Domains that end with "Monkey" - Does this Confuse Google?

[keyon]

I see a lot of websites that have the word "monkey" (or other creatures) in the domain name. Most of these sites have nothing to do with animals - they are usually technology or web related.

Doesn't this confuse Google?

[bobchrist]

Interesting, btw what type of site you want to create with that? Google rising search is showing following keywords, I don't think google will confuse. :)

1. crazy monkey games Breakout
2. crazy monkey +3200%
3. monkey games +450%
4. survey monkey +400%
5. media monkey +200%
6. grease monkey +140%
7. hockey monkey +100%
8. red monkey +60%
9. monkey game +50%
10. monkey business +40%

[angilina]

I see a lot of websites that have the word "monkey" (or other creatures) in the domain name. Most of these sites have nothing to do with animals - they are usually technology or web related.

Doesn't this confuse Google?

I do not think that Google bot will have any problems if domain name have a animal name in it. Google see the content of sites to see what sites are about. Title of pages are important. Domain name are important if your main keyword is exactly the same as your domain name. Other than that, Google bot do not decide about the natural of a site just by its name :)

[keyon]

Domain name are important if your main keyword is exactly the same as your domain name.

Does it really have to be an -exact- match to have SEO value? Google seems to recognize a keyword in a domain name even if the word is surrounded by other unrelated words (like monkey).

But I do wonder if the placement of a keyword (within the phrase) has any bearing. For example - widgetmonkey dot com vs. monkeywidget dot com.

[angilina]

Does it really have to be an -exact- match to have SEO value? Google seems to recognize a keyword in a domain name even if the word is surrounded by other unrelated words (like monkey).

But I do wonder if the placement of a keyword (within the phrase) has any bearing. For example - widgetmonkey dot com vs. monkeywidget dot com.

Assume that you have the domain: monkey.com. Now for you, ranking for the keyword "Monkey" will be easier compared to a person who knows domains like: freemonkey.com etc.

The main keyword is actually the name of the domain and that is why it is easier for that domain to rank better in SERPs with less efforts compared to other domains.

Other than the case where the main keyword and domain name are exactly the same, I think that keywords in domain names have very little importance. There are many other things that really matters. Like the content on site and the quality of backlinks that a site have.

[keyon]

Assume that you have the domain: monkey.com...ranking for the keyword "Monkey" will be easier compared to a person who knows domains like: freemonkey.com

Anyone else have evidence of this being true?

For people who build new websites, this is often a stop-and-scratch-your-head moment while trying to register a domain. More often than not, the keyword we'd like for a domain is taken - which means we have to come up with "add-on" words or characters placed before or after the targeted keyword.

I realize this may not be the most important factor in the overall SEO strategy - but if it does in fact make some difference where we place these "add-on" domain words - before or after the targeted keyword - I'd like to hear some testament to that.

[keyon]

Actually it's two questions I'm grappling with here:
(targeted keyword=monkey)

1) monkey.com better than freemonkey.com?
2) monkeyfree.com better than freemonkey.com?

[angilina]

Actually it's two questions I'm grappling with here:
(targeted keyword=monkey)

1) monkey.com better than freemonkey.com?
2) monkeyfree.com better than freemonkey.com?

Its me again :)

Your one question is related to if position of keywords in URL or domain name matter, so for that you may take a look at this video from Matt Cutts:

youtube.com/watch?v=gRzMhlFZz9I&feature=PlayList&p=841CB8F9F31BF5D5&index=7

I personally will say that domain names [other than the case where keyword and domain name are exactly the same], have very little importance. Domain names alone cannot help a site to rank high.

For example: if DN used to help a lot, then people will start to buy domains like monkey1.com, monkey2.com, monkey3.com etc, so that they can rank high.

Real thing that matters is the content and backlinks.

[janeth]

Having the keyword in the domain name does help, and it helps a lot however not having the keyword in the domain name does not mean that a site want Rank for the keywords you want.

I’ve got sites that rank for extremely competitive keywords and the domain name has nothing to do with what the site is about or ranks for.

I’ve also got sites that ranked extremely fast for keywords that were in the domain name.

[Jeremy80]

I don't think it's a problem that so many sites have a word like monkey tagged on to the domainname. It is a way to get at least one of your keywords in your domain. Although Google would see the word monkey there would likely be nothing to support that as a possible theme of the website. They could cross reference all other words that are normally used with websites about monkeys. When a site like that does link building they would probably avoid using monkey in their link anchor text. Personally I like a word like monkey at the end of a domain more than something like online/hub/portal/web/net. At least the monkey is likable and could be a good marketing gimmick.