Hi all, I have been reading up on keyword rich domains recently and it seems that keyword rich domain names are hard to outrank, i am about to buy a keyword rich domain in the form of howtomakesomething.co.uk would i get more traffic if i purchased the domain how-to-make-something.co.uk because people wouldnt type it like the first?

 

Any help would be great

• content >>>>>>>> domain name
  
• long domains --> difficult to memorize for 'potential' regular visitors
  
• spammy domains --> might send red flag to search engines
  

As far as I'm aware having hyphens in a domain won't affect your rank either way. I think people are more likely to type it without the hyphens, so I'd get the domain without any hyphens in it. I think load of hyphens in your domain looks a bit tacky as well.

keyword domains are very good for google chrome, you use the address bar as a search bar and it often gives you a URL with all the keywords in it that your typing.

keyword rich domains will rank higher. However i would try to avoid buying domains that are really long, and with more than 1 hyphen in them, as this will start looking spammy.

 

I never see websites in the top of google with loads of hyphens in them.

Although keyword rich domain names are great to have, but they are no guarantees for top rankings anyway. You can find tons of top ranking websites which are powered with quality links and yet they may contain none of the terms targeted.

You might consider the following for your keyword rich domain.

 

1.Is the keywords that describe the content of your site best and that are most likely to be used by users to find you.

2.Think thematically because search engines tend to rate a page higher if it belongs to a site the theme of

which fits into the keyword string.

3.Consider relevancy of the keywords to your site

and the expected monthly number of searches for these particular keywords

You'd be better off buying a domain that's easier to remember, with your primary keyword in it, then using sub-pages for keyword optimisation.

 

i.e. www.primaryKeyword.co.uk (keep it short and simple)

 

Then for the keyword "how to make something", for example, create the page:

 

www.primaryKeyword.uk/how-to-make-something.html

 

Then, when link building for that page ensure all links pointing back to it have the anchor text "how to make something"

 

...As I'm sure you're aware, make sure your pages are optimised for each keyword; title tags, alt tags, keyword density etc

 

Hope this helps