Keyword Optimization - Choosing the right domain - Part II
Having a good domain name, is a part of search engine optimization.
If one ranks them, in the order of importance, to the search engines,
then the
following would be valid.
Content.
Number and quality of incoming links.
Title.
Meta tags.
Alternate text in images and other objects.
Domain name.
In the above list, we see, that search engines would absolutely prefer
to rank
pages based upon content, number and quality of incoming links, and
then the
page title, and then the meta tags, which describe the page, and have
keywords
associated with it.
After that comes the alternate texts that one puts for the images and
other
objects in their website, and finally comes the domain name. I am not
saying
that domain name is not irrelevant, but that, it only has value, when
you have
the other things mentioned above.
The general rule of the thumb is that, what is good for the users, is
good for
the search engines.
Any search engine, that wants to be a major player, would want to
satisfy the
needs of its users, and not rank pages with no substance.
They keep changing and fine tuning their algorithms, all with one
purpose,
which is to serve the best results available on the internet, to their
users.
Keeping this in mind, one has to use the search engine optimization
techniques,
in such a way as to give the users what they want, and also optimizing
for the search engines.
In my opinion, if one were to have only one line of business, then it
would
definitely help to have a domain name which matches any popular search
term.
On the other hand, if one's website were to have many areas of
business,
then the domain name becomes really irrelevant, from the search engine
point of
view.
If one is optimizing the domain name, my suggestion is to keep the
domain
name short, and to separate words using a hyphen, to make it meaningful
to both
the users and the search engines.
The rule of the thumb is, that if it is good for the users, than it is
good for
the search engines.
If one cannot find the right domain in ".com" top level domain, they
could try out other top level domains, like ".net", ".biz",
".cc" and many more.
In my experience, I have never come across any search engine, which
would
filter a website from its search results, based on the website's
top
level domain extension.
As an example, if I were a search engine optimization software vendor,
and I
want to build a website with an optimized domain name. Then I could use
search-engine-optimization-software.(com,net,biz....), whichever
available
or
seo-software.(com,net,biz.....), whichever available
or
seo-optimization-software.(com,net,biz.....), whichever available
or
search-optimization-software.(com,net,biz.......), whichever available
and more domain names like that.
As a final note, one should give priority to an optimized domain name,
if one's
website is about a specific line of interest.
Otherwise any domain name would do.
The most important factors in determining search engine ranking are
namely,
good original content, and number and quality of incoming links.
And more important than the domain name, are the availability of the
domain to
the maximum extent of 24x7x365, and page accessibility and response
time from
the web server.
The way of the world, and the internet, is that if one has good
original
content, or something unique and good, which stands out in a crowd,
then having
an optimized domain name would help in their efforts to secure a
good
ranking in the major search engines.
But if none of these are present then, it would be of no use to just
have an
good domain name.
The first important thing would be good original content, or something
unique
and good, which would make one's website stand out in the internet.
Then using search engine optimization could work to increase its
visibility.
The major search engines, in my opinion, would usually give
credence to the following, when
ranking a page in the search results.
They are
Domain name.
Title
Meta Tags
Content
Alternate text in images and other objects
Number and quality of incoming links
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