New small business.. brand or keyword rich domain?

[NeilD]

With so many keyword rich domains in circulation is there actually little option for small business right now other than to use keyword rich domains themselves e.g. (businessname)(keywords).com instead of brand e.g. (businessname.com) where competitors are using keyword rich domains and ranking high?

It could be a mis-perception on my part, but, unless you have a very old non keyword domain name, if you don't have a keyword rich domain name in a competitive market you will struggle to succeed unless you have a serious SEO budget.

Unless you are the next Google/Facebook/Pepsi isn't branding just a load of BS ?

We are ourselves are in a predicament about which domain to use for our own website design business. We have a brand name domain name which is a 4 char domain but we also have a brand+keyword domain and are not 100% which one to use as our primary domain.

Perhaps we can use the brand domain as our primary domain and then use the brand+keyword domain as an appropriately constructed single page promotional site, perhaps with unique content which links back to the brand domain? Good idea / Bad idea?

I guess the overriding question is, if the content is good enough is the domain name you choose irrelevent to some extent?

[ORob]

Big question. Exact match KW domains aren't quite as valuable as they were in some instances. I would lean toward using a branded domain, as it will be more cohesive with your overall marketing. It may also help the user in that they could have an easier time remembering your URL which could increase direct visits, and you may get higher CTR via organic due to recognition.

Ultimately, yes I believe it does come down to content - but why not use what works best for your overall marketing scheme...

[NeilD]

Thanks Owen,

I certainly like the idea of using the brand domain and from marketing standpoint makes more sense. Also, should our services evolve the keywords that exist in our keyword rich domain at present may become less relevant and hinder progress

I guess from a SEO point of view we can use brand.com/keyword-rich-page-name.html which will work just as well in a lot of cases.

[ORob]

Yes, that is a super logical way of thinking about it. Good work!

[bradkrussell]

Hi Neil,

I would definitely use a branded domain. You want to be memorable amongst the many websites out there - the very small benefit you get from SEO from a EMD is not worth it in my opinion (plus EMDs are gaining less traction in the Google algorithm as time goes on).

Take for example the domain that I manage - http://www.kitchenwaredirect.com.au. We chose this brand name because it was keyword rich (kitchenware). However, if we had our time again we would definitely chose a shorter, more memorable name. People often call us Kitchen Direct, Kitchen Warehouse Direct etc as well. We've just launched a new site at http://www.avago.com.au - we went for a memorable, short name.

In short, if your content and SEO strategy is good enough - go for the branded domain.

Good luck!

[Debdulal]

After Google's latest Exact Match Domain update, I do not think that you should be concentrating on keyword rich domain name. Moreover, keywords rich domain has problem with branding. For say, if you have a domain like this -

http://www.keywords.com

You will find it really  hard to promote your brand presence. And even when you are building links with Branded keywords, Google may consider it as an attempt to game SERP by building excessively with exact matched key phrases.

[NeilD]

Great answers guys, I think my mind is now straight and how to move forward, not just with our own strategy but our client strategies as well