basic search engine optimization question for new sites?

[Phan Tomwolf]

I am planning my first web project, but before making any decisions about a "coming soon" page, which i have considered creating to build hype and get registered in top search engines while still working on the main site, I felt it important to find out more information about how these things work. Without the main site how would this effect seo in the long run? When I finally get around to launching the full site, will google automatically update its data on my site? or will it take a while. Would it be better to wait until my site is totally completed and launched before submitting to search engines? Advice on the matter is appreciated.
Additionally, is it possible to get into the top page of google and other search engines, if the keyword being searched isnt in your domain name? It would still be throughout content, page title and probably links, however. Much appreciated.
The answers appear to be conflicted, so I will leave it to voters to decide which was the best answer, both answers are appreciated.

[Jake]

There is probably no value in rushing an incomplete site into the search engines, under construction pages are generally a negative factor. Most keyword ranking is based on content and anchor text in external links, SEO trends are toward just creating quality on a subject and let the search engines figure out the keywords, Google reports that about 1/2 of the daily searches are 'long tail' keywords they have not seen before, you can't always anticipate the specific keywords that will get you visitors.

[Chris Kleingeld]

Hi Phan,
There are several main factors when it comes to high search rankings. One of them is the number of years your website has been active. So, the sooner there is some tangible content on your domain, the better, even if that content has not been optimized yet.

It is also important to then plugin all the tools (Google Webmaster Tools, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Analytics, Backlink tools etc.) as early as possible so you can start to collect data. Even if you dont actively do anything with it in the mean time, it is a start and can become valuable when you start the real optimization.

With regards to your additional question about the domain not containing your main keyword: yes, it will be harder to get the absolute top position, but definitely not impossible. It largely depends on the competition, of course. But the most important factor is "how much do search engines trust you?". And that comes mainly down to a) the number of (quality) backlinks and b) the quality of your content.

I hope that helps.

Kind regards,
Chris Kleingeld, SEO specialist at EyeconMedia

[eddie]

One option is to buy an old domain - one that has been surrendered but has a good reputation with Google. Some of that history will initially be passed to your new site.
I would recommend putting content on before the design, etc is finalised - Google doesn't care what your site looks like. Thin content is penalised, so focus on fleshing out the initial pages rather than putting up skeleton site