Choosing a domain name in 2016

[seoanalytics]

Hello Everyone

I am not new to SEO but new to the forum  !

I am in the travel business selling high end bicycle trips to the US market. I am about to expand my business and sell cheaper bicycle trips to the European market.

1. My company has a got a name in the industry as well as some amazing reviews on google + and other forums. My 1 st question, would you use a totally different domain name see that is a different market and different prices or would you use the same domain name ? If you were to use the same domain would you do fr.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com/fr.

2. In terms of web domain, is exact match domain still powerful ? My current domain name is not an exact match domain and surfing the web, I feel like it still gives you a major advantage in 2016 ?

3. If I choose an exact match domain, I noticed I can get  www.mydomain.travel or www.mydomain.bike or get a domain for the country I am targeting www.mydomain.co.uk. Do you have advice on which domain is easier to rank ? or doesn't it change anything ?

[Tymen]

Hi!

1: i would stay with your .com domain, .eu is terrible in regards to ranking. .com ranks well in Europe and saves a lot off time as Europe contains of a lot of different countries to target; .fr .it .de. .co.uk etc... Next i would go for www.mydomain.com/france in stead of www.mydomain.com/fr as this already helps SEO wise and you have the domain authority of your current domain

2. see 1

3. see 1

Good luck!

[ThomasHarvey]

"My company has a got a name in the industry as well as some amazing reviews on google + and other forums. "

This alone answers 2 and 3. You have a brand and that's more powerful than an exact match domain, it differentiates you from your competitors.

As for "If you were to use the same domain would you do fr.mydomain.com or www.mydomain.com/fr." I would choose www.mydomain.com/fr but that's just personal preference.

[ThomasHarvey]

Why mydomain.com/france? This just makes the url much longer and the two letter country codes are recognised by most people?

[seoanalytics]

Thank your your replies but isn't a exact match domain more powerful than a domain with links and history ?

[Tymen]

Hi Thomas, to rank on bicycle trip france maybe?

[ThomasHarvey]

but mydomain.com/fr with the correct code would do that?

https://moz.com/learn/seo/hreflang-tag

[ThomasHarvey]

It's a small ranking factor, but if you've got an established domain then I would say your established domain is more valuable.

[Tymen]

Sure would help also. I personally like the word in the URL.

[gshoosmith]

It does not make sense the way you are telling him how to do it.

en.domain.com

or

domain.com/en

just use country codes DO NOT use /french - /english - / spanish

It would make sense to use subdomains rather than subfolders.

Good luck!

[Tymen]

it does make sense: my point is that bycicletrip.com/france is a good Landing Page url.