Benefits of Choosing a Keyword-Rich Domain
In a rush to get started blogging on your first blog, you might have settled for a second-rate domain, one that doesn’t exactly relate tot he niche that you are in. Many problems can arise form not planning properly or evaluating all your options.
Click image for larger view.
When you first venture out looking for a domain that is still available, even if it is on a free, developer-hosted site, you probably didn’t spend the necessary time preparing for outcomes of not choosing a domain wisely.
Let’s take a look at this one example, highlighted in the image above. Now, why are those blogs listed like that, set apart from the rest of the Blog Search results?
For one, each of the four (often varies depending on what you are searching for) sites/links are extremely relevant to the term “blog tips” that I was searching for. As a result, these links were displayed at the top, above recent blog posts and news items. This also pertains to search results, in which links are generated for select sites and placed at the top, often pertaining to particular keywords.
3+ Ways to Hopefully Appear Here
While I can’t admit the in-depth specifics of how to get your site listed here, there are some general tips that you must follow that will likely have yours placed here.
- Each of the sites listed in this area have a domain that contains the term “blog” or “blogger,” which are both relevant to the search terms. The more keywords that appear in your description, blog title, or domain, the better. Some of the domains/titles above contains multiple instances of the same words, generating higher ranking results.
- Recent content. All of the links contained at least one link back to a recent post (when sorted by relevance) that was created within the past day or so. It is likely that the algorithm calculates the link placements of these blogs using the number of times the blog appears on this page.
- Age of domain and popularity. The more visitors a blog receives (compared to other sites) as well as domain age, and several other factors, such as the number of links from other sites may also be placed into the equation.
Now, how many visitors will you see from your link appearing at the top of Google Blog Search (or any other service)? In truth, it won’t be a significant number. There is only a fraction (likely less than 5%) of Google searchers who have ever used Blog Search and even fewer click on the top results, as their searches are more specific than “blog tips.”
On the other hand, it can be beneficial when other people weigh the popularity of your site, especially if they are considering buying it or advertising on your blog. They may look at this as being an ‘authority’ in your targeted niche, thus proving that you are the best place to advertise on/purchase.
Additional Tips
Despite the fact that there are only a few spots reserved for these blogs, it isn’t impossible to “bump” a domain off the list – as long as you have the factors addressed above and are willing to commit time into thinking about a domain that contains a few keywords relevant to your niche. Without these, you have a much less chance of even coming close to entering this premier listing.
Over to you – What are your thoughts/experience with higher placement on smaller services such as Blog Search?
Alot of good info here. The good thing I guess is there really is no short cuts to getting to the “Top” with Google. The people that bow out with in the first 3 months of blogging should definitely read this post.
@Rick Vaughn – Thank you for your comment. I suppose that a lot of people give up before a lot of their content even gets indexed in search engines (literally).
I agree that domains with keywords can help greatly. I am not sure exactly how much Google uses the domain, but it must be pretty significant. It seems a domain with a certain keyword in it always ranks near the top. Great post.
@Blog Help – It isn’t just Google, but people may look at those domains as having more value than others, specifically those that don’t have any relation to their search term(s).
Its good to have a domain relevant to your niche but its not mandatory for a successful blog. Take john chow for example.
You’re right, it’s certainly not mandatory. Also, relying on keywords in your domain name alone will not help much. As with any SEO tactics, it’s a healthy mix that does the trick, not the single effort!
My first niche site I had didn’t have a domain that was as good as using a targetted keyword phrase. I won’t ever make that mistake again. Now with my new niche sites I always make sure to make the domain name with a targetted keyword phrase or add a word or two if that name is already taken.
HI, Have a nice day.
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