THE in a URL

[LauraB]

We have a client that is starting a new website and she was told that 'the' in a domain name will shoot you down in the search engines.

I have never heard this theory. Anybody else heard it? Or have experience with this?

Thanks in advance for any help![/b]

[sudhani]

Even I never heard. Was doing a quick search on google. search for 'site wizard' and you see the results ... the very first one.

I think this is another Myth.

[cbp]

I agree - I never heard of this one.

Tell them to do a google search for allinurl:the

CBP

[LauraB]

Thank you both!

[Brittany]

Hey everyone,

I moved this topic to our new Domain forum, which just launched today.

Now you can go to one place for all your domain-related questions and answers ;)

Hope that helps!

Brittany

[Linda Buquet]

Hi Laura,

I have never heard of any search engine related problems. It will however reduce the value of the domain or site if they ever want to sell it.

[LauraB]

Thank you Brit for moving this...

Hi Linda,

Why would it reduce the value? not that they are probably going to want to sell, but I am curious.

[Linda Buquet]

Wheneve you add a prefix, suffix or number to a good keyword or branding domain it lowers the value to some degree. Partly because it makes the DN longer and especially in this case since the word "the" addsn o meaning. Plus when saying it on the phone or a radio commercial, people may remember the name part and forget to add "the" and end up at the wrong site.

What sounds more powerful and memorable? webproworld.com or thewebproworld.com
salesalliance.com or thesalesalliance.com

[LauraB]

You make sense! (as usual)

Thanks

[xmx]

Hello,

I read what your customer told you in a domains website but I don't think about this as an absolute rule.

I registered a domain starting with 'the' because I found it interesting and think it is a case where it does not disturb.

It is ThePayer.com, but I not yet developped a site for it.

Of course there are cases where adding that prefix is not a good solution.

As an example TheWebProWorld.com would be less memorable of WebProWorld.com.

[EJRS.COM]

it would be good if all those who have gotten domains with THE prefix would post their findings and stats here. See how they fare.

[imvain2]

When it comes to the question of having "the" as the beginning of the domain or not, the answer to me is why not both? Especially if the company name starts with The anyway.

For only $8.99/year for the domain names the extra cost isn't a big deal.

And as for the server setup, by setting up one domain name as being hosted and the other as a
"domain pointer", this will not hurt your rankings.

I know the above statement about domain pointers will bring up the conversation that it will cause a problem with your rankings. So I will say that I'm speaking from experience, for some keywords our domain pointers acheive 1-5 rankings and the orginial sits at 1-5 rankings for others.

[LauraB]

The customer in question chose to abandon the THE however we have another client that uses the because url was not available without it. http://www.thehighcountryinn.com

She seems to do okay. would be better without the the but what do you do? Google #16 listing out of 2,140,000 and for top keyword phrase #1 of about 86,800 for Pacific Northwest bed and breakfast

[webmasterbrain]

I agree about a 'The' domain being confusing to potential visitors who try to visit your site for the first time (or even when the try to come back) through the address bar. An example is the UK's AA (Automobile Association) which is always seem to get wrong.

[Linda Buquet]

Well, I guess I will eat my words. THE isn't always a bad thing.

"TheName.com" just sold for $12,000 last week on Sedo. :-)