Is it OK to choose a Domain Name with Brand-name followed by keyword?

[PaulineRose]

My client has a website (brandname.co.in) The website is popular in India (we show up 1st in SERP for our brand name as the search query in Google India) but results are different in Google US, Actually we are not even in the top 10 results in the US version of Google SERP. The Domain name (brandname**.com**) is already taken by another person and he isn't using the domain but expects around $100000 for selling the domain. So we are only left with the option of buying another domain name. My client provides business intelligence consulting services/solutions. What I would like to know is can I recommend buying (brandname-bianalytics.com)? Would this be treated as keyword stuffing? Is there a possibility that my website be penalized by EDM algorithm updates for my primary keyword(bi analytics)?  Please advise.

[AaronHenry]

A good question - From my end; I have several clients with keyword rich urls.  They do not seem negatively affected.  That being said, most of the clients have the keyword in their actual business name, like ACME Plumbing. However, even the ones that do not, have not been negatively affected.  Depending on your client's name I would try to drop the " - " in the domain and push it all together : brandbianalytics.com

[FedeEinhorn]

Hmmm.. not necessarily. You can use that domain and not being penalized by the EMD algo. You could be in a problem if you did all the link building with the same keyword, exposing the targeted keyword, but as long as you keep it clean, I guess you are safe.

The EMD update I think targets more to those using every possible EMD domain and redirecting it to their site (brandname-key1.com / brandname-key2.com / etc.).

[Dan-Lawrence]

Should be fine !

May be worth even renaming the company/brand to include the Keyword, then you will find people naturally including the keyword in online & offline mentions (which often get added online too) of your brand etc and always a good idea to 'say what you are on the tin'

Whilst EMD & PMD have been devalued a domain name featuring the keyword that most applies to your service is still a very good thing to do IMO :0

All Best

Dan

[PaulineRose]

Thank you for helping me in this. I now have the clarity in making the right recommendation to my client.  However we are now left with 2 options:

• Create unique design/Content for the new brandnamebianalytics.com and work on optimization from scratch.
• Redirect brandnamebianalytics.com to brandname.co.in or vice versa. The reason we've considered this option is because brandname.co.in is rich in content and drawing around 3000 visitors traffic per month and we cannot afford to lose the reputation the (co.in) site has earned till date.

I appreciate the time you've taken in replying to my query and I look forward to your thoughts/recommendations in the above mentioned issue.