Do You Need Keywords in Your Domain Name?

See the question in the title - should your domain name contain SEO keywords?

The short answer: yes and no.

Here are some facts about keywords and domains:

1. If you can get a short domain name, GET IT

Most short domain names are taken these days. DenverHomes.com is probably not available.

2. Keywords in your domain name can help with ranking

If you are able to get a domain name with keywords, then that is perfect - it will help with ranking. If you can't, then that is okay because there are other ways. For example, searching for "Hotels" in google with give you search results that don't contain "hotel" in their URL. So it's not a big deal if you can't secure that domain.

3. Try to avoid long domain names just to get a keyword

Denverhomes.com is not available - but that doesn't mean you should go out and purchase SuburbanDenverPropertyFinder.com. The domain is too long, and some people might not remember it. It's way too long for anybody to want to type into a phone's touch keyboard. Instead, go for a short and easy-to-remember domain that is consistent with your branding.

4. You can still rank if you have the keywords in your URL

So let's say DenverHomes is out of the question - you can still have the page URL of johnsmithagent.com/denver-homes rank in google.

5. Let's not focus on the domain name anymore - it's all about content

Google wants to give their consumers a reason to come back, and to do that they will provide relevant search results. So if DenverHomes.com redirected you to a car dealership, that site will be less likely to show up on the first page. By adding relevant content to your website and practicing good search engine optimization you can rank on google without having a nifty keyword-friendly URL!

6. Google traffic might not be the most important

Don't buy a domain to rank on google. That is a very passive way to generate traffic (and thus, real estate leads). You'll still need to drive traffic to your website. This can be done through social media posts, email campaigns, youtube videos, and ou just telling people to go to your site. A domain name is not enough to bring you business, it's just an address that people can visit to view your website.

I hope you learned something new!

ALSO - I hope you enjoy the photo of the meerkat. There aren't any good "domain name" stock photos - so I chose this one instead.

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