When I registered 2CreateAWebSite.com back in January, 2002, it was all about using your “important” keywords in your domain for SEO. No question.
Since createawebsite.com was already taken, I simply put the “2” in front. At the time, it was a no-brainer — anything to get those all-important keywords in my domain.
For the first couple of years, no doubt it was helpful for SEO, but as the Net matured, it became less about the keywords in your domain and more about content and link popularity.
I’m not saying to forgo using your important keywords in your domain. They are still somewhat important. I’m just saying it is not as important to squeeze every major keyword in your domain for maximum SE traffic.
Here’s an example. Search for create a website on Google. The number one ranked site is weebly.com. There’s not a website-related keyword to be found in that domain name.
However, they are ranked #1 because they are popular and people use keywords related to creating a website to describe the site. So it earns a top ranking for that phrase even though they don’t use “create a website” in the domain.
Don’t Feel Too Sorry. 😉
I’m not complaining. I’ve had a tremendous amount of success with my site, regardless of the name. But if I could do it all over again…
1) I would not use a number. It confuses people. When verbally telling people my domain name, they assume it’s “tocreateawebsite” and I always have to clarify it’s the number 2.
(Yes, tocreateawebsite is already taken — otherwise I’d buy and redirect.)
In addition, I’ve caught people misspelling my domain name in their write-ups. Some forget to add the 2 altogether. That is one reason I wanted my new logo to emphasize the “2”.
2) I would choose a shorter name. Shorter names are easier to read and remember. Plus, you don’t run into spacing issues when using it on various websites, business cards, logos, etc.
The funny thing is, people register similar variations of my name (with the “2”, same keywords, etc.) because they assume that is the key to my traffic. Once upon a time it was, but these days it’s more about content and quality inbound links.
Yes, having your important keywords may help with SEO, but only to a point. I don’t think it’s worth making your domain name awkwardly long just to get all your important keywords in it.
If you become popular in your niche, you can still earn top rankings for important keywords. Search engines see the big picture, which means they factor in your content and inbound links too. Gone are the days where the domain matters most.
How about you? Do you regret anything about your domain name? Would you do anything differently today?
i have a little regret about my domain which is add some “-“.. well, its a gift anyway. cant complain about it
Daniel,
I agree 100%. You mentioned aged domains – I am trying to find a suitable one but finding one with a PR is nigh on impossible. I wonder if the search engines take as much notice of say a 5 year old domain with no PR as they do a 1 year with a PR3?
Lawrence
I think for people who don’t have a big pot of cash to build a brand, it’s better to choose a keyword rich domain name. In my experience, keyword-rich domains move up the search engine rankings faster than cool-sounding words that don’t actually describe the product/subject/service. Also, it’s worth mentioning domain name age as a factor in SEO, as in the length of registration counts as Google could interpret a freshly-registered domain as possibly containing spam content. One other thing, as I’m sure Lisa will concur with is using numbers and letter that sound like eachother that could be confused when speaking them. 2, two, to and too, OR 1, one and won. Speak your domain name out load. Does it sound strange? Could it be confused with something else? The best domains I have registered are simple and straightforward as well as keyword-rich.
Hi,
Very interesting article. My own experience is that by using a keyword phrase as my domain I seem to get noticed sooner by the search engines and can rank more quickly. I cannot,of course, prove this absolutely.
You may be interested in knowing that my criteria for a usable keyword is that it must have at least 1,000 searches per month in phrase match form and have no more than 30,000 competing pages on the web.
Regards
Lawrence
People, Relax. I think if you are pasisonate about your project the name shouldn’t matter. Its your brand. Remember name means name, not description. Beside, there is nothing wrong with making a subdomain to calm those fears.
My main name is info-intel.com
but the subdomain I periodically submit to the search engines is totally loaded with my keywords. Its affiliate.marketing.orsomejibberish.info-intel.com , lol. This should solve everything. I ran into the same issue then it dawned on me to just make a subdomain and direct it to my root directory.
Hi Lisa,
I was lucky enough to get http://www.money-makingopportunies.com some years ago.
My two regrets?
1. It’s too long
2. It’s got a hyphen
I agree with you that the name is not that important anyway – my site is nowhere to be seen for the phrase “money making opportunities” – as you say, it all depends on the quantity and quality of the backlinks.
Cheers from Australia,
Peter
You url isn’t working.
At least you didn’t use an ambiguous word, one that your hosting company would comment on when you send them emails 🙂
As you said, I also think that the time of keyword stuffing domains is over, although finding good, snappy & memorable names can be a real challenge these days with the shortage of .com’s
.-= Leo´s last blog … Thesis: how to remove multiple categories from your homepage =-.
