Does Domain Name affects SEO?

[jdm]

Does domain name affects SEO? If I were to create a freebie website which domain should I choose? http://www.free-ps3.com? (Okay I know obviously the domain names are taken but this is just a IF okay.)

[Genelia Lobo]

yes you should purchase a domain name for better ranking

[vicky_de_guitarist]

Well its totally depends on the your goal, which term you want to target ps3 or free ps3? if you want to target free ps3 then i will recomend http://www.ps3.com is ok. And yes if you have keyword in domain name it has importance from SEO point of view. But there are lot of other things you should keep in mind, when you are buying domain name. I can give you better idea if you give me the more information or exact scenario.

[Ed Atun]

The word "Free" will set off alarm bells. Too many scams already have the word
"free". Use a domain name that tells exactly what you are offering without "free".

[Amit]

Yes domain name affects SEO. Both the domain names you suggested are not available (already taken). One more suggestion do not buy domain name with '-' hyphen.

[faintdaughter148]

There are several parts to the question.

A) Does the domain name affect SEO?
Yes, it does, especially if it's an "exact match" to the keywords you're trying to target. Certain extensions seemed to be more favoured than others, for example .com and .net get a boost for exact match keywords in the domain name, as do the main ccTLDs such as .co.uk or .de when it comes to the respective versions of the search engines.

NOTE: by "exact match" I mean that the domain name contains the same keywords in the same order as the search phrase, and with no additional keywords. For example, webhosting.com and "web hosting" are an exact match, but hostingweb.com and "web hosting" are not. There might still be a little benefit to be gained from using "hostingweb.com" if you were targeting "web hosting", but much less than if you used "webhosting.com".

Something like "greatwebhosting.com" is not an exact match to "web hosting" but at least it 1) contains the relevant keywords in the right order and B) reads pretty well, so it could still give you some SEO benefits.

Not only do you get the "exact match" bonus for the right domain name, but if you think about it, every time somebody links to your site, they're including the most relevant keywords right there in the domain name.

To use the earlier example, if your company's called "ACME Hosting" then people will link to it using "ACME Hosting" as the text of the link, which doesn't help much for SEO. But if "ACME Hosting" uses the URL http://www.webhosting.com/ for their website, then "web hosting" comes automatically baked into the link (in the URL part) even if the title of the link is still "ACME Hosting". They could link to the site using the link text "Pink Banana", but "web hosting" would STILL be part of the link as it's built into the URL. And that's the beauty of using the right generic domain name for SEO.

Incidentally, I distributed a case study on the positive impact of domain names in SEO for Google, Bing and Yahoo, and you can download a free copy here:
http://www.memorabledomains.co.uk/seo-ge...mains.html

B) The presence of trademarks in the domain name
Now that we've talked about domain names and SEO in general, it's worth looking more closely at the important issue of trademarks. Your example (and I know it's just an example, but it neatly lets me make this point) is relating to "ps3" which is a trademark held by Sony. Most companies (including Sony) vigorously defend their trademarks (they have to, by the way - they risk losing their trademark if they don't defend it, that's how the trademark system works)

As such, you could face a number of issues. In the best case, they will contact you politely and ask you to surrender the domain name to them (do it!). Or they could take legal action against you in the form of an UDRP, which is a standard process that companies can follow to reclaim domains containing their trademarks. However, they could also seek to extract damages from you, and there are various laws to help them do so, some of which carry penalties of up to $100,000 if you lose (and if you're fighting Sony and trading off of their trademark, you WILL lose!)

So although a lot of blogs and websites will happily suggest that you register domains containing someone else's trademarks (what do they have to lose by giving you bad advice? Nothing - they're not risking anything...) it's a VERY BAD IDEA.

Summary: securing a good domain name with your keywords either as an exact-match to the main search phrase you're targeting, or containing the keywords in the same order as that search phrase, along with something else that makes the whole thing "read well" is a good idea.

HOWEVER, never lose sight of trademark issues. It's better to register a secondary domain name without a trademark in it than an exact match domain name with a trademark in it, because the latter could bring you so much hassle down the road...

NOTE: if you want to find out more about the various factors that impact search engine rankings, try a search for "search engine ranking factors" in your favourite search engine as there is a lot of very detailed information out there, compiled by SEO experts.