Services
|
Domain Names
and Search Engine Optimization
by:
Halstatt Pires
There are a lot of factors involved if you are considering
building out a site with search engine optimization in mind.
Your domain name is just one, but an important one.
Domain Names and Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization is simply an effort to get pages
on your site to rank high in the natural or organic listings
on various search engines with Google, Yahoo and MSN being
the most important. Taking this approach to online marketing
requires a lot of planning, patience and work.
Unfortunately, many people get off on the wrong foot when
the pick their domain name.
Selecting a domain name is often viewed as a simple process.
Most businesses will simply use their offline business name
or something off the top of their head. Others will try to
pick something that is catchy, so visitors will hopefully
remember the name and come back to buy more. If you are
planning on pursuing search engine optimization, the
approaches will not kill you. That being said, there is a
better way to pick your domain.
One of the interesting things about most search engines is
they put a significant amount of value on the words in the
root of a domain name. By root, I mean the words between www
and the dot com, net or whatever you are using. Simply put,
even a moderate optimization effort will usually lead to the
site appearing high under the phrase in the domain name.
Given this fact, it is important to think long and hard
about the domain you use.
One approach used by many people doing search engine
optimization is to match keyword phrases and domains. The
idea is to research keyword phrases being used by people in
your particular field and then buy domains matching those
phrases. For a simple example, consider the fact that many
people search for “puppy names”. If you want to build a site
about puppies, you would ideally want to buy the domain
puppynamesdotcom. Such a site could be optimized and obtain
fairly high rankings with a moderate amount of effort.
Obviously, keyword phrases with tons of traffic have already
been taken. This should not discourage you, however. Work
your way down the phrases identified by whatever research
tool you are using. You will be surprised to find that many
of the phrases are available. Build a site on one of the
domains and you should find your optimization efforts
leading to successful results.
|