Thats what I was thinking, go with something short and easy to talk about, and pheonetic. I thought info-intel was a horrible name, but I was thinking, that could apply to anything, hmmm.
What do you think ?
Lisa,
Out of curiosity, knowing what you know now ..what would you re-name your website if you could?
Good question! I always think about that, but have trouble coming up with a name, but it would definitely be a two-word name with one word being website. Not sure what the other would be. Definitely something more concise.
But as many have said here, the content is what really matters, but I would still do it differently today.
and what type of website i will register for this and from which site .
Hello lisa i want to made a website based on flash. So there is any fact of that for advertizment. Mean i will also add the google ads there pls reply…………………………..
Yes, I’ve regretted my choice of domain names at times, but I’ve found that domain names don’t matter as much as giving the reader what they’re looking for. Think about it….domain names like Digg.com, Squidoo.com and others have NOTHING to do with their content. Ever actually SEARCH for Squidoo in your browser while looking for an article marketing site? Of course not. People search for content, not domain names, unless they’ve been directed there by another source. So, I’ll just keep giving the masses what they’re looking for, and not fret over my choice of domain names too much.
Once again, Lisa, thank you for the great FREE information to those of us who are serious about making a few bucks…the REAL way.
Daniel’s “A lot of people use number’s now, so I don’t think a lot of people would be confused that it’s a “2? instead of a “to.” ” has me wondering. Earlier here, I think I meant I do not regret my domain name choice, but now I think I probably do. I think people do still easily make a mistake with a domain address if there are numbers appearing in it as digits instead of words or the word the number represents.
We had an article written about us appear in a local weekly freebie paper, that we needed badly to appear as work has been a little quiet, but there was a mistake with the printing of our website address – although we quickly sorted that by writing an online article with the incorrect address appearing, and it comes up on the first page of Google.co.za – it will only be a problem is somebody types the incorrect address directly into their browser bar. I’m being very careful with new domain choices now.
.-= Teresa Schultz´s last blog … It’s not http://www.1picfortwenty it’s http://www.1pic4twenty =-.
I agree Teresa. Referring to Daniel’s comment…just because a lot of people use numbers doesn’t mean people won’t get confused or forget that it’s a number instead of letters. It has definitely caused confusion with me over the years. But as I said earlier, I can’t complain too much. I’ve still had great success… Nevertheless, I would have definitely stayed away from the numbers. Just a personal preference from past experiences.
I definitely agree that a few people may still get confused that it’s a number, even though it’s fairly common that number’s are in the domain name. However, most people would probably realize that it may be a number, instead, once they see it’s not your site (it would be a really big problem, though, if a competitor took the non-number version and redirected it to their site! I haven’t heard of any cases of that happening, though) and end up on your site anyways. They may be a little annoyed, but it’s not really a big deal as long when they do get to your site, your content is good quality and useful to them.
Very interesting article. I’ve never really regretted a domain name choice; I’m pretty happy with all the one’s I’ve chosen.
Personally, I think you did the right thing by registering in the domain name you did. A lot of people use number’s now, so I don’t think a lot of people would be confused that it’s a “2” instead of a “to.” Besides, even if they were, they would probably be able to figure it out.
Besides, when you registered the domain in 2002, as you said, it was important to have keyword’s in the title, so there’s no guarantee you would’ve done as well in the search engine’s if you hadn’t done that.
Certainly, though, people need to be more careful with their domain name choices. A lot of people just choose it without much thought, without realizing how great an impact that name will have on their site.
By the way: Actually, if you look, the top site for the search create a website is http://webs.com/.
Also, the domain name http://tocreateawebsite.com/ isn’t taken at this point!
Yes, it is taken. A site may not be visible but someone owns the name. Trust me. I’ve checked several times. lol But I like how when you go to tocreateawebsite.com in Firefox, they ask you “Did you mean 2createawebsite.com?” LOL Love it!!
I have to say I’m happy with my domain name now…it’s how I decided to brand myself (although not keyword smart -oh well). Prior newbizblogger.com, I had icantsellmystuff.com. I don’t know WHAT i was thinking! Must of been a moment of insanity 😉
So glad I changed it soon after…this describes so much about what I up to to. Thanks for sharing, Lisa!
.-= Michele´s last blog … How To Create A Screencast – Video Post =-.
I don’t like my name either because I put a number in it too. http://www.tips4running.com, but my keyword is running tips. That is why when I post on blogs or try to get a link to my site I have to add anchor text with “running tips” I didn’t know about all these rules and search engine tricks when I first started. I just thought tips4running was short and sweet.
