how to respond, so I asked the question on a SEO forum! And I got the same answer that Domains no longer have any benefit to page ranking, it's now all about content.
The SEO Forum also added that Brandable Domains are now only worth investing in.

Is there any truth in any of this.

Anybody help here, how do I respond to the buyer? to save this deal.

Appreciate your help.

 

[bmugford]

There is far more value to a keyword or targeted GEO than just SEO.

For instance if you offer roofing services in Boston, BostonRoofing.com is a short credible domain that looks great on advertising. People are going to be more likely to do business with you than with a company who has some terrible domain.

Lots of SEO people have no idea about marketing and branding.
Having a good domain + good content is a formula for success.

Brad

 

[SpareDomains]

A debate can be made how much of an advantage a matching domain name has. But what can't be debated is that it's an advantage. In 2017 any advantage you can grab over your competitors helps.

Example...

(InsertCityHere)TreeService.com

How many tree services exist in that city?
How many (InsertCityHere)TreeService.com exist=1

So if that domain can be purchased for $750-$2000 it's a steal.

You have 1 upfront payment and then your looking at $8 year renewal.
So if that domain sells for $800 and you intend to be in business for 10 years before you retire...

$800 Purchase Price
$80 10 Years Of Renewals
$880 divided by 10 years, drum roll please...
$88/Year=Chump Change

How much would it cost to have a tree removed if I called them?

Drive a work van down the road with bigjoesbesttreeservice.com or (InsertCityHere)TreeService.com

What's easier to remember?

Matching domain helps across the board in advertising/branding, PPC etc...

Any chance you can grab your dead on keyword domains that relate to your business or you can grab geo/service that relate to your business you grab them as you don't look at this as 1 year you look at purchase price divided by how many years you intend to be in business and watch that purchase price turn into chump change on a yearly basis.

Cheap insurance to keep them out of your competitors hands.

Feel free to pick what ya want from my rambling. Or if ya don't wish to debate with them simply...

We will move forward contacting other (service here) in (city here) since you are not interested. Thanks for letting us know. Take care.

 

[JB Lions]

There is less emphasis on the keywords in the domain with Google but that affected more of this type of stuff:

2012
"Minor weather report: small upcoming Google algo change will reduce low-quality "exact-match" domains in search results."

Low quality. You can get an exact match domain, build a quality site and rank just fine on page 1, first result etc.

I picked some random major keywords:

shoes
hotels
art
car parts
fabric
perfume
soccer

Page 1 all of them, most of them the #1 spot. Shoes.com, Hotels.com, Fabric.com etc, rank for that keyword just fine.

How about a super niche site, let's take skookum dolls. #2 result in Google, #1 result in MSN.

That's just Google. They are the biggest in free search but there is Yahoo/MSN. There is offline marketing, PPC, social media, just having an exact match is usually easy to remember, describing exactly what your site is about etc. Many more reasons.

So if somebody replies like they did in the first post, you can literally be honest with them and use some of the examples above. I can find those type of examples all day long. Just go right to the source, Google, and look.

 

[Kuffy]

Google isn't the only search engine, It's starting to become useless with its emphasis on selling advertisers products, and promoting its own ans associated sites. Its also censoring content for its own political ends. I'm starting to use DuckDuckGo for any real searches that I need to do.

Google is still massively important, but I wonder how long it will stay like that. I've always said that we should educate surfers about direct navigation, That would help the domain industry if more domainers persuaded surfers to use domain names for site access.

 

[Donnyd]

Questions to ask them some basic questions.

1. What name are they going to advertise on TV with. Will it be something they can remember.

2. Do they want a shitty name to advertise on the radio with "Think Radio Test" If the can't remember it then they have just wasted $$$$$

3. The SEO guys still have to play to pay. The first 4 positions are reserved for Google adwords. If lucky you will get in position 5-8 for organic rankings. Plus it takes 3-6 months just to get ranked 1st page.

4. If the SEO guys are advertising on google they should know that a simple easy to spell domain will get a higher CTR than a shitty .net or domain that does not make sense.
Example CaliforniaPlumbers-com vs greatratesplumbing-net. It is all about TRUST. Which one would a customer click.

