Use Keyword Rich Domain Names For High Ranking Search Engine Results

If you want to achieve high-ranking Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), use Domain Names that include the keywords users are most likely to use to search for content on your site. Of course having a domain name that is descriptive of your site is only one factor for getting high-ranking SERPs. Other variables directly related to keyword searches are: Meta Tags (Description and Keywords), Title, Headers and Page Content. Think of the search engine’s task in this context. The search engine can see several target locations on a web site: the domain name (URL), the Meta Tags in the Header, and the content on the page (Title, Headers and Content). If the keyword being sought is found in each of those areas, it is likely that the searcher will be satisfied with the SERP and the search engine will rank that page higher than one having the keyword in only a few of the target locations.

Search engine vendors are very secretive about the algorithms used to deliver SERPs – and rightly so. We users tend to use the tools that deliver the best results. The influence each of the target locations has on the algorithms is not known to us, but we can make logical decisions regarding each. We search because we want to know something. We expect to find that “unknown something” in the content of a web page.

We want the Title and the first Header (h1) to give us the expectation that we will find what we are looking for in the content. If the title and first Header don’t give us that expectation, we usually leave the page without reading the content. The Title of the page and the first Header on the page must be pretty important. Other headers may relate to supplementary information in various sections of the content so they are probably not as important.

We assume the writer of the page wants to deliver content that is consistent with the keyword(s) that took us to that page so we can (should) also assume that the writer wants to direct the search engine to that page. Accordingly, the writer, knowing the search engine is going to look there, should include those keywords in the Meta Tags (Description and Keywords). They must also be pretty important.

Finally, we assume that the Domain Name should relate to some degree with the content on each page. We wouldn’t expect to find information about running a business on a web page with a Domain Name related to nature or photography. In fact, many people “search” by entering a keyword in the URL and adding “.com”. That’s why single-word Domain Names are so valuable.

If you want to rank high in SERPs, don’t underestimate the value of a descriptive Domain Name.