To re-domain or not re-domain, that is the question?

[rossirovetti.com]

This post is deleted!

[MiriamEllis]

Hey Jason,

You've hit on what I feel is one of the weakest aspects of Google's apparent algo: the fact that EMDs still appear to get extra weight organically and, also, that business names containing keywords (legitimately or in the form of spam) often get a ridiculous boost in the local results.

I'm asking that some of my team mates with more technical experience consider weighing in to more fully answer the most technical aspects of your question, but I have some specific thoughts to share here.

I am a strong believer in brands above all other considerations. Remember that the history of Google updates has taught us that low quality practices which may be helping a business today could become their greatest liability tomorrow. Imagine a future update in which the things your competitors are doing become the target, whereas you, with your plain-and-honest branded domain, have nothing to fear. Instead of banking on an optimized domain, you'll have spent all these years since 2003 building brand recognition, with the goal of making your brand a household word in the city.

A story: Nearly 50 years ago, my older sister (then an infant) managed to wave her hand and knock over a giant crystal vase in Podesta Baldocchi, much to the anguish of my newlywed parents. I know the name of that shop not because my parents said my sibling knocked over a vase at "FloralDelivery24hoursSanFrancisco.com" or some such, but because the brand "Podesta Baldocchi" had such a ring to it, and because my parents spoke well of how the owner kindly didn't make them pay for the expensive item the baby broke. My parents (on their newlywed budget) bought a 50 cent Christmas tree ornament in embarrassment, in an effort to do something to show how sorry they were. And every year, we'd hang up that ornament and someone would talk about Podesta Baldocchi and the deafening crash the vase made when the baby toppled it. Fast forward decades: Podesta Baldocchi is the one florist in San Franciso I know by name, and if I were ordering flowers for someone in the city, I'd know where to call. The brand has become a household word in my family.

I think Rossi Rovetti has a nice ring to it, too; something San Franciscans could be prompted to remember with the right story-telling. I think the brand should continue to be proud of its name and promote it at every turn, including in its easy-to-remember-and-find domain name. Why forsake brand-building for a here-today-gone-tomorrow EMD trick?

[Davey_Tree]

Hi Jason,

I agree a lot with Miriam on this. I would honestly avoid changing your domain to a keyword stuffed name like that. I do know from experience that it used to work a long time ago but I am seeing it be much less of a factor as time goes on. Does it still seem to help from time to time in some local searches? Yes I believe it does. But it's more fluky than anything. I deal with it now as I have local competitors in over 100 locations in the U.S.

I have recently came in and decided it was time to do the exact opposite. I have removed geo-modified terms from our GMB listing names and went back to the basics of just having our actual company name. Like Miriam mentioned, the short-term boost possibility that may work for awhile now, is not really worth the potential long-term consequences.

I am also a big advocate for creating a brand name that will instill trust and gain that click-through as well. Especially as our clients become more privy to names that appear gimmicky, since they grew up in a world where these were easy to spot, I have put more of an emphasis on getting away from this.

I would use your page titles and meta descriptions to relay your core elements about your company. Like seven day a week delivery, same-day orders, guaranteed fresh and things like that while keeping that cool name you already have.

Did you do any competitor analysis to see if maybe they had all of their on-page optimizations nailed for your target keyword phrase? Do they have any links maybe from a high authority domain that could be helping them rank? I would make sure to root out any other possibility that could be leading to their higher rank that isn't their domain name first.

I do feel your frustration though, I still deal with this from time-to-time when it comes to spammy competitors. Like Miriam also mentioned, I try to see the long game and hope that Google does eventually penalizes those who do this and have success from it and when they finally do, I will be sitting there having done all the right things, ready to take their spot.

Good luck!

-Ben

[randfish]

Hi Jason - I'm going to agree 100% with the other answers here. Rebranding to a new domain that is keyword-rich is likely to have no positive impact, and will in fact negatively affect your rankings (the domain move usually costs some amount of rankings and organic traffic to every site we see do it, at least for a few months). A new domain will also be harder to build links to, especially one that sounds like it's keyword-stuffed rather than a true representation of the business.

I will admit 100% that sometimes, Google gives exact match domains some benefit, but it's small, and most of it comes from the links that point to those domains. If you had the link equity and anchor text that your competitors do, I believe you'd outrank them considerably with your site. I try to think about it from the perspective of a searcher:

• Would I rather click "flowerssf.com" which is higher in the results, but sounds a little generic and un-trustworthy?

• Or would I rather click "rossirovetti.com" which sounds authentic, high quality, and like a real brand?

Many times when we see results like these, we find that the brand names that resonate more with searchers actually do better than their ranking position would suggest. Sometimes, over time, this even leads to better rankings.

My advice in your situation is to focus on the delta between what your competition is doing offsite (earning more links, from more places, with more precise anchor text) and on-site (generally more content, less keyword-focused, more brand focused, more serving the searcher).

As an example, https://farmgirlflowers.com/ ranks at the top of the organic results when I search "flowers san francisco" and they're clearly way more brand-focused than flowerssf.com. They also have a very brand-focused description: "All of our clients were thrilled with the deliveries. I love that Christina and her team work hard to support small farmers too! I highly recommend Farmgirl Flowers." vs. RossiRovetti's "Flower Delivery San Francisco | San Francisco Florist and Bay Area Flower Delivery | Rossi & Rovetti Flowers Since 1871." (I don't think they even used a meta description, just let Google grab something from their page!)

IMO, focus on brand, on delivering a better site experience, content that better serves the searchers, and earn links from across the web with whatever tactics you feel can be most successful for you/your market, and I think you'll be in solid shape.

[MiriamEllis]

Excellent answer, Ben!