Keyword-rich domain names are overrated. In testing, the increase in a keyword-rich domain is so slight that it's barely measurable for that "money keyword phrases". Sub-domains are starting to falter as Google has begun treating sub-domains as one domain.
Before you purchase an existing domain because of its PageRank value, be sure to verify it is legit. Domain fraud occurs on a large scale and also you need to be aware and learn to combat it. Google performs the update for their toolbar about once every 3 months. Due to this gap in the updates, it may be easy for con artists to fake the PageRank. Methods include:
Hijacking the PageRank of another domain so a PR0 page can have as PR6. Buying links from other sites or networks and driving up the PageRank to a 5, 6 or 7. Then, once the toolbar updates to show the new higher PR value, the purchased links are cancelled, and the domain goes on the market. The con artist uses an extensive network they have built that sends hundreds of links to the domain. Once it is sold, all the links to the domain you bought are cancelled, thus making the domain worthless. The PageRank for the domain will drop to a PageRank of zero following the next toolbar update.
To verify the domain's PageRank: Always go to the site and look into the PageRank yourself. Look into the Google Cache, if the PageRank is "fake", you will often see the cache from another site. Verify that the site is live. If it's a placeholder page, chances are the domain is dead and has lost most if not completely of the PageRank.
Check Google to see if the site is still indexed. To do so, function a search in Google for: site:domain.com It's also wise to check the Google cache to ensure the page is the same and never being cloaked or redirected. If the domain is not in Google's index, the PageRank is probably faked, or Google recently banned the domain.
Personally, i recommend that you register your domain name for multiple years, to not gain any favor with Google, but to "lock up" your properties without having to worry about renewals. I've lost more domains than I care to confess because of expired credit cards on file, an incorrect address and a myriad of other reasons. Lock them up for an extended period, you will be glad you did.
Based on my research, only 6% of the Top Ten results are non-.com domains. This has less to do with the particular domain extension than it will with the domain owners. The majority of corporations own .coms, while spammers and low-level marketers attempt to compete using the same root name but with a different extension. I always recommend a .com over other extensions because people tend to type in the .com from habit.
Do domains with dashes rank better compared to those without? Um…no. My testing concludes that only about 4% of top ranking domains contain dashes. The reason - Google may see it as being SPAM. When Google was asked when they look at every domain that contains hyphens as SPAM, the Google Engineer replied, "While just having lots of hyphens in the domain name does not automatically indicate Spam, it does raise our ‘alert level'."
If you need to utilize a hyphen, I recommend you keep the quantity of hyphens in your domain name to 1 or 2. The most obvious preference is none. While dashes in domains and URLs don't widely affect ranking, the absence of dashes of top ranking sites are evident (96%).
If you wish to target a keyword phrase, use hyphenated filenames. Of the sub-pages that rank in the Top Ten, 22% of these had hyphens or underscores in folder and file names from the URL. In the sub folder and/ or file name, it looks fine to separate each word with a hyphen. Bruce Clay mentioned that he tested as much as 14 hyphens and Google still indexed the web pages. Just watch the number of hyphens, as it tends to make the URL look "ugly".
In the event you stop using subdomains as part of your site structure? Eleven percent of top ranking pages are from subdomains. Personally I am moving away from using subdomains. Just a few months ago, Google's SERPs would contain 4-6 subdomains normally in the Top Ten. If you have subdomains in use right now, continue to use and market them. An 11% presence continues to be solid.
For new sites, I suggest you move away from this structure, as it is more difficult to manage. Google is taking aggressive measures to combat the high level of subdomain Spam and it has begun to treat subdomains and sub-folders the same. If you are questioning which to choose for your site, go with the sub-folder structure.
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