Many competent SEO advisor’s usually rate the importance of a relevant and keyword rich domain name as around the third most important optimization technique behind other techniques such as the title of the pages, H1 tags and some even anchor text. However, my view on the importance of a domain name for good search engine optimization is that it is probably the biggest or second biggest factor influencing rankings.
When a domain name is indexed it always ranks well for the keywords in the domain, unless it is a single or two word generic term with millions of competitors. Even then, when developing a website on that domain, the benefit is huge. Having the keywords targeted in the domain name WILL make the difference between a top 10 ranking and a ranking on page 5. It will make the difference between having an online business see profits or go broke.
However, the exception to this is in brandable domain names, such as my own here at otooo.com. If you can create your own brand then the top rankings seem less important. They are still a great asset though.
Like most people in SEO would agree, the other major top contributor to rankings is the title. In small, untapped niches with low competition, to gain top 3 rankings it is only required to have the exact targeted keyword in the title. All other SEO techniques will benefit and seal that top position in.
July 26, 2008
There’s a shift recently, from using keyword-based domains to using more “brandable” domains. I think it’s a good shift, as domains are kind of getting keyword-spammy recently, and i’m sure that Google will update their algorithm to compensate for the extra domain spam.
Use a name that you want to use for a while.
Then again, Pizza.com was an excellent purchase. Even if a person seeing the ad doesn’t remember the name of the company, Pizza.com will stick in their minds.
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October 13, 2008
[...] – it was a complete failure. Then I started this blog, and have only concentrated on the basics SEO steps, doing 301 redirects, having the correct permalink structure, building links, putting keywords in [...]
November 5, 2008
I always try to buy domain with my keyword target. But, I think this not the important things in my effort to build my site. The important things is make a “brand” domain, easy to remember just like you have here, and try to make a good content 
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November 9, 2008
When I brainstorm a new site, I look into buying at least two domains. One is heavy on the keywords and could be long. The other is short and used for face-to-face networking, redirecting to the keyworded domain name.
November 18, 2008
I agree and disagree. The domain name is hugely important, however i think the most important single item is off site back links. Nothing in my mind can replace the effectiveness of a good linking strategy. Last month on two websites i drove traffic on 10,000 terms. Most of these terms wern’t in the domain name.
November 22, 2008
I agree & disagree with article, domain name will compete for the keyword if included in the URL.Backlinks alone will not rank your for competitive keywords.
November 29, 2008
[...] trick in this is to take the most occurring keyword in your list of targeted keywords and buy the domain name with this keyword in it as the primary word. By doing this, search engine ranks will increase [...]
December 11, 2008
I think domain name is important but the content of our site is much more important. It decides how often the visitor come to your site ! Try to improve the content day by day. I think this is the best way.
Dinh Trung
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