Oh well. My next site will be much better as far as the web address is concerned
.-= Dave from Running Tips´s last blog … The Steve Magness Interview with tips4running.com =-.
I go back and forth about the choice of my blog name.
On the one hand its great because it spells out exactly who I am, what I’m writing about, etc. and has resulted in some great exposure through SEO.
However, when I feel like I want to create content that feels like it might be outside of the scope of my domain name, I feel stuck. I end up creating the rogue content and find ways to tie it into my main focus.
.-= Michael / South Bay Foodies´s last blog … Truvia: An Artificial Sweetener that Keeps It Real =-.
Great article!
Yes, I do regret my domain name. At first I started out talking about how to sell items on eBay and then decided to change it and discuss starting a successful home based business. Many people think my blog is about fashion and clothing etc. If I had to do it all again I would definitely choose a domain name closer to what my blog theme is really about. Live and learn right?
.-= Sonia´s last blog … The Future of Search! =-.
Hi Lisa
Great thoughts about the domain name. I went with my keywords, creative-writing-help.com. It’s a little long and awkward and I’m not sure the dashes were smart, but we’ll see how it goes. If I could do it again I’d probably want a shorter url. But it’s not what’s in a name, but the content behind it.
My main site has three numbers in it! Two as digits as one as a word – 1pic4twenty – it was sort of related to one of the first work from home ideas we had – where somebody sends in a photo and then we send back 20 of the same picture, except altered, edited, enhanced etc. That didn’t work out (but may revisit the idea later) and so we were stuck with this odd domain name, but I think it’s standing out a bit now, and, also, our site covers a variety of topics (so one pick for twenty) 🙂
.-= Teresa Schultz´s last blog … My elderly dad caught by subscription service and could not stop it =-.
I feel like I had a good choice with my domain name. It’s just the name of my blog with the first word abbreviated. Making Swagbucks For Everyone into Sbforeveryone.com
.-= Nick´s last blog … No Today in Swagbucks Tonight? =-.
Great article Lisa!
I have a website and the domain name has NOTHING to do with the content I put out, however if I ever used a keyword such as money or website in my domain name, it would be harder to rank because of all the competition out there. I think unique domains and unique content work the best together.
.-= Haris´s last blog … SEO Friendly URL Structures =-.
Hi Lisa, when choosing my domain name i deliberately used the keys Soap Opera in it because i know that when persons search the web for anything soap opera related those are the two words they will use. I love the stuff you post about, very good stuff.
Yes.. my site is 3 months old and I already somewhat regret name. Why?
1. it’s a .net instead of .com
2. little long (3 words)
3. it’s easy to flip the last two words when trying to remember it.
Honestly, if I’d read your post prior to choosing name, I may have selected a different one. I’ve purchased two domains and thinking about redirecting, but concerned with diluting link value.
For example, when I register for Directories, do you think it matters if some link to old domain and some the new one? Any suggestions are appreciated.
thx, Dee 🙂
Funny you should ask. I was just going through that train of thought yesterday but I decided to stick with the domain names that I have. I’m making “Katrina” a brand (uh, other than the hurricane, that is…lol.)
.-= Ms. Katrina´s last blog … Plugin: MaxBlogPress Ping Optimizer =-.
LOL, sounds good Katrina!
I have registered several domain names, thinking they were the ones I wanted to use. Through trial and error, I realized how important it is to select a domain name, and that this step should not be rushed. After all, it is a part of your brand. Now I carefully think about the possible domain names I want to use, write them down, and iff after a few days, I like one more than the other, I register it. This has worked well for me.
.-= RunningBear´s last blog … Positivity 101: How to be a more positive person =-.
If you do a good job establishing a brand you can eliminate a lot of confusion. While you should be careful and thoughtful when choosing a domain, I don’t personally think its a mistake to base the domain on keywords.
At times I have regretted choosing the domain name – especially when I look at Google’s webmaster tools and notice that the top two keywords it lists are “technically” and “easy”.
For the most part, the top keywords that I receive the most traffic from aren’t even in my domain name, but rather are from my post titles or content. While I usually link to my home page, many of my post titles usually end up in forums and other sites, and they have had a much larger impact on my standing in SERP.
So I don’t worry about my domain name anymore – I still like it – now if only I can get the .com version.
Akram, if you’re registering in the UK, I’d have absolutely no hesitation in recommending http://www.123-reg.co.uk. Their customer support is excellent, and domain names and hosting are both reliable and very competitively priced.
