How to find good domains through use of keyword tools

[Domainate.com]

I thought I'd share an article I just made on using keyword tools to find domains: Why Keyword Tools Beat Domain Tools For Researching Domains

It's something I started doing a couple years ago in addition to going through expired domains lists and it's become a regular part of my domaining because of sales of domains I've gotten through doing it. I was inspired to make it through finding a couple of nice tools, one of them a great tool for putting together full geo keyword phrases, and another for helping with capitalizing keywords. I thought "man, these are awesome for domainers IF domainers knew how to use them to their benefit" and realized some people might not realize how easy it is to bridge the gap from keywords to domains. Conversely, I think we all know the pain of having to split domains into their respective keywords for doing research on them. Finding domains through keywords first can take a lot less time and often find some great names that have been sitting there expired for a while but undiscovered for whatever reason.

I'll share in this post one thing that's not in the article, something I've started doing recently. We as domainers typically use Google's Keyword Tool on an individual domain basis to look up stats on its keywords. Lately I've had instances where I wanted to find domains of a particular category or subject (like poker for instance). So what I'll do is just put poker in there and let Google suggest a bunch of keywords (it will do up to 150 suggestions of terms including poker), then start doing terms like holdem to get suggestions of terms including it but not poker, then start doing the highest search terms from the results of those to get even further offshoots. Ultimately I might end up with 800-1000 different keyword phrases. Then I'll go through the process of turning them into domains (as explained in my post) so I can check them for availability. Especially if you have a site already of a particular category and you want to bolster what you have domainwise to support it, this is a good process to find the domains with the most searched terms in the niche that are still available.

Anyways, I hope it helps some of you and I'll make some more informative articles soon.

 

[DavidH]

Nice one Steve - I have recently started to concentrate on searched for keywords which is working well for end user sales.

Another tool I have found useful is KeywordSpy.com - this is very useful to find out how much people are paying for keywords and which sites are using them for advertising. It is also useful to put a website url in and find out what keywords they are buying, then check these for any available names to then try to sell to that website. You can get a free membership which allows up to 20 results.

 

[strivehi]

Good article and tips Steve.

I've developed one additional, but underutilized, time-saver that you may want to consider adding to your Excel walkthrough...

Create macros!

I've condensed each and every step you mention into 2 keystrokes

Excel allows you to "record" your keystrokes as you go through your step-by-step actions, then save them into a command script. You can then assign that macro to a shortcut key for future use.

Macros are found under Tools > Macros > Record New Macros

Here's what I do...

1. Perform my keyword research
2. Download CSV file from Google Keyword Tool
3. Open in Excel
4. Run the "strip [ + strip ] replace with .com + remove blank space" macro

Finished!

You now have your domain-ready list to check for availability.

@ David

Agreed.

I only focus on generic, keyword-based, commercial domain names these days.

Another good "selling" tactic is to convert the Adwords data into real $$$ potentially saved or earned. What I call the SEO Commercial Value.

Here's what I mean...

What I've done is create a simple formula which answers the question:

If I ranked #1 on Google organically, what could this domain potentially be worth?

Research suggests that #1 ranked sites on Google garner approx. 40% of clicks.

So I:

- Take the 12-month avg. search figure ("exact match" only) from Adwords
- Multiply that by .4
- Then multiply that number by the Avg. CPC

(Using a macro of course )

It's rough and certainly not perfect (we all know search figures are fluid and approx.), but I've now got a fair representation of the monthly commercial value of this keyword/keyword phrase with a #1 ranking on Google; that advertisers are currently bidding on and consumers are actively searching.

End-users want to know and see how YourDomain.com is going to affect their bottom line (and gain a competitive advantage). I've found this to be a good way to translate "seo-domainer-speak" into business-speak $$$

As an example, using this formula today, the phrase "credit cards" has an approx. monthly organic search value of $1,483,776 :o

Additionally, I like to point out a few fun facts:

- Over 85% of Google clicks are from organic search results
- The average Google search consists of 4 words
- 20-25% of searches on Google are unique
- 5 out of 6 commercial purchases which originate from search originate from the organic search results

Negotiations tend to flow much more smoothly once you're able to demonstrate true market value.

 

[Domainate.com]

True that on macros...I didn't go into them myself because I think the mere mention of them scare a lot of people, lol. They ARE pretty easy to set up though and save a lot of time. I laid out the process I did without macros so that people don't feel like they have to know programming at all to do it, even if basic macros don't involve any programming (and basic programming is easier than most people think anyways).

Good post though, thanks. I need to make another post on blog but not sure what to do it about, lol.

Edit: Also, with regards to your formula on determining value, that's good for a basic premise but it's not the greatest unless it takes into account the ability to reach #1 too via ratio of searches to search results. The other day I got a 5 word acne domain with over 400/mo exact search for the term but just over 300 exact search results for it! Getting #1 for that term would be piece of cake whereas if there were 300,000 results for it, would most certainly not be as easy. I realize there's no easy way to get search results for keywords in bulk, or at least not to my knowledge, but if you boil down prospective names to get into a shortlist, it's worth checking out to get an idea.

 

[strivehi]

Yeah, I hear ya...I'm definitely NOT a programmer. The mere mention of C++, PHP, etc. starts making my eye twitch.

I consider myself more of a hack deluxe

RE: The formula...

You're absolutely correct. It does not take into account prevailing SEO competition, although that's something you can also easily determine (and should). It's just one piece of the puzzle.

The formula strictly measures the approx. potential organic SEO value for achieving a #1 ranking. Personally, I've found that many of the keyword domains I discover tend to be very good candidates - suitable for achieving easier rankings - primarily b/c they tend to be longer tails and more niche-oriented.

There are lots of variables at play, but my objective when I approach keyword research is to focus on viable commercial markets. The formula gives me a good economic base.

Next, I check on the competition.

Based on my own research and experience, I would break it down like this:

"Search Results"
> 100K = Very possible, but requires superior SEO and/or weak competition
50K - 100K = Fair to Good probability of ranking
10k - 50K = Good
< 10K = Very Good

It never ceases to amaze me how many top ranked sites have achieved their ranking with REALLY poor on-page SEO. If you can come to Google with a strong combination of on and off-page SEO, you improve your odds immensely for moving up the SERPs. There's no need to game the system or resort to black hat.

I've seen sites with less than a year of seasoning outrank 5yr. old PR5+ sites, simply b/c of stronger fundamental SEO.

Most end-users (or their webmasters) just don't take the time to incorporate basic SEO principles.

Since most of us are approaching end-users that already have an established site, we need to focus on educating them about the inherent benefits of keyword domains (particularly as it relates to SEO). How owning a portfolio or network of related (product, service, industry, geo, verticals, etc.), commonly-searched phrases will allow them to take advantage of LSI and tap into multiple streams of traffic that are available right now.

One of the main concerns is always, "but I already have my site, why would I want to go through the time and expense of starting another one with this domain name?"

It doesn't require setting up additional sites (although running multiple campaigns with mini-sites is a great way to track new promos and product/service launches), redirect, create a sub-domain, start a blog, and you can funnel all this fresh organic traffic to your primary site.

There are plenty of options.

This discussion could be the topic of your next blog post