Have you ever wondered how important your domain name is towards your SEO efforts? There are a lot of small businesses who do not have too much flexibility when it comes to choosing a keyword rich domain. They in general discount the power of domains when it comes to ranking for top search engines. You would think that a sophisticated search engine such as Google wouldn’t pay too much attention just to a domain name. After all, if the content is not there, why even bother ranking a generic web page.

In reality, search engines (especially Google) do pay a lot of attention to your domain and the words in it. It would depend on the market that you want to be involved in as well. For instance, you can’t expect to rank in the top 10 for the word “best credit cards” with the domain bestcreditcards.com. Not unless you go through the extra trouble of optimizing your content and getting links to your domain. The credit card market is so competitive for your domain to pull the weight. But how about “Best HDTVs?” Let’s take a look:

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If you talk to a SEO consultant about ways to optimize your website for search engines, you are going to get a list of things you need to do to have a chance at those high rankings on Google. I have no problem with writing good content, and optimizing your title tags for search engines. But my tests now show me that the keywords in your URL are perhaps more important that the SEO community thought it to be a few years ago. I know a lot of smart marketers talk about building your brand and owning your name, but in reality you should probably register a bunch of domains that are rich with industry keywords.

Take the term “credit card rankings” for example. It’s true that you can get ranked for this term using Wikipedia and other authority sites, but if you look more closely, sites that have these words in their domain have a better chance of getting ranked higher. With more competitive keywords, your domain will not be enough, but those less competitive terms can still drive traffic to your website, and who wouldn’t like getting ranked on the first page of Google.

In reality, your URL is not the only thing that matters when it comes to your SEO ranking. But it is certainly a big part of the equation. And if you are a niche marketer, you’ve got a real opportunity here to make a lot of money and gain a competitive edge over your rivals by registering all those keyword-rich domains. Google may have a very complex algorithm, but you can still dominate Google with the less competitive keywords as long as you register the right domains! Who says domains are overrated!

I have talked about in the past about the importance of choosing the right domain for your blog or your business site. It’s really a no brainer. If you have a catchy, short, brandable domain name, you have everything you need to put yourself in a position to succeed. A domain name is not going to make you successful, but you significantly improve your chance of getting free traffic and building a solid brand.

But what some folks have forgotten about is the important of having your main keyword phrase in your domain name. A lot of SEOs would tell you that having your keywords in your domain is relatively important. I am going to push it to the next level. I believe if you have a very competitive keyword in your domain name, you have all the tools to make a killing on the Internet. I know this is not big news for some folks, but you’d be surprised to see what kind of sites are getting ranked on Google just because of their domain names.

I don’t know if it’s a glitch in Google’s algorithm, but a parked site should have no business getting ranked on the first or second page of the SERPs. It certainly shows the flaw in the Google’s algorithm. A site with only a solid domain name and a solid title with no real content should not be ranked anywhere on the first 5 pages. I am sure as time goes on, Google is going to find a way to move these sites back down the SERPs. But right now, having the right domain locked up can get you in the top 3 pages without much effort (depending on your niche).

But right now, the potent combination of keyword in title and keyword in domain name can give you a serious competitive edge over your rivals. Maybe it’s not fair, but that’s life…

I am sure you all have heard this piece of advice about how having keywords in your domain will help you get ranked better on Google. That is partially true, but it really all comes down to branding and what you do with your domain. It is true that if you run a credit card site, creditcards.com fits your business better than a flyingbird. But there is a chance that Flyingbird could get ranked higher than creditcards.com if they get the SEO right. Now, I am not suggesting that registering strange domains can actually help your SEO. What I am suggesting is that the domain name is one of many factors that search engines take into account when ranking your site [Besides, you can always add a keyword to your directories names (e.g. Flyingbird.com/creditcards) which will help a bit with the overall ranking of the site. ].

Search engine optimization really about the audience first and search engines second. You can’t optimize for search engines and expect to keep your readers happy as well. I know a bunch of people keyword stuffed the heck out of their sites, but not only they got banned, the practice was not an audience friendly one. I understand why James Martel believes that an affiliate site is better off if it has keywords in its domain name, but if you have a paragraph as your domain name, your users won’t remember it. So you’ll lose a bunch of traffic that you would’ve gotten with a shorter, sweeter domain name. Search engine optimization firms are focused on getting you the best rankings possible, but the better ones take your audience into account. You can’t and shouldn’t sacrifice everything for the sake of reaching No. 1 position on Google. Ranking won’t matter if you don’t convert.

I am sure you all have heard this piece of advice about how having keywords in your domain will help you get ranked better on Google. That is partially true, but it really all comes down to branding and what you do with your domain. It is true that if you run a credit card site, creditcards.com fits your business better than a flyingbird. But there is a chance that Flyingbird could get ranked higher than creditcards.com if they get the SEO right. Now, I am not suggesting that registering strange domains can actually help your SEO. What I am suggesting is that the domain name is one of many factors that search engines take into account when ranking your site [Besides, you can always add a keyword to your directories names (e.g. Flyingbird.com/creditcards) which will help a bit with the overall ranking of the site. ].

Search engine optimization really about the audience first and search engines second. You can’t optimize for search engines and expect to keep your readers happy as well. I know a bunch of people keyword stuffed the heck out of their sites, but not only they got banned, the practice was not an audience friendly one. I understand why James Martel believes that an affiliate site is better off if it has keywords in its domain name, but if you have a paragraph as your domain name, your users won’t remember it. So you’ll lose a bunch of traffic that you would’ve gotten with a shorter, sweeter domain name. Search engine optimization firms are focused on getting you the best rankings possible, but the better ones take your audience into account. You can’t and shouldn’t sacrifice everything for the sake of reaching No. 1 position on Google.