The power of a domain name!

Mick Regan

I accidentally found a website yesterday that really showed the importance of a domain name / and trending (at least on Google).

- The domain was created on 26/6/09 (i.e: its brand new).
- Its got no backlinks.
- It gets number one position on Google.com against its keyword.
- Its had over 1300 blog comments since the site went live.
- Its got no page rank.
- The owner is private on the whois database.
- Its a quick hash-up on a wordpress theme.
- Its pushing merchandise and probably making money from day one.

I'm not going to give the link as it looks like a really cynical attempt to cash in on a sad situation - just do a google search on 'michael jackson funeral' (you don't need the quote signs), and you'll see michaeljacksonfuneral.org

Not sure what else to say about it really except that i'm not sure i'd be too happy with myself if i'd created it. At an objective level though I guess it does have an interesting SEO aspect.

tomED

That won't be around for long - it's getting benefit from the fact that it's new and in an uncompetitive market (until now). Google will slowly let this honeymooner gently move towards the bottom of the listings.

The power isn't in the domain name at all.

The power lies in the hands of the person that created the blog - who knew how he could possibly gain a quick buck by being up there first for this obviously uncompetitve keyphrase at the time of registering.

Let's see how quickly it moves down the list as Jackson's funderal approaches...

Mick Regan

yep, its starting to slip now.

The .com version of the same went up as well recently and was on page 1 yesterday - that's disappeared off the radar now.

Curious to see if a .org holds its own any better.

Case of watch and learn i guess!

RedCardinal

Do a search for ["query deserves freshness"]. Might give you some answers.

EORaghallaigh

i have noticed this as well, some new sites rush to the top of the SERP's with speed, but then slide down the rankings with similar pace.

As RedCardinal said above, it's Google tweaking its algorithm...

Mick Regan

I held off from replying on this one for a while to see what happens. The domain in question is still holding its position in Google for both 'michael jackson funeral' and 'michael jacksons funeral', topping sites such as dailymail.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, usatoday.com etc.

The site now seems to have some backlinks so i'm guessing that kept it up there.

My own view (currently):
a. If its important get a domain name that has keyword value first.
b. Concentrate on backlinks second.

As an example a user of this forum is developing a site with the domain staydoggy.com, I still think dog-friendly-accommodation.ie or similar would be an easier place to start.

Still learning the ropes though so open to debate as they say!

D.W

Mick Regan wrote: »

I held off from replying on this one for a while to see what happens. The domain in question is still holding its position in Google for both 'michael jackson funeral' and 'michael jacksons funeral', topping sites such as dailymail.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, usatoday.com etc.

The site now seems to have some backlinks so i'm guessing that kept it up there.

My own view (currently):
a. If its important get a domain name that has keyword value first.
b. Concentrate on backlinks second.

As an example a user of this forum is developing a site with the domain staydoggy.com, I still think dog-friendly-accommodation.ie or similar would be an easier place to start.

Still learning the ropes though so open to debate as they say!

I'd agree with you that keywords in a domain are a MUST. The name alone can move you on the serps but add in the links you mentioned then (if decent and targetted) and ranking can be quite easy. People used to pass a lot of heed to domain names-then it sorta became less important but I believe its back in vogue with S.Es