URL changing

[Peto34]

HI everybody,

I have just entered into this discussion forum and have a question on you guys.

I would like to change a domain name from "slovakiafamilytours" to "slovakiabesttours" because I originally wanted to be focused on families but now I am focused on every travel groups ( older, young people...), offering wide selection of services..

I have heard that google does not like in the domain words like "best"..or other superlatives...

Is this true ? Can anybody put some light on it ? Any comments & advice is highly appreciated. Peter

[MajorTom]

Hi Peter,

That is definitely not true. If you search Google for the term "Best Affiliate Programs", my site is ranked #6 and it has the word best in the domain name.

However, I would recommend that you put the words "slovakia" and "tours" next to each other because if you use a keyword analyzer, "slovakiatours" will rank much higher.

I would recommend registering bestslovakiatours instead of slovakiabesttours

[Dubbya]

Good suggestion MajorTom!

Just my two cents worth, but Peto34 might want to register "best-slovakia-tours" and not "bestslovakiatours" since no one will ever conduct a search using "bestslovakiatours" as a search phrase.

Googlebot strips out the dashes and underscores but won't add them to a string of text. You'd be left with "best slovakia tours" as a perfectly natural and highly relevant keyword phrase, versus "bestslovakiatours" which is quite simply, a group of letters in a string.

Ultimately, you can and should register both versions just in case someone types in "bestslovakiatours". You can then use a 301 redirect to bounce users to "best-slovakia-tours" and everyone's a winner!

Good Luck.

[deepsand]

While the major SEs do frown on the use of superlatives as adjectives/adverbs within the descriptive text of PPC ads, they are agnostic on this issue as regards proper names, which includes Domain Names.

Do, for example, a search for electronic stores, and note that Best Buy ranks no. 4.

[Dubbya]

Also a good point, deepsand!

[incrediblehelp]

I would not use hyphens in domains as that doesnt matter at all anymore. You can see Google highlight the keywords in domains (without hyphens) when conducting searches.

Building your brand around a hyphened domains is not the best idea or many other reason other than SEO.

[deepsand]

Still, one should at least consider buying the variations which separate the words with hyphens and under-scores so as to protect ones brand.

[inertia]

But from a user point of view I would go for hyphens as it is far easier to read. I'm not keen on domains like:

mydomainwhichsellsstuff . com. It just looks like a mess to me.

m2c...

[seopo]

Problem with hyphens is they are pain to read out to people especially if your customers use the phone to contact you.

[Terry Van Horne]

I agree with inertia on the long names broken up with hyphens, however, I don't like more than three words. I'm not even sure why other than I have trouble remembering them myself. In the early years domain name parsing was poor or not weighted in the rankings (likely because SE's did it so poorly) on most search sites. Yahoo! was first to really use the - as delimiter but it was IMO, one of the worst at parsing domain names. Hyphens are gaining support but I still prefer to use hyphens in filenames rather than domains. I had a few domains with the hyphen, found the benefits were minimal because domain parsing has improved considerably with time. I still might opt for a hyphenated domain if that was all that stood between me and a great name and I thought I could work the hyphen into the brand.

[deepsand]

But from a user point of view I would go for hyphens as it is far easier to read. I'm not keen on domains like:

mydomainwhichsellsstuff . com. It just looks like a mess to me.

m2c...
Bear in mind that, if they can remember the name, regardless of "punctuation," they are more likely to omit such when typing. So, while it may look like a mess, for those who remember your brand it's very much easier & less error prone for them to type.

[Webnauts]

What are people saying here? SE are poor with understanding domain names without hyphens? No way.
You can take my word that the best way to go is without hyphens. In addition leave that "best" out.

[inertia]

How many people actually type in domain names to get to a site? Only 5% comes directly and i bet most of them are bookmarks. I bet a lot of them have had to read the domain name, which ive just realised it crap coz i dont have hyphens in mine.... *retires to the corner*

[deepsand]

How many people actually type in domain names to get to a site? Only 5% comes directly and i bet most of them are bookmarks. I bet a lot of them have had to read the domain name, which ive just realised it crap coz i dont have hyphens in mine.... *retires to the corner*
That depends on the Brand name & the URL.

"Penn State Ticket Man" = "pennstateticketman.com" works quite well; with other combinations, your mileage may vary.