Using prime keyword and location in the URL

[Huff]

Hi Guys

I am looking fo some advice.

is it a good idea for SEO purposes, to use a prime keyword or phrase and the location you wish to trade in as the url of a website, rather than the trading name.

For example:

A car rental company trading in New York say, has researched that the strongest keyword phrase in their industry is 'car rental' would this company benifit significantly in searches from having a URL of 'carrentalnewyork' or would it not make much difference and might just as well use the company name as the url, say 'xyzcarrental', and rely on site content to be picked up by the search engines for people searching for this type of service in New York.

Many thanks for any opinions

Huff

[RaulMalik]

Yes. It is good to have your main keywords of the page in the url. I have seen many websites doing this and i believe that it does give them preference.

[WebOut]

There are two types of URLs: the brand name and keyword-enriched. If the company is little bit known and if you want to strengthen your brand name , go for the brand name type of URL. If your marketing strategy will fall more on online, have the keyword-enriched URL. Choosing the right URL structure is relative. It depends upon your goal. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

[MJ Tamondong]

Originally Posted by Huff

Hi Guys

I am looking fo some advice.

is it a good idea for SEO purposes, to use a prime keyword or phrase and the location you wish to trade in as the url of a website, rather than the trading name.

For example:

A car rental company trading in New York say, has researched that the strongest keyword phrase in their industry is 'car rental' would this company benifit significantly in searches from having a URL of 'carrentalnewyork' or would it not make much difference and might just as well use the company name as the url, say 'xyzcarrental', and rely on site content to be picked up by the search engines for people searching for this type of service in New York.

Many thanks for any opinions

Huff

WebOut has the point and I agree with him on the branded URL and the keyword enriched URL.

Additionally, if you want to target your website or service only in new york, try targeting keywords that are state specific or location specific (especially if you decided to use a branded URL)

Example, if you have the keyword 'car rental' .. then you might add new york on the keyword making it "car rental in new york, new york car rental, car rentals in new york" etc.

The keyword "car rental" may be the strongest or most used keywords but not only in New York. There are many other New York-specific keywords that you can use where you can target effectively your website to only NEW YORK users or service seekers.

The same goes if you use a keyword enriched URL. But, if you use it, there is quite a small probability (but not ALWAYS) that your website may become or look too spammy as you have a keyword enriched URL, then your contents having your keywords too (more like keyword stuffing especially when you do not control or distribute your keywords wisely)

On your content, try to vary keywords also that are related and close to your main keyword, making sure that you target the right landing page/s for every keyword/s as well.


Regards,
Alex

[patco]

I think that having your keyword in your URL is the most important thing when you try to get an incredible SERP for your main keyword.. About location... I don't think it is necessary

[MJ Tamondong]

Originally Posted by patco

I think that having your keyword in your URL is the most important thing when you try to get an incredible SERP for your main keyword.. About location... I don't think it is necessary

Having your keyword in your URL is not the most important at all on getting good results on SERPs, neither location is not necessary.

First off, if you are targeting only for New York, then how would you tell that when you use "keyword1" then will you rank in New York?

Isn't it obvious that if you use "new york keyword1" and other variations would be better as you are geo-targeting your keywords for New York.

But - if you want to rank in the whol US or internationally, then probably not making use of geo-targeted keywords are good.


Again just to correct you, location or geo-targeting is necessary in certain situations.

[RankedZillaSEO]

I would suggest buying both a brand URL and a keyword enriched URL. It doesn't hurt to have both and testing them out.

[GeraldNitram]

Originally Posted by WebOut

There are two types of URLs: the brand name and keyword-enriched. If the company is little bit known and if you want to strengthen your brand name , go for the brand name type of URL. If your marketing strategy will fall more on online, have the keyword-enriched URL. Choosing the right URL structure is relative. It depends upon your goal. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

I can share a disadvantage of using a keyword-enriched URL. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who's looking for a site that sells cheap shoes. Although it's pretty straightforward, would you click on a URL that goes something like buycheapshoeshere.com ? Some people can look at that as some sort of a scam site, or something like that.

[mit]

It always work in gaining good positioning if you have your targeted keywords in your URLs. But you should have some content on the page too!

[annushka]

make keyword research and use in URL the one is top. Use for Your research Google insights and Google trands

[freesmsjosh]

i think it has got some pros n cons based on the business as the thread re pliers told. it may get a negative impact until you gain trust.

[rcostica]

If you are targeting leads in New York it is a good idea to use the location in the domain. The keyword is still present in the domain name and you will rank for the keyword alone as well, while it will definitely benefit your geo-location optimization.
On the other hand, if you are looking to increase the brand name, it should be included instead of the location and having both the brand and the location in the domain name would make it far too long and less reliable.

[StevenPayales]

That's right. If you want a specific location only, include the location in your URL. There's nothing wrong with it. Some of my friends were doing that kind of strategy and they are ranking well