In the SEO community, keyword-rich domains are seen as an effective way to gain a competitive edge in search results. However, this strategy can hinder long-term business success and damage your brand reputation. Instead, it’s better to build a unique brand name and invest in a domain that will help your site stand out in the online world.
John Mueller has outlined a few ways Google is trying to prevent websites with keywords-rich domains from ranking well in search. He also explains how the search engine will use certain data to determine if your website is relevant or not.
Added Value Content: According to Google’s Quality Raters Guidelines, adding valuable content to your website can give it a competitive edge over sites that don’t offer anything extra to the user. This includes things like articles, white papers, videos and blogs.
Contact Us Page: Having an up-to-date contact page can be a good way to show Google that your website is reputable and offers a quality service or product. It can also make it easier for users to contact you, which could lead to greater conversions.
Image alt text: Having a relevant image on your website with an appropriate LSI keywords can make it more likely for your page to appear in search results. This can help you gain a competitive advantage over sites that do not include images on their pages.
Backlinks: If your website is getting links from a lot of low-quality directories or spam blogs, it’s likely that Google will consider your website as a “Black Hat” link builder.
Spam Blogs: Google’s algorithm is designed to distinguish between “real” websites and spam blogs, so it can rank these sites differently. This can be especially important for high-volume websites that are not in the business of providing quality information to users.
TrustRank of Linking Site: This is an additional algorithm that Google has created to measure the quality of web content and to identify those who use Black Hat methods. The more trustworthy the linking site, the more “TrustRank” that it will pass on to your site.
Single Site Results for Brands: Google may give a domain-related or branded query a boost to one specific page on your website. This is a great way to gain an advantage over other sites that aren’t focused on your industry or aren’t as well-known.
“YMYL” Keywords: Your Money or Your Life, or YMYL, is another category of keywords that Google uses to separate the real world from shady online businesses. If your website provides services or information that impacts the happiness, health, financial stability or safety of users, it’s likely that Google will put it in YMYL.
Brick and Mortar Location: If you are a brick-and-mortar business with an office in a particular area, Google might fish for this data to determine if your site is relevant or not.
Site Over-Optimization: If your website is overly optimized with keywords and other optimization techniques, it can be a red flag to Google.