On a related subject, It’s VERY important to use a hosting service whose servers are located in the country that your target visitors are coming from.
Maybe Lisa could recommend a good US host/domain registrar?
Daniel @ LondonEvents2010.com
Why is it important to have your site hosted in the country you are based in? I am in UK and am hosted in Holland. Although hosted in Holland, it is a .co.uk url. I am not aware of any problems it has caused.
Lisa,
You make a valid point. Content is the key. For my last site I spent some time trying to come up with a three word domain name. I don’t regret it but looking back on it I thought maybe I should not have spent so much time trying to come up with a catchy domain. BTW, I discovered your site on You Tube and you have some very good information. Keep up the good work.
Good pointers. I’m in the process of selecting my domain name and almost fell into the mistake of having too long a domain name that will describe the site as part of the URL.
WHERE TO REGESTER MY DOMAIN BESITE?
You can register your domain almost anywhere you host your site. I registered at Dynadot.com
.-= Kharim´s last blog … Encouragement To Boost Self Confidence =-.
I would advise you NOT to register your domain name with BT in the UK. I registered mine with them, though my site is hosted elsewhere, and they are useless.
Despite BT being a communications company (BT stands for British Telecom), they do not allow any phone communication about domain registration problems, so, if there is any problem, you cannot phone them about it, you can only email using their web form. Possibly because they know they are inept and don’t want bombarded with phonecalls.
They offer phone numbers for every other service they provide but refuse to allow phone communication about any domain registration issues.
My web host (in Belgium but with his servers in Holland) changed his servers from .be to .eu ones and BT apparently cannot cope with .eu, for some unexplained reason, so my site was offline for over a week while I had them change it back to .be servers, which didn’t exactly suit my web host but he accepted it and made it possible for my site to be hosted on a .be server instead of his new .eu set up.
Note, although my website is hosted on .be servers, my site has a .co.uk url not a .be or .eu one, it’s http://www.wafuku.co.uk
My web host is cheap, reliable and helpful, so I don’t want to change to new hosting.
My advice is to avoid BT’s domain registration like the plague
This is a very important topic and very informative post, Lisa. You have noted some very important tips about keywords and domain.
I remember when I wanted to buy my domain and the first person that I came to was you, and you said I should not hesitate, buy the domain before someone else does. To be quite frank I happy that I bought the domain.
Thanks a million Lisa 😀
.-= Kharim´s last blog … I Love My Blog. What About You? =-.
My site’s url is http://www.wafuku.co.uk. I chose wafuku because it means, in Japanese, traditional Japanese clothing and I sell vintage Japanese kimonos, haori, hakama etc., so it was appropriate but spam filters and such read the fuku bit as dodgy (as a sneaky f*ck you) and filter it out, so some people don’t find the site or don’t get my emails.
I do get a lot of traffic but I would have chosen a different name had I thought of this problem.
I too chose a name for keywords and wish I just chose a simple name.
If you get a new name and redirect, which name gets the rank? the old or new?
I hate change…
I’m glad you clarified this, I was still under the assumption that keywords were a huge factor in the domain name. I do understand that content and inbound links matter the most. Thanks for pointing this out, Lisa!
Another good subject, Lisa!
From an SEO perspective, keywords in domain names DO make a difference. This because the SERP’s show keywords in URL’s in bold, therefore SEO ‘weight’ is placed upon them. But it’s also apparent that websites CAN rank top without any keywords at all. Take Google, Amazon, Alexa, etc…
Not sure about NOT using numbers in domains – our address has four (2010), and we’ve not had any problems. Our registrar, 123-reg.co.uk also has numbers in their domain, and it doesn’t appear to have caused them too much bother. But certainly having a “2” instead of “to”, or “4” instead of “for”, could present significant problems.
Without any worthwhile content, the only domains similar to other domains worth registering are common typo’s, such as “googlr.com” (which is taken, by Google.com!).
Definately keep it as short as possible, and always try and get a “.com”, even if you’re registering a local TLD as well.
Hi Lisa: I think that my domain name is more difficult than I would like: http://www.stress-management-4-women.com. It has dashes and a number. But now I am emphasizing the number as being the 4 phases in a women’s life that I discuss at the site. Teens, young adult, midlifer, and senior. I am going to be more proactive with the number 4 than I had originally thought. With your site: http://www.2createawebsite.com, I think that you can emphasize the 2 key aspects of a good website. Information–niche content, and the web industry. Every site has to have great content. But to be a player in the internet market you also have to know the industry. That’s why you talk about CSS, HTML, web design stuff. But you also explain the importance of planning a good content story. So, I like your number, 2, and think it has a great place in your domain name.