Many studies have been done on this and it is just common sense that people will always click the .com and more easy to understand domain. Plus google bolds the name.

5. Are they planning on advertising on any billboard. Hopefully the is short and easy to remember.

6. Bing still uses exact match worth at least 10% of searches.

You hold the cards not them. The life time value of one client is worth how much for the product? They should not be crying over the money. Put a time limit on the offer and tell them after it expires we are going to send out 10 certified letters to nearest competitors for a higher price if they don't accept.

 

[premkumar]

Not fully true, If your domain rank in 1st page or 2nd page for the keyword "Newyork roof repair" and your domain is Newyorkroofrepair.com . Then Google Bold your domain for matching and also people mentality is such that, they search for "Newyork roof repair" and your domain have same keyword, they click your domain more likely than others. In other word, GEO domain will have High CTR(click through rate) compare to others.

Also this benefit helps in SEM(adwords etc) because again bolding factor increase the CTR

 

[Omar Negron]

Geo domains don't ONLY offer seo value. If it's a great geo domain that describes their business, then that's incredibly valuable right there.

SEO value isn't the only reason someone should buy a domain name. Actually, I wouldn't even think about the SEO aspect of it because 1 change in the google algorithm can crush your website rankings overnight.

Trust me, I know. lol.

-Omar

 

[WhoaDomain.com]

lol ask them if they trust their SEO guys? ask them if a domain's "power" could put these SEO employees "out of a job" or at the very least makes the boss say "what do I pay you for?" wouldn't it be in the best interest to protect their SEO jobs by telling the boss "you don't need a Geo Domain." because the assumption is that "you've got me! your SEO guy!"

and then you mention all the big domain sales for geo's like

JacksonHole.com
Manhattan.com
etc etc.

As a boss do you trust that a good Geo domain will be good for you business? or the SEO guy who has to feed his wife and kids and can't lose his SEO job?

tell him sometimes you gotta "read between the lines" and think logical.

If a good domain eliminates some if not most of the work for the SEO guys. then what's the point in "having" an SEO guy?


tell them too that Amazon and microsoft and johnson and johson still owns tens of thousands of domains.

if those domains were no longer "good" then why do they still own them?

answer? Because it's STILL good to own good domains.

you don't have to believe or trust me. Trust the fact that these companies still own that many domains.

 

[Furquan]

You have asked it here, everyone will tell you the "SEO Guys" are fool, but the truth is right. Even Google just started targeting exact match keyword domain name.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/choose-a-domain-name-maximum-seo/158951/

Also,
Someone here told you Google isn't be a single search engine, but ask him what percent of traffic other search engine send?

Company made a good move not going with exact match keyword domain aka EMD but you should try to tell them not every EMD domain get penalized, also try to tell them about advertising impact with EMD domain. I have seen great CTR rate when you try to advertise on Google search with exact match keyword domain name.

 

[1Darko]

Simple answer to them:

- exact geo+keyword is only one domain available (premium .com). Now is the time to get it and if not maybe lost forever to competition

- brandable with the same content as geo+keyword - countless combos available - therefor worth much less than geo+keyword

Customer will trust exact geo+keyword and therefor conversion rate will be significantly higher.

For a smart manager, ceo or director the choice should be easy.

Give them some example of developed geo+keyword domains, so they can have a taste what it looks like to be located on the best online spot .

Good luck!

 

[EZPZYO]

Concerned, Just had a end user keen as, wanting to buy my GEO domain that match their business exactly with keywords for mid $x,xxx.

UNTIL they got their SEO guys involved who told the buyer, GEO and Keyword domains no longer are any benefit to a sites ranking, it's now only about content. They told the buyer they would be wasting their money.

As a newby, I did not really know how to respond, so I asked the question on a SEO forum! And I got the same answer that Domains no longer have any benefit to page ranking, it's now all about content.
The SEO Forum also added that Brandable Domains are now only worth investing in.

Is there any truth in any of this.

Anybody help here, how do I respond to the buyer? to save this deal.

Appreciate your help.

Search engines can't do this!

 

[Business Brands]

Google has not killed anything.

It seems they cannot get their business together.

