Will buying a web domain name such as www.webdesignindevon.co.uk get me to the top of searches for web design in devon ?

[lauralyons]

wil this help or not thanks x

[AlanBleiweiss]

An exact match or near-exact match domain name can be beneficial however it can also be detrimental.  It all comes down to how much effort you put into creating a high quality site with strong topical focus, topical depth and reinforcing content relationships, then follow that up with a strong mix of off-site trust and authority signals.  If you don't put in the effort in those best-practices ways, your site will be vulnerable to Google Exact Match negatives.

[vironc]

Not necessarily. But, it might help you partly. Having the right keyword in the URL is given some weight by Google but it does not mean that it is true in every case.

Getting the right traffic for the keywords is a combination of:

Right internal linking strategy with the right anchor text + Keywords with the right amount of density in content + Keywords in Title Tag + A well-written Meta Description (Even though it does not effect the ranking factors, it will certainly help improve the CTR, because a well-written description serves as an AD copy for your displayed result) + Search-engine friendly site architecture + unique content spread across many pages with unique title tags etc. + Social-Media Signals + External linking strategy (Links from relevant external websites/ directories, Right anchor text, Co-citation etc.) + competition for the keyword (probably your keyword is not that highly competitive) + Local listings + so many other factors.

Also since the Panda update you need to be doubly sure that you are genuine. Do not use keyword stuffing and other such factors only aimed at influencing search-engine spiders. Just be genuine and think about what value you can provide to the customers and share it and also think about providing engaging content (Videos/ Image/ Texts). Be genuine and the word of mouth will happen naturally.

Basically, (1) be genuine, (2)spread awareness (3) provide tools of engagement (4) find the right balance between pleasing your visitors as well as pleasing the search-engines (By creating a search-engine friendly (NOT search-engine fooling) site architecture).

Also, read these articles about Google's EMD (Exact Match Domains) update:

http://searchengineland.com/low-quality-exact-match-domains-are-googles-next-target-134889

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-exact-match-domain-playbook-a-guide-and-best-practices-for-emds

• BTW isn't "webdesigndevon" a better option than adding "in" in it? "in" will not be given any value anyway and it might lead to a lot of typos if someone manually types the URL: "webdesignindevon" compared to "webdesigndevon" into their browser.

And, if you are worried about someone else starting a "webdesign-devon" domain, just purchase such domain names that closely resembles your website URL (it is not that expensive to buy such less sort after names, I guess) and permanently re-direct those URLs to your live website URL. That way even if someone else manually types any URL that closely resembles your website's URL, they will get re-directed to your website, instead of landing in someone else website and you can sleep happily because there will be no other websites that closely resembles your website URL. Thus you will get some brand value too.

BTW, I am not sure about whether there is some kind of penalty that exists if you buy domain names that closely resemble your website URL and then permanently re-direct it to your Live/ Main URL/ Website. Can someone answer this?? After all your intention is not to spam but to stop others from misusing an URL that closely resembles your brand.

[lauralyons]

okay all of my on page reports are at an a for web design devon on my current site so is this a good sign thanks for you help x

[lauralyons]

I agree with u the webdesignindevon is the only one avaliable all my on page for my current site are a A for web design devon so will this mean it will help purchasing it x

[AlanBleiweiss]

that's a good sign. You need to be sure to maintain quality in all you do, and avoid low quality links pointing to your site especially...

[vironc]

Like already mentioned...it won't harm you if you buy it and in some instance might help you as well, as long as you utilize it in a proper and genuine manner. Just keep up with the best practices.

And, I am still waiting for someone to answer this part of my original reply:

"BTW, I am not sure about whether there is some kind of penalty that exists if you buy domain names that closely resemble your website URL and then permanently re-direct it to your Live/ Main URL/ Website. Can someone answer this?? After all your intention is not to spam but to stop others from misusing an URL that closely resembles your brand."