How to name the domain

[tomovuk]

Hi all...


What is the best way to name domain if I want to focus on two key words?

for example:

if I want to have good rank for "dirty shoes" keywords

should I name it

dirtyshoes.com
dirty-shoes.com


or....thanks guys...and of course I am mostly interested in google...

[Chris Boggs]

The URL used to be much more important at Google. But take for example this pretty competitive search (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGLD%2CGGLD%3A2004-12%2CGGLD%3Aen&q=credit+counseling) for "credit counseling," and you will see that the hyphenated URL comes in well below others not using the entire term in the URL. Yet the "credit" part of higher ranking URL's are bolded, showing that Google does parse non-hyphenated URLs into separate words. But content and linking are far more superior than URL optimization IMO.

On a related note, even if you cannot find dirtyshoes or dirty-shoes available, using an easy to remember URL might be the best way to ensure you are naming a site that will be remembered from other forms of marketing. Content, once again, will get you the rankings.

[tomovuk]

Thanks...


But if I had options to have both domains available would dirtyshoes.com be better than dirty-shoes.com ?

[dannysullivan]

See also Commonly Asked: Keywords & Hyphens In Domains & URLs (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5496) for a list of past discussions on this topic.

[Marcia]

You could take both and 301 the hyphenated to the non-hyphenated; in case you end up with the best known dirty shoes site on the web, someone's liable to take it and put nasties on it and cause confusion.

Just my preference to not have hyphens in the domain, I use plenty in directory and filenames and even that could be far more conservative, IMHO.

If it's a brand new site you also have to look at how Yahoo treats hyphenated URLs because you're liable to have Yahoo! traffic rolling in long before Google traffic does

It isn't a one-horse town any more, we have to broaden our approach toward a more versatile organic search traffic source than just one.

[Chris Boggs]

Thanks...


But if I had options to have both domains available would dirtyshoes.com be better than dirty-shoes.com ?

I vote with Marcia: get both. I would use the non-hyphenated one as the "main" site though.

[tomovuk]

Thanks guys I think I will get them both.

Also one more thing if you are so kind to help me...


I am going to keep one site for content matters and one for selling the product.

The content site is about the product in lot of pages well constructed and informative. However I would like to have that site redirect to my "selling the product site", but I want google to index my "content site".

Content site optimized for google and other sites will have flash and stuff because it only has like 4-5 pages at most. The other site one has around hundred pages.

Is there are rule how far google deep scans site that has no valuable links? And not many at all. All the pages will be well formed and all link accessible from index pafe, of course :)


Thanks a lot...

Also can redirection be done successfully using Rewrite Engine... thanks