Some SEO 2016 questions

[mhenze]

Hello MOZ Community,

I have some questions where the following is still working for seo in 2016:

1. Is an exact keyword in the domain still a good start?
2. If a domain contains the most important keyword does one still need subfolders with that keyword in the url?
3. Do you need multiple subpages so the main url becomes stronger?
4. Is linkbuilding still the number one factor?

Thank you for your thoughts!

[gowebsol]

Greetings. I'll start this one off!

First and foremost, I have to point you to the 2015 Ranking Factors. They haven't change that much and it is really the best reference out there for all of these questions.

1. I say yes with a giant BUT...you have balance branding with that nifty keyword domain name. My personal experience is not all is lost on keywords in the domain as some will tell you, but I'd only do it IF there is no significant loss to your brand.

2. Keep the URL as short as possible.

3. Not sure what you mean here. A well structured website with quality content will give you the best results, so I'm leaning towards yes on this one.

4. Short answer is Yes. That and great content. See the 2015 Ranking Factors.

Good luck.

[Toddfoster]

Hi mhenze,

Will answer to the best of my ability:

1. Exact match still a good start?

It depends on what the brand of the website/business you're working on is. This one was answered well in Q&A in December of 2015 with the following:

"If your "brand" is going to be "Region Family Holidays" then an EMD is fine. Just make sure you're branded that way, and try to cultivate a variety of natural backlinks. If your brand is "Acme Travel UK" and the site is regionfamilyholidays.co.uk then you'll be fighting a losing battle."

Here's the link: https://moz.com/community/q/exact-match-domain-should-i-use-one

Long story short, the value of EMD's lessens as your brand diverges from the keywords you're targeting. If you are branding based on keywords you're targeting, then you're still in good shape.

2. Kind of related to the first question - it depends on what your brand is. I would stay away from the EMD/keywords discussion and just focus on producing solid content targeting keywords. It's the safest way to go and it gets results in my experience. It's a small piece of the pie compared to your link profile and properly optimized content/site structure.

3. I'm not entirely sure what you're asking here. Subpages don't really add strength to the main URL (in fact, it works in reverse). Subpages are great for ranking additional keywords or if you have multiple products or services that are not related to one another and you want to keep your services separated for SEO purposes. Your main URL will be strong if you can generate sufficient links and provide excellent resources to your visitors.

4. According to Moz's 2015 Search Engine Ranking Factors Survey, links are still the #1 factor when it comes to rankings.

Link is here: https://moz.com/search-ranking-factors

Granted this survey was based on 2015 factors and your question revolves around 2016, but the factors have not changed significantly in this time and it is doubtful there will be anything game-changing in 2016 (at least not for a few months).

This doesn't mean links are the be-all and end-all of rankings, but many very smart people seem to think they are still a big factor. Make sure you are following best practices, make sure your link profile is natural and whatever you do, don't spam or buy links for your sites and you should do just fine.

[mhenze]

Thank you for responding and your helpfull answers.

It really seems that shortcuts are not helping and brand building is the way to go.

[mhenze]

Thank you for responding.

I was trying to get some "almost" exact keyword matches combined with lots of weak backlinks to rank for some affiliate marketing sites, but it does nothing.

And your answers clearly show why.

Thanks again.

[EGOL]

All of these questions will draw different opinions from different people.  

Sometimes contrary opinion is most valuable.

Is an exact keyword in the domain still a good start?

If you mean... EgolsWidgets.com... then, widgets in your domain name isn't worth much.  But if you have a site about brass widgets with BrassWidgets.com as the domain... then the domain will be slightly helpful.  Exact match is what you need. Partial match is worth little to nothing.

If a domain contains the most important keyword does one still need subfolders with that keyword in the url?

If this is worth anything at all, it is not worth much.  If I own BrassWidgets.com, I am not going to have a folder named /brass-widgets/

Do you need multiple subpages so the main url becomes stronger?

Huh?   If you want a good website you will probably need a lot of subpages.  That is called "content".

Is linkbuilding still the number one factor?

No.  KICKASS content is the number one factor.   "Content" isn't worth much at all unless it is KICKASS.   If you make a website with crappy content then who is going to link to it, who is going to read it, who is going to do anything with it.

If you don't have kickass content then you will be forced to pay a linkbuilder and he will have to perform some type of sin to get people to links to your crappy website.

[mhenze]

Thank you.

These are some good answers for me.

I will focus on brand building and kickass content!