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bober

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I've been pondering the idea of a new domain for a client.

He's in the learner driving industry - hypothetically speaking so I don't give the domain name away.

I did some research & found that 'lessons driving' was available it's local monthly search is 45,000. Here's the issue I am having 'driving lessons' is already registered and it redirects to the RSA.ie (Road Safety Authority).

Do you think it's a bad idea going with lessonsdriving.ie
OR
Should I use somtn like mortorschoolireland.ie & redirect lessonsdriving.ie to motorschoolireland.ie

Your thoughts are welcomed, thanks :)
 
Anecdotadly Im finding more and more customers are using their eyes trained on the URL itself when making the decision who to click on and who to not. I have one client in particular and though Ive managed to get the to #2 in Ireland for their chosen keywords for the past year, their site is superior looking and also content wise, their product is superior (even without a biased opinion), BUT because they are not specialists in the particular product, their company name and hence therefore their domain name, does not have the keywords present, and like I say though they are #2, what we're seeing is customers are clicking above and below them because the product name appears in the URLs of the competitors. Based on this I would say 100% go with lessonsdriving.ie and forget about trying to be too clever.
I see your question is based on helping SEO but what im finding is the customer behaviour trends are sometimes a matter in itself thereafter. Hope that makes sense and I didnt over complicate the answer.
Cheers
 

bober

New Member
that's sound thanks, just what i was thinking and the kind of answer i was looking for ;) one of my concerns was the backward nature of the domain lessonsdriving.ie as apposed to drivinglessons.ie - non the less the term still gets searched 45k per month. Good start for SEO and high search volumes in the future.

Suppose it's better than the old domain anway, clients initials gpq.ie (there my initials but you get what i mean).
 
no prob, and I honestly think even with the backward combo, once you get that domain to rank well on page one, customers will see it as a viable proposition - at least thats the plan ;)
 

link8r

New Member
I've been pondering the idea of a new domain for a client.

He's in the learner driving industry - hypothetically speaking so I don't give the domain name away.

I did some research & found that 'lessons driving' was available it's local monthly search is 45,000. Here's the issue I am having 'driving lessons' is already registered and it redirects to the RSA.ie (Road Safety Authority).

Do you think it's a bad idea going with lessonsdriving.ie
OR
Should I use somtn like mortorschoolireland.ie & redirect lessonsdriving.ie to motorschoolireland.ie

Your thoughts are welcomed, thanks :)

Google has recently dropped the "free" high ranking capability for a keyword-rich domain to rank. That doesn't negate it's importance entirely, it's just "toned-down" - or not given as much of a higher factor in the algorithm that decides its "PlaceRank"

Just to note - unless you do it properly - and with some work, a 301'd domain doesn't necessarily add value.

Think of this way (as an "honest" search) : Domains that are redirected shouldn't be indexed - they're not separate sites. If it does happen, then you're technically cloaking.

For a domain to add value - it should have some authority of its own.

My advice would be to build a site for both :cool:
 
Sorry missed the "redirect" part of your orig post, agree with link8r, this would be cloaking. Either stick with the lessonsdriving.ie as the actual domain, or build for both.
 

bober

New Member
Google has recently dropped the "free" high ranking capability for a keyword-rich domain to rank. That doesn't negate it's importance entirely, it's just "toned-down" - or not given as much of a higher factor in the algorithm that decides its "PlaceRank"

Just to note - unless you do it properly - and with some work, a 301'd domain doesn't necessarily add value.

Think of this way (as an "honest" search) : Domains that are redirected shouldn't be indexed - they're not separate sites. If it does happen, then you're technically cloaking.

For a domain to add value - it should have some authority of its own.

My advice would be to build a site for both :cool:

Id say for now it will have to be the one site. As mentioned above if done right I think it can be a success. For example I know the term lessons driving has a very high search volume therefore if good practice is put into place while making the site I'd be confident things go well & hoping for page one the serp for the chosen term(s).

Thanks for your input guys :)
 

MOH

New Member
I suspect the 45k search volume is for broad matched lessons driving, which includes anything with the words lessons and driving, in any order - including driving lessons.

If you're thinking about a keyword matched domain, you'd want to be looking at the phrase matched "lessons driving" search volume.

If he has an existing site, think carefully about moving to a new one just because it's keyword matched - you don't want to throw away any SEO value the existing site has.
There's a ton of driving schools in Dublin (assuming it is Dublin), most of them have websites, and quite a few of them have been doing some level of SEO. Getting on page one might not be as easy as you think.
 

Jetski

New Member
so in the case of the OP what type of SEO value would one get form directing a freshy registered exactly match phrase via 301 to their main site?

@MOH "phrase matched "lessons driving" search volume" is that a setting in adwords by any chance?
 

Jetski

New Member
ok well say for example google has 200 odd things they check on a website to give it a ranking, how high would you put an exact phrase keyword domain on this list?
 

link8r

New Member
well its a system, so its value is dependent on the other values but it would be quite important. Its more important that a title tag or any on page SEO. As a single determinant factor, it could be described as the most important. But then, look at Geo-location ability, Authority, Age/History and its the weakest of those, because thats where a site is judged against others. In a market with low-seo quality, it would probably be enough to rank on that factor alone.
 

Fergster

New Member
Hey Bober

If I was you I would build a feeder site to suck in the traffic and then redirect them to the main site by having some sort of banner offering a discount or something. That way you can really target the keywords by having the keyword rich domain and then doing some good onsite and offsite seo.

I use these to great affect for my own sites and customers and they work really well.

With regards to the monthly search volume for "lessons driving" I did a bit of poking around with my software I use and the figures I get for google.ie are as follows

Local Search Global Search
Broad Match 14800 450 000
Exact Match 0 260
Phrase Match 12 590

For the keyword "driving lessons" is a lot higher Especially the Exact search.

Local Search Global Search
Broad Match 14800 450 000
Exact Match 1000 49000
Phrase Match 14800 450 000

So if I was you, I would register that domain, create a feeder site and target the two keywords above. Do your title tags correctly and some nice content on the feeder page and do some consistent backlinking and you will be on page one in no time. The competition in my eyes is pretty weak, I think the only one that would take some beating is ISM

Anyways, just my 2c. Hope it helps

Cheers
 
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