Rand Fishkin is one of the best all around guys in the internet search industry. One of the brightest guys that I know of today... So I presented him with a few questions in regards to domain names and SEO and we went at it. If you don't already know or have never heard about Rand, well, he is at the helm of what is arguably one of the most influential search marketing companies in the world. Rand's writings have been published and featured in Newsweek, Washington Post, USA Today, Slashdot, SearchEngineWatch and many more top sites. Rand Fishkin is very passionate about the SEO industry... His blog posts are read daily by tens of thousands of search advertising professionals.
Rand Fishkin is the CEO & Co-Founder of SEOmoz.org, a Seattle-based firm providing internet marketing and search engine optimization services for businesses as well as search marketing tools and content for SEO professionals. Rand has spoken at dozens of industry events and keynoted all across the world in top conferences. He was invited to speak to the search quality teams at Google and Microsoft on SEO topics and has delivered consulting to organizations ranging from Stanford University & National Public Radio to Real Networks, Zillow.com and Yelp.com.
Rand Fishkin first became involved with the internet in 1993, while still in high school. After playing with MS Frontpage and building websites in the late 1990s, Rand Fishkin moved into consulting on the usability side of the equation, assisting local Seattle banks, law firms, doctors and other small businesses with their domains. Rand Fishkin got involved in the field of search engine marketing around 2002 when he began a quest and 3 year education process into SEO.
The major forums of the Search Engine Optimization world were Rand Fishkin's training ground, and after months of lurking, Rand Fishkin started posting questions, responses and experiences. In 2004, the scope and size of Rand's material outgrew the forums and Rand began posting reports, data, and tools on a website that eventually became SEOmoz.org.
Below is a list of Rand Fishkin / SEOmoz client roster which includes a very unique and impressive list of companies / businesses from various sectors:
- --- AllBusiness.com Largest Business Content Source on the Web
- --- AvatarFinancial.com (Avatar Financial Group) Commercial Loans Nationwide
- --- Benchmark.com (Benchmark Capital) One of the World's Leading VC Firms
- --- FindLaw.com (Thomson Reuters) Web's Leading Legal Portal
- --- Microsoft.com International Computer Hardware and Software Company
- --- PetsBest.com (Pets Best Insurance) National Provider of Pet Insurance
Mike Cohen: What are some of the positives and negatives(if any, noteworthy) of using a targeted product/service of any given industry specific keyword domain name for website development as far as natural SEO goes?
Some example domains would be: Malaysia.com, FlashCards.com and CheapUsedCars.com.
Rand Fishkin: The value of these domains is twofold in my eyes - first is branding. The domain name match gets you value from surfers who can instantly identify what you're about when they see your domain mentioned anywhere on the web or off. The second comes from search engines, who do give a strong ranking benefit to exact match domain names (and who also benefit from anchor text using their exact keywords as well).
Mike Cohen: What are some of the negatives and positives(if any, noteworthy) of using a domain name that is made up (brandable) or sound good/cool for website development as far as natural SEO and online image/branding goes?
Some example domains would be: Fly.com, LoanSolutions.com and Right.org.
Rand Fishkin: Benefits - they're usually less expensive, can be shorter (which makes them easier to type in), can be more memorable and easier to create a brand around (think Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter - all words that had no direct meaning association until the brand). Negatives - they don't get the same keyword name match value from engines or the instant brand association - you have to build that up yourself.
Mike Cohen: What are some of the challenges as well as benefits of using a domain name that is very generic that could have more than one purpose as a developed web site beyond just selling a product/services or providing relevant information?
Some example domains would be: Camera.co.uk, SexyLadies.com and Fired.com.
Rand Fishkin: Benefits are that they may carry value beyond just a singular topic set and thus can be a bigger brand. Think "Buy.com", "Shopping.com" or "Business.com" who've all expanded into multiple arenas due to the breadth of the keyword interpretation. The challenge, however, is building up a business that can truly scale and remain valuable without a razor sharp focus (tremendously hard to do unless you've got a great team or a lot of capital).
Mike Cohen: Having the keyword that is directly tied up to the business that the website is focused on anywhere within the domain name... How big of a benefit is this? How much do the search engines appreciate and favor it and reward it as far as natural SEO goes?
Some example domains would be: Toys.com, eToys.com and Cruises.co.uk.
Rand Fishkin: The domain name match certainly has some extra weighting benefit in Google, but appending or preceding with an "i"or "e" or using two words doesn't appear to hurt much, either, so long as you can build up the brand successfully.
Mike Cohen: Is .com king? Is it the most credible global TLD in the word that is favored by Google/Yahoo/MSN and given extra points if there is a website setup on it as far as SEO goes? Is .net or .org just as good as far as developed websites go? Will business.com do better than business.net or business.org if they were to be setup the same exact way? Will all three business.com business.net business.org rank in the top 5 or 10 if they are setup to target that "business" but with various things done differently but unique content? Should other keyword domains with alternative TLD's such as .info even be developed? Will having the keyword in the domain name help if it's not .com / .net / .org?
Some example domains would be: Dubai.info, Miami.us and Georgia.tv.
Rand Fishkin: .com is still king, not only in the eyes of consumers, but for the engines as well. If you're starting up a major company, I would never recommend using a .tv or .info domain if someone else already owns / controls / runs the .com version - you're setting yourself up for brand confusion, mistyping and misdirection of authority. As an example, SEOmoz.org has been around since 2004 as a ".org" but we still have thousands of links to the .com version (which, luckily, we own and redirect).
I'd like to thank Rand once again for taking the time out of his busy schedule in order to answer some of the questions and provide more insight. Not so long ago... Rand turned down a $10,000,000 offer from a company to help boost up the ranking of one of it's gambling sites to the top of Google's results. Rand knows his stuff and mostly does clean and whitehat SEO that is effective and works long term. Having a gambling site on the client list wouldn't look so solid. Smart man. Rand expects that his company will be worth $100,000,000 one day and perhaps sold to a search giant such as Google, Yahoo or MSN. Ideally about the time Rand and his wife Geraldine start having kids.
I highly recommend Rand's services even without hesitation... The SEOmoz contract minimum is $10,000 per month though and it is obviously not cheap and not for everybody on the internet. If you are serious about doing business online then there is a price to pay. If you have a decent six figure yearly budget, you should be working with Rand. SEOmoz Search Engine Optimization & Marketing services start at $10,000 and will run up to $50,000. Consulting services start at $1,000 per hour and usually $40,000 minimum per project. It is worth every penny. Visit any of the links below for more information...
| SEOmoz.org Blog | About SEOmoz | SEO Services |
05/26/2010: Domain mass development 5 day blowout.. 50% off for new clients on all services.... WOOHOOO! 05/06/2010: 100 fully developed keyword domains available for sale exclusively at Latonas.com 04/16/2010: Domain Mass Development affiliate program paying 50% commissions on all orders $$$$ 01/07/2010: The most basic keyword research / analysis tools had profound impact on most successful domain investors, competitive webmasters, etc. 12/18/2009: Why spend thousands upfront??! Start small... Our affiliate based e-shops are only $249!!! :)