Speaking of web industry stuff–can someone tell me the code to add my photo to my comments. Just so people know who they are talking to. Thanks. Hope these perspectives help.
🙂
.-= Ann´s last blog … Social Networking Can Cause Stress in Teens! =-.
Hi Lisa, was interesting reading your post my domain has a 2 in it bethere2day and i never even thought about the to and 2 side of it which is a good point, love your site it is always a pleasure to read.
.-= Steve´s last blog … Pop Charts Gone By =-.
I noticed the other day that “Weebly” was number one when I did a search on Google for “Create a website.” Bummer that Google is changing things around so much.
I was actually researching a domain name while considering breaking into the website-building niche. It didn’t take long for me to discover that the competition is fierce.
I found a domain name available that I thought would do well. The top three sites in the SERPS had PR that scored above 4 and they all had over three hundred backlinks.
I humbly bowed out.
I can totally relate with this Lisa. I registered my domain name also for SEO purposes but now I also feel I should have used a shorter name for the same reasons you mentioned above and more. People who call or who I meet often cannot even mention the complete domain name of my website. 🙁
.-= Jay Castillo´s last blog … Time to outsource my title transfer =-.
Hey Lisa
Content is what really matters. My url is my name and I have been ranking for good keywords.
I will have other websites which will be named accordingly but I won’t be spending to long on the urls as I know they are not the be all and end all.
Great new logo btw.
Have a good week
Dwayne
.-= Dwayne Huggins´s last blog … Keyword Research Made Easy Via Market Samurai | Network Marketing Tip =-.
I’ve recently been forced to open my website early because Google had already indexed what I had created so far (Doh!) but I was suprised to see, day one 1 unique visitor, day two 7 unique visitors, day three, 40 unique visitors. I clicked on to 2CreateAwebsite.com and started reading your content Lisa. How you stressed the importance of good quality content has really really helped me. I never would have got to 40 unique visitors a day, and your right about the domain. I mean, what has http://www.nuclearwolf.co.uk got to do with XHTML/CSS, PHP, JavaScript (well quite alot actually as i built it using those things, but content-wise i mean)? The content is where its at.
I don’t know if I registered the right domain, but i think it’s little bit long.
Once upon a time…I did REGRET the domain name I registered. But now, I love it 🙂 However, since I know more NOW, I will register the next domain I purchase with keywords.
SN: God bless you Lisa. I’ve bumped into your website about a year or 2 ago and followed you every since. II never left a comment until now…but know that your truly an inspiration. God bless you 🙂
I registered the domain for my first personal site about a dozen years ago, before I knew anything about web site building. The dot-com for my business name wasn’t available, neither was the dot-net, and neither was the dot-com with a hyphen! So I went with a hyphenated dot-net. I don’t mind the dot-net so much but the hyphen has been a pain. You’d be surprised how many people don’t know what a hyphen is, so I also refer to it as a dash, but to some people, dash can mean more than one thing. Needless to say, I regret that one!
.-= Laura´s last blog … AMS Case Study: Week 2 =-.
well lisa…you say subscribe to sitesell and their whole thing is xxxxx-xxxxxx-xxxxxx.com plus content. i guess i’m fortunate because most of my domains go back to 1998. it’s hard to comment on length vs keyword matching because my approach is a bit different and most of my domains go back to 1998. but you are always correct on traffic. if you dont have it or know decent method to get it…then you are in outerspace on the net.
Hi Lisa,
I totally understand what you’re talking about. For my Christian blog, I really wished I would’ve gotten a separate domain name for it instead of simply creating a subdomain. I really just don’t know exactly what I was thinking. I thought about changing it, but then the ranking had started doing so well, that I thought it would hurt my traffic. Perhaps, I could do a redirect, but there could be glitches and I just hate to tamper with something that’s already doing well.
.-= Kiesha @ Highly Favored´s last blog … It all Starts with God =-.
Hi Lisa, although I havent yet registered my domain name (still in the content building and creation phase of my site) I constatnly take into consideration whether or not I need a 2 or 3 word domain name, or just the simple 1 word domain that I came up with. I now know that it doesnt determine my success as far as targeted traffic is concerned :)). Thanks for yet another awesome post !!
I go back and forth on this almost every day and I just need to get over it. I used my name and sometimes I wish I would have just come up with something different, but my site has really gotten a following so I’m not changing now.
.-= Mike Roosa´s last blog … I’m Giving Away The Farm — Read This If You Like Free Stuff =-.