RWT Webmaster Tools Blog

Keywords and Domain Names

Domains based on keywords are the most common since they typically use words that are typically used in the English (or native) language. My website, Recommended Web Tools is an example of a domain name based on keywords.

What are keywords?
Keywords are the actual words and phrases used by people searching the search engines. While keyword analysis is beyond the scope of this post, finding high traffic keywords (or parts thereof) and using them in you domain name is key. Also, it is important to consider using one term in your domain name that actually describes what your website is about. Keep this one little tidbit in mind: search engines do consider the domain name when figuring out the relevancy of a website. So if your website is solely about “hammers” and your domain name is ThingsRUs.com then you are missing out on some good search engine relevancy. HammersRUs.com would be a much better name.

To further develop the name for a hammer website, HammerStore.com would be an even better choice. It uses a second “real” word and avoids using an abbreviation (the “r”) and does not use any common or meaningless words (the “us”).

So when using keywords in you domain name keep in mind the following:

1. use at least ONE term that relates to the actual content of your website
2. if possible, use a potentially high traffic term(s). This is not always possible, but ideal.

This post is excerpted from my Domain Name Handbook: Choosing, Registering and Managing Domain Names.