SEO in Domain Name - Need Help

[ddzc]

Hi all,

I have a generic question regarding SEO and domain names. I will make up a very similar example.

For eg, I buy a domain name called cardcenter.com. I want to target the longtail keywords "baseball cards, hockey cards, etc). Will I get any boost in SEO via domain name from the word "card" in the domain name, even though it doesn't end with an s "cards"?

I have two examples like below:

cardcenter.com
totalcards.com

So one name has "card" and the other has "cards". My realistic scenario is the domain with card sounds better and is easier to remember and related to my niche. In comparisson to the cards domain, its a few characters longer...also easy to remember but not as good as the card domain and the word before cards doesn't make much sence of the niche...the actual generic word is "total" An example would be totalcards.com....

I have tons of longtail keywords to target...all of the keywords end in card or cards...cards gets double the traffic so I will be targetting those longtail keywords.

My niche is not comparable to 'student loans", etc...the niche has a bit of competition and the top rankers have been around since 2003-2004 and are PR5 websites. I'm going to use all of my ability to rank it and possibly beat these sites or even rank on page 1, but I want to ensure I did the most I can SEO wise, to choosing a great domain. The issue I have is that theres no turning back when I choose a domain, i'll be stuck with it and I will be optimizing the domain i'm choosing for a long long time and probably for years to come.

I really want to ensure i've made the right decision with the domain name purchase. I'm definitely going to kick myself if I later find out that I could have received a little boost in the rankings with the cards domain over the card domain....possibly even a boost that could bring me from #2 to #1 for example.

If I receive the same SEO benefits with card or cards in the domain name when targetting keywords ending in cards, then i'm going to get the card domain b/c its shorter and makes more sence regarding the niche.

I can't buy both because I can't afford them (i'm buying an aged .com domain) and I don't want duplicate content due to the penalties associated to it.


Thank You

 

[HappyDay]

If you are good in SEO you don´t need the key word in your url because there are a lot of other ways to optimize a site.Also it doesn´t matter how high your PR is. This is my experience with my own well optimized site, which was several years an authority site listen at #1- #3.
Therefore I would not worry much about card or cards. Just hire a SEO and they will push your site high.

 

[onlinedownloads]

Some webmasters prefer longtailed keyword domain. This gives good SEO advantage even being a new site.
However, some webmasters who prefer short and catchy domains. They too can rank well provided they have high SEO resources and of course budget too.

 

[enlytend]

Don't worry about it so much - get the one that sounds better to you.

1) The domain name is only one factor used to rank a page in the SERPS
2) Google (and other major search engines) understand word stemming, i.e. they fully understand that "card" and "cards" are just 2 forms of the same word. Either will support your targeting long tail phrases with "cards".

 

[4u-domains]

Seemed liked you answered your own question when you mentioned how the plural receives a traffic premium over the singular form.

Personally, I'd for with the plural every time where its more natural. That one little 's' may well be picked up a lot more by search engine enquiries.

 

[P9Media]

4u-domains is right. Go for the one that sounds better in your situation. Singular vs plural is not that important in my experience. Having the card/cards in the name is enough to let Google know what your site is about.