advice SLD and seo help

[schprinter]

Hi guys new member here!

As you can assume I am a "domains newbie" coming here to ask you for some help.

To cut a long story short - I have read some articles claiming that SLD with targeted keyword will have an impact on future position of the company's site, while other group of "specialists" are saying that this approach is "passé" and it is better to come up with your own name (i.e. etsy.com) and build your presence around your own specific name - Where is the truth?

Is it better to buy a domain (for a Fintech company) which is made-up and gives me 0 hits on google or a combination of "made-up" name and real world i.e. (LLLLLloans.com) which gives me c.110.000 hits?

If there is already registered brand and you add to this name group. (LLLLLLLLgroup.com) can you expect a call from the registered brand owner soon or this should not affect your web presence?

Is it legal to buy a .com domain because a company from (i.e. Germany) did not bought it yet and offer them .com domain for a "fair" price.

Thanks a lot

 

[golan]

Sorry, it's really hard to understand what you are talking about...

Besides, what is SLD?

 

[schprinter]

Well, I am not native English speaker.

@what is SLD? -In the domain name system (DNS) hierarchy, a second-level domain (SLD) is a domain that is directly below a top-level domain (TLD). For example, in example.com, example is the second-level domain of the .com TLD.

I am asking if it is better for the SEO purpose to register a domain which consists of targeted (word) or it actually doesn't matter and you can do equally well if you register a "made up" domain.

Additionally, I was asking if you can register a domain which consists of the word that is already registered as a trademark/brand.

I hope it is clear now.

 

[aramyus]

I think you may be mixing two totally distinct business models.

- domaining
- developing a site

Domaining is really making transactions on domains without developing a web site or a business on them.

For sure, many domains buyers do so with the intention to develop a web site on it. But it's not always true and many domains are purchased by investors who expect to profit from reselling them.

Keywords in a domain name used to be a major decision factor for purchasing a domain. It was so because it was easy to rank a site with a so called emd (exact match domain). This is not true anymore, or at least it has become a secondary factor.

Brandability has become one of the major driving forces, and short names like etsy are becoming more popular. Short keywords are still very popular, but long domains like learn-internet-marketing-online.com have no longer any value.

New extensions are also becoming popular and some startup choose them for their website.

With whatever extension, short names and dictionary words are 'good values'. For the rest, I am not sure of the future and you will find big debates on that on NP. I personally would not buy a .com.au or .com.in domain unless I wanted to create a real site in Australia or India.

In your post, you hint you might want to buy domains that contain a trade mark, and it's really not a good idea. It's just too risky to play this game.

In summary, when investing a domain, don't over emphasize seo factors and ask yourself if you'd like to run your own business with the domain name you are considering. If the answer is no: be very careful.

 

[DTR Alex]

That is called EMD = exact match domain - that is already undervalued by Google, many websites were penalised in past! That doesn't mean that you shouldn't go for this EMD but the thing is you are not going to get too much SEO benefit by having just EMD........ of course SEO's other factors are applied and that EMD can rank well.

You don't need to invest thousands of dollars to purchase a domain name, if that domain name is not available add some words, be a little creative and you will be able to find a good domain name.

Make sure, it is short, meaningful, visitors can understand the purpose of the domain name...... means it should be easy to understand.

If your business is targeted to any particular country, go for that country based TLd, for example .fr for France ---- .co.in, or .in for India etc.

Of course, SEO is very important and it has many factors, try to implement as many factors as you can, and you will be able to rank better in SERP.

Create engaging content
Have easy to remember domain name
Build quality links
Take help of social media
Advertise your business using as many methods of advertisement as you can
Establish authority in the niche you are dealing in

Make use of Web 2.0 sites and video sites for the promotion and link building

 

[schprinter]

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys - I appreciate.

Okay, it is clear now that EMD is not the best solution anymore, but I am still lost when it comes to "dictionary names" and "brand" - i.e. if you buy a domain trendhotel.com (not the best name for the investment bank, but lets use this domain as an example. Domain consists of 2 dictionary words (trend and hotel), and you try to build your brand trendhotel finance around financial services instead of I don't know... hotels, hospitality industry, can this be disastrous for the SEO ?

About "domaining vs. developing a site" I still believe that developing a site and use proper marketing will bring me more money than trading with domain only - well, if I keep in consideration the amount of money and time I am willing to spend. Besides that I need to get better understanding of "domain industry".

 

[enlytend]

Domain consists of 2 dictionary words (trend and hotel), and you try to build your brand trendhotel finance around financial services instead of I don't know... hotels, hospitality industry, can this be disastrous for the SEO ?

No, but you will confuse the hell out of people until if and when your brand develops critical mass.

No one factor will make or break your site from an SEO standpoint. Well ... unless you do something that pisses Google off (and get caught.)

 

[SBS66]

Thanks a lot for your feedback guys - I appreciate.

Okay, it is clear now that EMD is not the best solution anymore....

Clear? Not so much. EMD sites on which you just slap some whatever content will not work. EMD with unique content will still work, to varying degrees.

See: http://www.localsearchforum.com/organic-seo/42102-do-exact-match-domains-still-work.html

Also, EMDs have value beyond the organic SEO benefits in terms of memorability and relevancy for the target market.

 

[DomainVP]

EMD's help with back links, which is the #1 metric in SEO; how many back links are coming from authority sites - and what keywords does the link anchor text use.

It's that simple.

If you have a EMD then people are more inclined to use that exact keyword to link to your site; making your brand and and your target product one-in-the-same.

 

[aramyus]

a) The term emd is not the best description for what is of interest and what is not

Technically, the domains below are emd
acnesolutions.com
acousticalproducts.com
addictivegames.com
aerialconcepts.com
funtimes.com

and they all were traded for above 1000$ recently.

Notice that all of them are really brandable and desirable for a company.

b) emd seem to still give a slight advantage for seo despite what G claims. It apparently is more sensitive for keywords with moderate competition, so very small niches. There are few buyers for this kind of keywords.

c) Developing sites is a perfectly viable business model. It's usually called site flipping. When selling your site, the actual domain name will be less important than the amount of traffic/profit/subscribers/social media reputation... the site has. But if you chose a horrible name, it will be a handicap.

d) TrendHotel
I wouldn't like to have this name on my business card. So, to me, it has little value. It may also be TM. However, the two components are very popular and a quick search on G shows plenty of potential buyers. So, it's probably sellable.

e) I suggest you visit namebio.com and shortnames.com : They report past domain transactions

 

[SBS66]

a) ..

b) emd seem to still give a slight advantage for seo despite what G claims...

G claims are based on what is good for G.. I've found that testing is always a good idea.