Search Engine Optimization & Domain Names

There is a myth going around in the Search Engine Optimization world: it is very important to have your keywords in the domain name. The truth is that it does not hurt to have keywords in your domain name but it is not necessary.

Here is why: We did Search Engine Optimization for a website called LosAngelesRugCleaning.com and this is one of the most recent projects we finished. In less than a month, this website has achieved tremendous results and great ranking. Here is the funny part, when you Google "Los Angeles Rug Cleaning" this is what you get:


Notice that LosAngelesRugCleaning.com is on the 10th page. What happened there? We are typing in every single word of the domain name, shouldn't this website come all the way on the top at number 1 result instead of 93?

The answer is NO. This totally depends on what keywords you are targeting. Our targeted keywords did not include "Los Angeles Rug Cleaning". When we started this project, the owner of the business wanted to target every other keyword but this one because they already have another website that does really well with this keywords. They wanted to target some other markets.

Now, if you Google "Oriental Carpet Cleaners Los Angeles" you will notice that the same website ranks really well at number 3 in organic search results. LosAngelesRugCleaning.com does not have the word Oriental in it, nor it has Carpets, or Cleaners. So why is it ranking so well for "Oriental Carpet Cleaners Los Angeles" but not for "Los Angeles Rug Cleaning"? The answer is the domain name does not matter as much as the content of the website and how you market your website.

Here is a totally different case; awhile ago we did Search Engine Optimization for a group of doctor in the San Fernando Valley. In Southern California, we call the area "the Valley" and this website's main targeted key-phrase was "Anger Management Valley". The domain name is also ValleyAngerManagement.com and if you Google "Anger Management Valley" this is what you will see:

Notice that out of well over 550,000 entries, ValleyAngerManagement.com ranks number 1 and is at the top of the results page.

Conclusion: It definitely does not hurt to have the keywords in the domain name but it is not necessary at all. Take our own website for an example. The domain name is www.ITchair.com but our main targeted keyword in "Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles" and we have been doing very well even without having any keywords in our domain name.

Here is a little secret (Don't tell anyone!): this highly depends on the links that are pointed to you website too. What I mean by that is for example for LosAngelesRugCLeaning.com, we did some link building and the text of the link that was pointing to the website had words in them like Oriental Carpet Cleaning Los Angeles but not Rug Cleaning Los Angeles. So this is the explanation to why this website is ranking for other keywords but not for the words in its domain name.

Ashkan
www.ITchair.com
(310) 927-2588
info@itchair.com