I am marketing a local business in three nearby towns .
I am seeking to chose a domain name that will be a good start in the quest for clients from the , or with an interest in, the locality.
Lets say is selling jelly in localtownname
The domain jellyinlocaltownname.com [or.co.uk] is not available (for any of the 3 towns) .
jellyin.com (and ,co.uk) is available
My plan is to then use /directories on this one site as below and load the same " site " into all three directories with some minor changes
i.e. jellyin.com/localtownname1
jellyin.com/localtownname2
jellyin.com/localtownname3
Considering just the domain name at this time .without any additional SEO applications or features
How likely is it that, if I go ahead with this scheme, in due course ,if someone who lives in towns 1-3 and types into a search engine " jelly in localtownname " will arrive at my site?
Please rate it 1- 10 1 = little or no chance
3 some slight chance
8= high likely
10 dead cert
Please score this for me .
Adding a little substantiation for the answer would be welcome too as it would enable me to understand how SEO works in a little more depth
After having scored my plan alternative suggestions for the domain name would also be welcome .
e.g. jellyinlocaltowname.net or .biz or .??
If these were available should they also be considered ?
Thank you in anticipation
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I agree with Intersel on the URL end.
I would recommend better use of the time (or on top of url) in using online maps like google maps, map quest, yahoo maps, etc. They will be able to also incorporate local town. For example if someone searches "jelly in localtownneighbor", the searches will be able to return your company if the neighbor doesn't sell jelly.
Under your criterion "without any other SEO" then the answer is 1, little or no chance
Keywords in the domain url have little effect on SEO. The exception being if the entire searched phrased is your domain name. In those cases, Google seems to make an exception for the possibility the searcher is looking for your brand.
So jellyinlondon.net may have a chance at ranking for someone searching "jelly in london" based on Google thinking the searcher might be looking for your exact web site, BUT johnspizza.com will still outrank it if it has enough backlinks pointing to it with London Jelly in the anchor text.
Only with everything else being equal will keywords in the domain beat out a domain without the keywords.
You should create the best url based on what you feel will look the best to a searcher when they are scanning Google results for a result that matches what they are searching for.
For example:
I search for Jelly in London
I see two results ranked 3 and 4
3. buy-jelly-in-london.com/Lo
and
4. freshjelly.com/london
Title
IMO, freshukjelly.com/localtown
Based on you collective advice
I have opted For ( because the product is aimed at people who want a size and guality related product
tasy-little-jelly.com as the main name domain
And in addition will populate the three directories with essentially the same site with a localisation of towname in this fashion
tasy-little-jelly.com/jell
I would welcome you comments on the finer points of my choice of domain name
( before i close the question and award the pints sorry points amongs my contributing experts .)
--------------------------
Thank you all for your contributions I will award the points amongst you all tomorrow and close the question after your final comments
--------------------------
You have been very helpful
I just need clarification on two points now before choosing the domain names and no doubt will want to learn more about SEO mechanics in the not to distan future so please stick around but for now the two questions immediatle yin view and will post straight away are :-
1) How do - hyphens effect a domain name and its intreation with search engines
2) How do I make a start with getting " tasy-little-jelly.com" site on Google maps or the other sites you mention?
PLEASE DONT ANSWER THOSE QUESTIONS HERE as I am posting two separate questions to make more points available to you
Thanks
Business Accounts
Answer for Membership
by: InterselPosted on 2009-08-06 at 03:17:20ID: 25031647
hello
rate = 3-5 depending if the keywords are very used or not all...
I would suggest jellyin.com/jelly-in-local
for a better rating for google
jellyinlocaltowname.xxx may be considered but only if the jellyinlocaltowname.com is not too strong on the search queries...
jelly-in-localtowname.xxx may be good alternatives...