They use abc.xyz for Alphabet, Inc
They use domains.google for domain name registrar.
They use gmail.com for email service.
They use google.com for search service.

They established domain name parking but could not manage it.

They should hire our firm to consult on domain name operations.

Kind regards,

DomainNameBroker.com

 

[ivey]

Bad SEO Kills, not Google.

 

[forge]

Once the SEO or "Web Guy" gets involved the deal is dead...

There are a litany of reasons why this happens, seek previous "web guy" posts.

This is SO true. I had a deal in the bag, even the in-house folks were gearing to change business cards (I was cc'ed by email!) but once I got on the phone with their "IT guy" his attitude was so atrocious that everything went teats up. Only 'crickets'.

 

[Mr. Deleted]

Prior posts contained sound info...giggle has stiff competition coming from around the corner from more than one source. The seo 'experts' that gave the bad advice don't have a clue.

I assume you meant Google, but I like that name, Giggle. But Giggle.com's stores are closing. That may open it up for anew buyer.

 

[obocar]

Anyone want to get rid of their geo domains, let me know. I like collecting them.

 

[briguy]

Isn't google like a woman..
Once you begin to understand them a little..
they change?

Seriously...I gave up trying to rank in google, I been using/relying on "Social Media"..

 

[MR Harrist]

yep! it's true! and it's old news! if I were you I will move on, and find another buyer!

 

[DomainVP]

UNTIL they got their SEO guys involved

Once the SEO or "Web Guy" gets involved the deal is dead...

There are a litany of reasons why this happens, seek previous "web guy" posts.

As a newby, I did not really know how to respond

Show them comparable sales, and let them know why other companies made the decision to acquire those similar names. Maybe even link them to a 'web guy' thread discussing how they get in the way of their employers.

Alas... in most cases the deal is dead once it hits "Web Guy" and you just move on.

 

[Smiles76]

Yes, it is. They stop bolding headline but description still get bold for searched keywords. Still, the user behavior generally favor's URL with matching keywords, that make them feel, this link definitely have "what I am looking for"

Actually, users pay very little attention to the actual domain name. They see the title tag and description and click on the link.

 

[doc24]

GEO is not dead by any means

 

[obocar]

https://www.namepros.com/threads/buying-geo-names.997562/

 

[nicholas]

GEO, EM/PM, brandables, etc. are still good for, well, branding. Otherwise, SEO is now about how well a site is optimized to answer the searcher's question, intent, or desired solution. The name is secondary.

The point is for people not to rely on the domains alone for search engine rankings, but treat it as one of many factors that can entice your customer as one of many steps to ultimately get you the sale. You still have to get all the other elements in place (relevance, good practices, good content, good visuals, etc.)

For example, owning cars.com, mouse.com or laptop.com is great, left alone, and will definitely get you good type-in traffic income.

But owning asdfghjkl.xyz will be far more valuable if it is properly optimized for something that brings in the right traffic, converts and sells.

 

[pocakka1]

S.E.O = Spam Everyone Online
~
The best seo is called Adsense

I think you're thinking of the Adwords, not Adsense.

 

[xynames]

The keyword in the domain URL still counts towards SEO. Anyway, this is an endless debate. Here is one perspective:
https://www.hobo-web.co.uk/search-engine-friendly-urls/

The guys who have exact match domains, and real word domains, will tell you that this is the way to go, and the ones who have the oddball names, the misspelled name domains, will tell you that what they are selling will work just as well.

What I do know is that I have the exact match domains, the real word domains, the ones that mean something, and I am getting offers daily and selling regularly at no lower than four figure (with very few exceptions) and sometimes five figure prices. Plus, when I pick a domain name for my own online businesses, I look for real words, EMDs if possible.

When someone contacts me about a real word or EMD domain I am in a position of power to quote comparables and explain why my domain is worth so much. I don't really see how I can in good faith argue the high value of a made up word domain, that could just as easily be replaced with another made up word domain, that has no relevance or relationship to the intended business other than being supposedly brandable.

A good salesman may sell snow to the Eskimos, but I know what I have here! and don't have to employ subterfuge to sell my domains. With that honest straightforward approach, Aussiejob, you should be able to convince your buyer that you have what he needs. Quoting some comparables is a good idea too.