domain question

Hi guys im starting a new site....lets just say the key words are "cat" and "fur"

ok now cat furs gets 220000 searchs per month.....meanwhile cat fur gets 27000 searches per month.

catfur.com is taken
however .net and .org are available

however cat-furs.com is free

which domain would win....the first domain contains the keywords in exact order however the second site contains the plural version of the keyword (which gets WAY more searchs) BUT it contains the hyphen.

do you think a hyphen makes a difference in SEO?
do you think the plural makes a difference in SEO?
then of course theres the issue that the first domain is .net while the second is .com....and .com is generally better

I think catfur.org is better than others. The Google said it do not care care about hyphen,but in fact, it will give a domain with no hyphen more important . The plural makes a difference in SEO.

That's a good way to have someone snag up both of those.

fun4uoc said:

That's a good way to have someone snag up both of those.

Click to expand...

First of all, ya you probably should be a little more secretive about what your doing. Especially with domains.

My opinion on this is go for the dot com. There is a tiny bit difference between the hyphen and no hyphen but not enough to force a decision on buying the domain. What I look at is resell value down the road. And I say that cat-fur.com is going to be worth more than catfur.org. Mainly because of the dot com.

"lets just say the key words are "cat" and "fur""

Hehehe...guys, I think he was using those kw's as an example to phrase his question correctly.

I tend to go with the .com verson (hyphens or not) when it's available.

StillSmiling said:

"lets just say the key words are "cat" and "fur""

Hehehe...guys, I think he was using those kw's as an example to phrase his question correctly.

I tend to go with the .com verson (hyphens or not) when it's available.

Click to expand...

Yeah, hopefully he is a little smarter than that, or it could be one of those, hey Doc, I have this friend that has this problem.

fun4uoc said:

Yeah, hopefully he is a little smarter than that, or it could be one of those, hey Doc, I have this friend that has this problem.

Click to expand...

Fact of the matter is that the domain name doesn't matter at all.

Proof: ebay, google, godaddy, twitter, squidoo, etc.

Those domain names have absolutely 100% zero relevant connection to their site. Just pick your domain for being memorable and base it off that alone. The name doesn't matter.

The seo and your marketing knowledge is the key to getting substancial ranking and placement.

aftershock2020 said:

Fact of the matter is that the domain name doesn't matter at all.

Proof: ebay, google, godaddy, twitter, squidoo, etc.

Those domain names have absolutely 100% zero relevant connection to their site. Just pick your domain for being memorable and base it off that alone. The name doesn't matter.

The seo and your marketing knowledge is the key to getting substancial ranking and placement.

Click to expand...

it is true that you can still have a successful site with a completely random domain name...however in these cases these sites have millions of incoming links...and (for some of them) unique business models and massive advertising budgets.

many many times ive done searches on google and i tend to find that a domain with the keywords i am looking for usually shows up in the top ten. so i think having your keywords in the domain is a contributing factor.

and no everyone, im not making a site on cat fur...lol. hope no one went and bought the domains to piss me off. i didnt even think cat fur was a legitamite niche.

i think maybe ill buy both domains...and put the same site on both and see which one google likes most. but then one site might get busted for duplicate content.

I imagine everyone has already answered your question, but here's my 2cents as well. I think a .com address trumps all, simply in terms of recognition, and having a domain sans hyphen would be another boon -- if the domain name is using popular search keywords, I see it being easier to get direct traffic than with a domain using the hyphen.

Well, if you are using the old traditional website creation methods, sure. Not to say anything is wrong with that method but you don't want to use it if you plan to make money.

With modern marketing, links are nothing more than a protection tool to stabilize the ranking position you are currently at from someone trying to damage your site, as I've discussed on the related topic here in other threads. They have nothing to do with the process of ranking my sites at all.

People have got to stop using google and the other search engines as the hold-all, end-all of the position of a website. A search engine isn't a standard setting authority, it's a freaking reference directory. I never submit to them because I only use them for repeat business - a business card/ phone book, for people that want to return to my business to find me easily.

Google doesn't generate more than 3% of my overall profiting traffic from natural search. It's all from targeted repeat business looking for my site that way.

On the point of the actual topic here, using the keyword in your domain is your option. As for me personally, I don't ever use the keyword I'm targetting in the domain name because of the limitations it puts on a site for using other keywords. As a rule of thumb, I place the keyword in the title tag only. The power comes in the relevant phrasing of the content and targeted material focusing on the topic of the keyword theme.

I don't EVER submit mysite to google. I let them come and review my sites and they post me where they see fit, which has been the first page as a standard min., due to the same method I just described. They come to me, otherwise, I don't have to even bother with them.

So, you may want to reconsider what you know about marketing and take a look into newer methods and techniques.

FilthyCro said:

it is true that you can still have a successful site with a completely random domain name...however in these cases these sites have millions of incoming links...and (for some of them) unique business models and massive advertising budgets.

many many times ive done searches on google and i tend to find that a domain with the keywords i am looking for usually shows up in the top ten. so i think having your keywords in the domain is a contributing factor.

and no everyone, im not making a site on cat fur...lol. hope no one went and bought the domains to piss me off. i didnt even think cat fur was a legitamite niche.

i think maybe ill buy both domains...and put the same site on both and see which one google likes most. but then one site might get busted for duplicate content.

Click to expand...

As for the point of advertising, I don't use adwords or any other paid advertising at all, as I don't feel the need to pay for something that I do for free.

Don't get me wrong, I believe in ' spending money to make money ' but, it completely depends on what you spend that money on. Adwords doesn't have anything to do with promoting a site for me personally. IF it works for you, that's great but I would have to disagree that adwords has such a substancial impact on ranking of a site that has or doesn't have a keyword in it's name as you've claimed to be the fact of the matter.

I'm not one for bending over a dollar to pick up a dime, which is the case in using services like that.

Hope you find the domain that works for you. Best of luck with it.

aftershock2020 said:

Well, if you are using the old traditional website creation methods, sure. Not to say anything is wrong with that method but you don't want to use it if you plan to make money.

With modern marketing, links are nothing more than a protection tool to stabilize the ranking position you are currently at from someone trying to damage your site, as I've discussed on the related topic here in other threads. They have nothing to do with the process of ranking my sites at all.

People have got to stop using google and the other search engines as the hold-all, end-all of the position of a website. A search engine isn't a standard setting authority, it's a freaking reference directory. I never submit to them because I only use them for repeat business - a business card/ phone book, for people that want to return to my business to find me easily.

Google doesn't generate more than 3% of my overall profiting traffic from natural search. It's all from targeted repeat business looking for my site that way.

On the point of the actual topic here, using the keyword in your domain is your option. As for me personally, I don't ever use the keyword I'm targetting in the domain name because of the limitations it puts on a site for using other keywords. As a rule of thumb, I place the keyword in the title tag only. The power comes in the relevant phrasing of the content and targeted material focusing on the topic of the keyword theme.

I don't EVER submit mysite to google. I let them come and review my sites and they post me where they see fit, which has been the first page as a standard min., due to the same method I just described. They come to me, otherwise, I don't have to even bother with them.

So, you may want to reconsider what you know about marketing and take a look into newer methods and techniques.

Click to expand...