Holy Hyphens! Mastering the Domain (Name)
I’m sure there are worse offenders but while researching competitors for a potential client I found this “gem” of a URL that is abusing the use of hyphens in a domain name. Unbelievable.
http://house-painter-interior-exterior-alexandria-arlington-fairfax-va.com/
Hmmm….I wonder what they are trying to rank for? Sadly, it is working somewhat. When searching for the term ‘house painter Alexandria’ they show up as the #3 result in Google (1/31/08).
I thought posting this was appropriate considering Will’s post about keyword stuffing domain names. So until Google quits ranking spammed domain names I guess it will be a viable option for ranking, although I’m doubtful the conversions are very high. I personally think this is a SEO mistake.
Anyone have anything to share concerning conversion with these types of domain names?
Shell Harris co-founded Big Oak on January 1, 2004. In a previous career he was a print & web designer and often developed the sites he designed before focusing on his current passion for search engine optimization and Internet marketing. He is an avid researcher, SEO specialist, company mouthpiece and is always looking for the next big thing in Internet Marketing.
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9 Responses to “Holy Hyphens! Mastering the Domain (Name)”
By ArticlesGarage.com on Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
Nice domain for a one page site. I believe that guy is not very concerned about how spammy his domain is and the site is made just to direct some traffic to the site listed in the footer. But I might be wrong
By SEO Solutions on Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
it’s surprising to know that the keyword stuffed domain above is doing good in Google to think that it’s not optimized well.. gotta be one of Google algo’s flaws =)
By Tracy on Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
I doubt Google ever will stop ranking spam domain names since they profit from them as well. Most of these domain types are setup as adsense revenue sites for owners. For every click the site owner as well as Google profits. So I am sure Google likes (though they never will admit it) these domains.
By apexweightloss on Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
It always amazes me what domain names people come up with. I don’t know if it is just plain ignorance or just a spammer.
I mean, who would even buy a site with that many words in the domain? The last I checked, the more words in a domain let alone hyphenated, the less it’s value.
By i guess im a spammer on Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
What’s wrong with his domain name? So it’s got keywords in it. That’s fair game to me. SEO is cut throat. Do what you have to do to put bread on the table.
By Mark on Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
I have looked and looked and can not find a contact for the blog owner. So I am going to ask my qustion here.
You posted on Sphere-it that you had installed the widget here, I don’t see it. Was this just another SEO stunt?
If you did install it, then where is it, how did it work for you, and why no post about it’s success or failure?
By Natalie de Guzman on Feb 10, 2008 | Reply
Really long domain name and very hard to memorize. Many won’t suggest having such domains.
By Shell Harris on Feb 11, 2008 | Reply
Hi, Mark.
We had installed Sphere-it and after a month or so I didn’t see any increase in traffic to our blog and wasn’t seeing traffic from other blogs increase, so I assume it wasn’t really helping. I’d rather keep people reading my blog than send them away so I removed it. It wasn’t an SEO stunt; it was an experiment that is now over.
I didn’t post because I quite honestly didn’t think to write about it. But I wasn’t impressed with the results and did remove it.