Benefits Of Not Having Exact Match Domain Name

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Many SEO experts discussed about the great SEO value of having exact match domain name. Google and other search engines use domain name as a criteria during search engine rankings evaluation. It means if the domain name exactly matches with your tageting keyword, then you are likely to get high ranking in the search engine result page for that keyword.

You can read more about the value of having exact match domain name from Winning The Web.

Actually not many people have the chance to register and able to afford exact match domain name as domain name is a limited resource and expensive.

In this post, I would like to share with you some of the benefits of not having exact match domain name.

#1 Branding Benefits

If you take a look at the big brand around you, many of them are not having exact match domain name but yet enjoy huge branding effect. For example, Google and Yahoo are search engines, Dosh Dosh and ProBlogger are targeting make money blogging.

A newly created word with cool name to represent your company or blog could make you easier to build a brand around it and market it. Think about it, if Google doesn’t named as SearchEngine instead of Google, do you think it will become so famous? I believe it might become popular but not as famous as today.

Branding is not something just related to wording. Many other factors such as image, color, environment and value are contributing to the branding. You no need exact match domain name to build a great brand. Sometimes non exact match domain could even bring you huge branding potential.

#2 Easy To Remember

Some exact match domain names are long and hard to remember. Each domain name is a brand whether you believe it or not. Long and hard to remember domain names might give you better search engine rankings but the value will be discounted in the mind of your readers and customers.

You can easily shorten it or create another name to represent it for the ease of your readers and cusotmers.

#3 Easy To Change Your Focus And Topic

Exact match domain name is very specific to a topic and industry. For example, if you own a cellphones.com and publishing content about cell phones, then it is not possible for you to switch topic other than cell phones.

With non exact match domain name, you are allowed to change topic or focus easily if you lost interest to a particular topic or change your business direction.

If Google is named as SearchEngine, then it will be strange to group sub brand Gmail and Reader under SearchEngine. In this case, it is better to have newly created name to that we can group more products and services under this name.

Conclusion

Not all of us have the chance to own exact match domain name. Don’t feel sad if you don’t own such domain name. Just take the example of this blog. The main topic is regarding traffic attraction and SEO tips but the domain name is BlogHighlight. Although the domain is totally un-matched with targeting keyword, I still able to enjoy 41% of my traffic coming from search engines and around 5,000 visitors per month.

Please share your thinking below if you have other benefits of not having exact match domain name.

About the author: Bey Luen is an online entrepreneur living in Singapore. He is the founder and editor of BlogHighlight, a blog sharing SEO tips helping webmasters to increase website traffic. He is also the creator of Definitive WordPress SEO Guide. Get more from Bey Luen on Twitter.

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Tagged as: Domain Names, Search Engine Optimization

{ 3 trackbacks }

What Is A Domain Name?: March 15, 2009 at 7:01 am
Benefits Of Not Having Exact Match Domain Name « Domain Names: March 16, 2009 at 3:13 am
Exact Match Domain Gets High Ranking With Error Page: March 28, 2009 at 12:01 am

{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Agent SEO March 14, 2009 at 1:44 am

You’re right…using domain names that don’t fit the exact match model can definitely be useful for branding…think Twitter, Digg, etc. that all have nothing to do with what their domain names are about.

Great post!

2 servicexp March 14, 2009 at 3:15 am

domain name is a brand Long and hard to remember domain names might give you better search engine rankings.We are very thankful for receiving such a great useful information.

3 Medical Journey March 14, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Thank you for the tips. It is really helpful. Search engine friendly domain name is not everything.

4 b1tzmast3r March 15, 2009 at 6:10 am

Mine is in the same boat! I started Bitz of Art as my multimedia business but now my focus is building my Blog by the same name. The focus is on helping freelancers of all types even though I do prefer to focus on creative topics so the ‘Art’ still fits.

In the beginning I questioned whether or not I should find a new domain name which reflected freelancing…but decided against it. This article helps me feel more confident in my choice.

Thanks!