Keyword Domain Names - Impact on SEO

Simple Question:

Does having keywords in your domain name (not the post tld part) help with SEO, for example if I have a site on:

purplewidgets.com

Is is likely to rank higher on a search for "purple widgets" than an equivalent site that is name:

twobber.com

??

A little further info

About 2 years ago I set up my site, however when I did this SEO was the last thing on my mind so my choice of domain name (which is now an unchangeable site brand) is somewhat obscure.

Today I have realised that the primary keywords I am competing for are available as a domain name.

So, taking the domain names above as an example, I was considering registering purplewidgets.com/.co.uk/.net and displaying a summary of the threads on twobber.com on the new domains (think SEO optimised vbAdvanced CMPS on purplewidgets.com but with all links pointing to twobber.com (no further/deeper content, just a single page with links to the original)

The theory being that purplewidgets.com will be ranked well, and that will bring traffic into twobber.com

However in the back of my mind that are two things:

1) Could Google nail me for duplicate content?
2) Will the vBulletin license allow me to do this? (I am only displaying thread titles from the DB and would not be using any of their code to extract/display them)

Check Out : http://www.vbseo.com/f104/domain-names-seo-35987/

Thanks for the link that answers the first question, it is good for SEO.

However, twobber.com is where the site has been for 2 years, not only is it an established site it is also an established brand with merchandise and a good reputation. So I intend to keep things as they are and run the main site from there as it always has been.

The keyword rich domain, i.e. purplewidgets.com would only have a single index page that displays a summary of what is happening on twobber.com, i.e. latest thread titles, tags etc etc, and all of these links would link to the original domain.

Before running with the idea I need to be certain that Google won't nail me for duplicate content etc

It truely is a toss up. The key, as you mention, is branding.

Look at the most successful sites out there. FEW of them have anything to do with their domain.

Amazon -- sells books, not a rain forrest
Google -- a number, not a search engine
yahoo! -- an expression, not a portal
twitter - don't even think it's a word...
facebook -- really has nothing to do with faces or a book

etc etc.

The key is that they all branded that term to mean something it's not.


I think you're taking the right approach... stick with he banding, stuff the keyword domain as a splash. If you're worried about duplicate content, don't duplicate it at all Write something completely original about the product on that new domain.

If you're worried about dupli

Originally Posted by Brian Cummiskey

If you're worried about duplicate content, don't duplicate it at all Write something completely original about the product on that new domain.

You sir are a genius, wood for the trees and all that.

Use purplewidgets.com as a glorified advert for twobber.com - i.e. a keyword/SEO rich page that in summary says "if you want fantastic purple widgets go here"

No risk of duplicate content, no risk of vbulletin license violations, and little to no maintenance.

Originally Posted by mreyes

You sir are a genius, wood for the trees and all that.

that's why i make the big bucks. lol j/k