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April 19, 2010

Domains and Long Tail Keywords

Yes it's true -  the shorter your domain name is, the more memorable it is. Ebay for example is one of the most talked about sites on the internet, and much of it's success can be attributed to it's 4 letter domain name. Unfortunately, the days of finding an available 4 letter domain name are long gone. In fact, domain name buyers have even used software to calculate every possible 4 character combination in existence, so you can rest assured that there is no way you are going to secure such a domain. Even 5 character domains are extremely hard to find, and you almost always have to buy them at auction. So, how do you find domain names that are worth buying anymore? Well, to find our answer we have to go to the opposite side of the spectrum – long tail domain names.

What are Long Tail Domain Names?

The phrase long tail is used to describe keywords that are long variations of popular basic keywords. Many long tail keywords can represent an entire mini market, or microniche in and of themselves. In every industry there are sub-industries that are much more specific than the parent industry. For example, in the “Dog Training” industry there are sub-categories such as “old dog training”  or “disobedient dog training” or “seeing eye dog training.” Each of these phrases are called long tail keywords. Although more people search for the term “dog training” there are still many people searching for “seeing eye dog training” as well, and it would be much easier to secure the domain name “seeingeyedogtraining.com” than to try and purchase the domain name “dogtraining.com”.

How Will my Visitors Remember my Site Name?

While some may see the above information as a revelation, some of you are probably wondering just how your visitors are going to remember your website name. The beauty of long tail keyword domains is that they don't necessarily have to remember the domain name, as your site will instantly be found near the top of the search engine for whatever long tail keyword is in your domain name. So, if your domain name is “seeingeyedogtraining.com” whenever someone searches for the term “seeing eye dog training” your site will appear in a location that is easy to find, hence, natural and organic traffic will ensue.

Taking Over Niches with Long Tail Domains

Once you have several long tail domain names, you can start linking them all together, and create a network of sites in the same industry. These sites will feed off each other, and the traffic will flow freely from one site to the next, as you can be sure your visitors are interested in your niche as soon as they arrive at your site. Instead of relying upon links from other sites that may not pertain to your exact niche, you can have backlinks that are hosted on domains which are very closely related in subject matter.

Tags: long tail keywords,  Long Tail Domain Names,  domains,  domain name buyers,  domain name,  backlinks