Okay, so here is a question for all you SEO guys - if I have a client wanting to buy a domain name, what is the best domain between these two?
www . ChicagoDogGroomer . com
OR
www . DogGroomerChicago . com
is it better to have keywords come first in the domain?
is there even a difference?
Now, I know that the basic idea is to buy both and have the other one point to the first choice, but what would you choose as your first choice and why?
Doesn’t matter.
Content is what matters. Back-links are what matters.
If you’re worrying about something like this then you’re worrying about the wrong stuff. Ask a non-web-savvy friend what/which they would type in to find that site and use that…
Thanks - I understand that content is the most important - I just wanted to make sure that I was giving the right advice on the proper choice for the domain.
In that case - do some basic key-phrase volume research:
For Competition - try
http://www.google.com/search?q="Chicago+Dog+Groomer"&pws=0 (88,000+ results)
vs
http://www.google.com/search?q="Dog+Groomer+Chicago"&pws=0 (9,000+ results)
For Volume - try using Google’s Keyword tool:
[B]Keyword Global Local[/B]
dog groomer chicago 720 720
[dog groomer chicago] 210 210
[chicago dog groomer] 140 -
chicago dog groomer 720 720
I’m not really that into SEO, so I’m wondering what this means.
Should he go with the domain that has more results, or with the domain that has less results, and why?
The actual words used in the domain name have relatively little impact on search rankings. The order they appear in may have an infinitessimal effect, but it really isn’t worth worrying about. What you should pay more attention to is how well people will remember them. If they’re cheap enough, buy both, and just re-direct one onto the other!
That isn’t really enough information to base your decision on.
On the one hand, if you go for the order that gives the fewest results, you’ll be competing with fewer sites, so it should be easier to get up near the top of the list.
On the other hand, if only seven people search for the words in that order, but millions search for words in a different order (and that’s the data that we don’t have here), you don’t want to waste your time getting to the top of a search enquiry that is rarely made…
Mine is not to question why…
I don’t have the business motives and drivers to understand the full impacts of this decision - i’m just providing aspects to support a decision either way. I still stand by my original suggestion to ask a non-web-savvy friend how they would conduct a search using those terms and go that route - however, data driven decisions are sometimes smart ones when it comes to the web - so I provided some methods to gauge the data.
Whether the amount of competition for a phrase is reason to base popularity for search volume is dependent on how you approach your market strategy - and that is something I can’t determine.
Alright, I was just guessing there is a general rule of thumb which domain to choose based on the numbers. As I a said, I’m not that into SEO, I was just curious 
I would go with “dog groomer chicago” as the main concept is dog grooming in the city of chicago. That’s purely my opinion.
@serio: I agree!
If you command some powerful back links, which are there to stay, are relevant and coming from a credible resource, then you’ll win the race.
Imagin getting CNN optimized for the keyword “world news”. Everyone would laugh. Why? because everybody knows CNN means world news. CNN guyz don’t need to have the keyword in their URL. The “self reinforcing authority” is doing the trick.
Regards,