Avoid Keyword in New Domain Name?

[Kingalan1]

We are looking to rebrand our domain name. Our existing domain is www.nyc-officespace-leader.com.

We own www.metro-manhattan.com and were hoping to use this domain. The company name is Metro Manhattan Office Space, Inc.

Is the fact that the new domain contains "Manhattan" a negative? I know that the fact that it has a hyphen is weak.

Manhattan is part of such keywords as "Manhattan office space". Regarding the company name, is the fact that it contains the target phrase "Manhattan office space" bad? Our company name may sound like exact match anchor text and I am not sure what to do about this if anything. I would really prefer to keep our name but it is necessary to change it to improve SEO we will do so. Would it be better to change to a new name like "Integrity Real Estate" which does not contain target phrases or keywords ("real estate" is not a major target phrase as it is to generic) ? Or how something like www.mmos.com for the domain and leave the company name alone?

How would I go about finding a  company that would assist is in creating an SEO friendly domain name and perhaps a new corporate name if necessary?

Thanks, Alan

[IsaCleanse]

Having your targeted keyword in the domain is highly recommended but not the only deciding factor in SEO rankings. As long as you have a good Branding and relevant, fresh content on the website, build up your social media profiles - not having the keyword in domain name should not impact you too much.

Personally I would opt for something that is a bit shorter so its easy to remember, punchy in print media/business cards and reduces user error if they are trying to go to your site by typing in the URL after seeing it somewhere.

[Kingalan1]

Hi Sandi:

Thanks for your response!!

Our niche (commercial real estate) is competitive and the most obvious/best domain names are  taken. Whether it is best to use a keyword phrase in the domain seems unclear. Not sure if one desirable word (like "Manhattan" in our case) would be a plus. Not certain  the effect of an actual phrase like "Manhattan office space". I have heard that now a days a competitive phrase in a domain is a ranking minus.

Many of our competitors (regus.com, 42floors.com) do not use any keyword in their domain. But they also have a massive advertising and SEO budget to build links and create brand recognition. As a small firm I don't have that budget.

There is also a question about how brand names will appear in  anchor text and if that anchor text then appears more like a money term or a brand.

In terms of domains, choices would be greater if we use a non.com domain. But I don't know how Google would view this. We also have the option of getting a ".NYC" domain (we are in New York City) but not certain if this would be a ranking plus.

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

King - if you're looking for a company to assist you in the domain name of your website, check out the Recommended List from Moz. There are a ton of great companies in that list.

While I will say that I still do not agree in making your domain keyword heavy (preferably sticking to brand and business name), I must say that you are asking a pretty loaded question for the Q+A section, as naming or renaming a business is something that is conversation for you and your team outside of Moz; it's not a question for strangers that have nothing to do with your business and how it functions - be careful!

To me, www.mmos.com seems totally fine - as long as your market the website name as such and are consistent in your business listings and citations. Again, as far as renaming, that's a question I do not want to touch, personally.

Hope this all helps! Good luck!

[MattRoney]

I wouldn't worry too much about the TLD.

Honestly, having an exact-match domain is really only an issue when it's part of an over-optimization or spam issue—if the brand name is "Metro Manhattan Office Space, Inc." then metro-manhattan.com seems like a perfectly reasonable domain name. I sincerely doubt that you'd see any negative effect.

Of course, you'll need to keep in mind that you'll have a lot of competition on the SERPs, including from sites like mta.info (DA 88).

Make sense?

[Kingalan1]

Hi Matt:

That makes sense. Regarding competition from domains such as mta.info we are targeting a completely different set of keywords relating to office space and commercial real estate in Manhattan, so I would think that we would not have to worry about competing with them.

On another note, do you think that having one hyphen in the domain harms us from an SEO perspective? I understand that visitors might have more difficulty in remembering the domain and returning, however I wonder if there is a direct effect on ranking.

Not sure if the domain without hyphens is available and we already own metro-manhattan.

Thanks, Alan

[MattRoney]

I _really _doubt that you'd see any negative effects from having one hyphen in the domain name. Google is trying to discourage domains like www.best-office-space-in-nyc-new-york.com—that is, spammy, keyword-stuffed domains. Of course, I can't make any guarantees on that, but I'd be pretty surprised if that one hyphen caused any noticeable trouble.

That said, you may want to just check on the domain sans-hyphen, if only so you can sleep a little better.