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Quick Question on a Domain Choice

by AffiliatingAlan
7 replies
So theres a niche that I want to make a small affiliate site on. I got 2 good keywords that are very easy to rank. Only one keyword makes sense for an EMD, the other keyword is too much of a big sentence for an EMD.

However when I typed in the keyword I noticed someone else had that exact keyword as there url. (phuck)

ex: bestdogtrainingbooks.com

However I noticed this site had only 1 page, and was garbage, with ads and not user friendly.

I know I can beat it.

My question is just asking if there is a penalty or any negatives if I ripped the domain and just made it:

ex: best-dog-training-books.com

Would there be any SEO loss for hyphens of that keyword and the fact that the same site name is there.

Normally I wouldnt do this but the site is crap and I specifically want to use an emd for this site
#hyphens #question
  • Profile picture of the author Lightlysalted
    No there wouldn't be any issue. From a user perspective reading best-dog-training-books.com is much easier, however the most important element is typing it. Most (but not all) users don't automatically thinking to use hyphen's so you could rank well but users could accidentally end up arriving at your competitors site. Also adding "best" makes the site sound spammy (and too good to be true) why not dogtrainingbooks.com or trainingbooksfordogs.com ?? All the best with your new site
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    • Profile picture of the author seoextremewithsophie
      Originally Posted by Paid Surveys View Post

      No there wouldn't be any issue. From a user perspective reading best-dog-training-books.com is much easier, however the most important element is typing it. Most (but not all) users don't automatically thinking to use hyphen's so you could rank well but users could accidentally end up arriving at your competitors site. Also adding "best" makes the site sound spammy (and too good to be true) why not dogtrainingbooks.com or trainingbooksfordogs.com ?? All the best with your new site
      Agree. Informative and helpful works well.
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    • Profile picture of the author AffiliatingAlan
      Originally Posted by Paid Surveys View Post

      No there wouldn't be any issue. From a user perspective reading best-dog-training-books.com is much easier, however the most important element is typing it. Most (but not all) users don't automatically thinking to use hyphen's so you could rank well but users could accidentally end up arriving at your competitors site. Also adding "best" makes the site sound spammy (and too good to be true) why not dogtrainingbooks.com or trainingbooksfordogs.com ?? All the best with your new site
      Thanks what I wanted to add was, because keyword tools arent exact

      the site is actually the top of the list for its keyword. ranked #1

      the site actually has 10 pages of decent information....(the sidebar looks like adsense to me the first time because the site is choppy looking)

      out of my 7 keywords only 1 would make a decent domain name for EMD.

      "best-dog-training-guide.com" when number 1# on google atm is "bestdogtrainingguide.com

      Basically I am wondering if I managed to rank 1st or 2nd, would it look really stupid if both site had the same urls side by side like that promoting the same products?

      It would only be for one keyword
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  • Profile picture of the author radhika
    Personally I'd go with 'dog-training-books.com'

    *short and easy to remember
    *not all people type 'best' in searching

    And it won't be an issue. People register domains with just a letter difference.

    .
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    • Profile picture of the author Steve B
      In my opinion, you're stressing over EMDs and that is a mistake.

      I also believe that a long name with hyphens between words is a mistake.

      Neither is going to provide you any SEO advantage.

      Get a little creative, choose a short, brandable, easy to remember (dot com) name that makes sense, and then just focus on adding top quality, unique, relevant content (relevant to your chosen keywords and products) to your site.

      There are tons of outstandingly good names available for every niche is you just take the time to identify them.

      Good luck,

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author brutecky
    Originally Posted by AffiliatingAlan View Post

    Would there be any SEO loss for hyphens of that keyword and the fact that the same site name is there.
    Considering that there is NO SEO gain for keywords being in the domain name there can be no SEO loss for hyphens in the domain name. Im wondering when people will understand that Google does not care about the domain name..
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    • Profile picture of the author David Keith
      Originally Posted by brutecky View Post

      Considering that there is NO SEO gain for keywords being in the domain name there can be no SEO loss for hyphens in the domain name. Im wondering when people will understand that Google does not care about the domain name..
      google takes in every piece of information it can to determine rank....They look for big data trends from site owners and more importantly users.

      Emd's were an absolute positive for ranking some time back...then once people began to abuse that they nerfed much of the advantage. Same thing has happened with damn near every seo "tactic" ever known...all the way back to meta tags in the late 90's.

      But dont think for a second google doesn't "notice" the domain name. its just not an absolute positive or negative. its just one piece of the information pie google uses to help determine rank.
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