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Domain names don’t matter for SEO

Posted by Michael Martinez on December 21, 2007 in Intermediate SEO

Why would I say such a thing as “domain names don’t matter for SEO” when every self-appointed SEO expert on the Web would leap to argue that domain names make a big difference?

A query for “president of the united states of america” might lead a naive person to conclude that domain names don’t seem to matter much in search. A query for “mayor of boston” might lead a skeptical person to conclude that either some search engines tweak their algorithms to ensure that the White House Web site comes up for “president of the united states of america” or else there is a lot of anchor text pointing to www.whitehouse.gov (rather than www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/) using that expression.

The domain name is irrelevant to the search engine, but it’s one of many factors a search engine can look at to score for relevance. It’s irrelevant because it’s not necessary. On the other hand, the search engine doesn’t have to limit its inspection of page addresses to just the domain names. It can look at the full URLs for all pages.

In which case, example.com/white-birds-on-bushes.html has as much chance to rank for “white birds on bushes” as “whitebirdsonbushes.com” or “white-birds-on-bushes.com”.

The typical SEO pundit usually stumbles and falls on domain names because of a short-sighted grasp of the fundemantal principles of content analysis. That is, the full URL for a page is more informative than just the domain name.

But conceptual analysis (at a crude level) is within reach of today’s search technology. You might expect to see a deep page with a lot of inbound link anchor text come up first for “president of the united states” but maybe it makes more sense to show just the domain, since the entire domain is really about the office of the president (and perhaps a lot of links point to www.whitehouse.gov with the expression “office of the president”).

You can hang one lantern or two to tell your riders which way the British are coming, but search engines need a lot more information than that. In other words, if the cornerstone of your SEO strategy is picking the right domain name, you don’t have an SEO strategy, you just have a cheap, overabused SEO tip.

There are several good marketing reasons for picking a domain name that includes your keywords. But those reasons really don’t have anything to do with search engine optimization.

You want a good domain name that is easy to remember and which evokes an idea in people’s minds of what your site is about. Does “abcd.whatever” really tell you anything about a site that doesn’t have something to do with the alphabet?

You want a good domain name that is brandable.

You want a good domain name that is easy to type in.

You want a good domain name that doesn’t evoke any off-base or negative humor (unless that is what your site is about). Treat yourself with dignity and respect.

But don’t get into any stupid arguments over whether domain names are important. They’re NOT important to SEO. They can help your SEO but page names will have a greater impact in the long run than domain names.

Don’t waste your time agonizing over the “right” domain name. If your domain name makes or breaks your SEO strategy, you’re doing something wrong.

Domain names should be a non-issue in search optimization strategies. Take what you can when you can get it — cream is always welcome — but don’t build a business case on picking the right domain name.