Most people are aware of a search engine technology merger having begun between Yahoo and Bing. Despite sharing and cross-referencing each other’s search engine results, I am seeing distinctly separate page rank for the same search terms when examining Yahoo vs. Bing.

Bing, in particular, seems to give high priority to Yellowpage and/or Yellowbook listings. I find this odd and not particularly useful for searches on a variety of keywords. My own search experience often yields noticeably better results (more relevant) when using either Yahoo or Google.

Another small but recurrent nuisance with Bing webpage submission is the Bing captcha generator. Never before have I had the level of difficulty providing captcha confirmation as I do in Bing. I often have to submit 3 or 4 times before Bing confirms the captcha string. Captcha is the series of letters & numbers one must enter before a webpage submission is accepted by Bing and then indexed in their database. Captcha prevents automated submission of webpages, and ensures that a real human is initiating the submission.

There appears to be a lack of consensus as to how much weight a generic, keyword domain is given in each of the search engines. There is no question that consumer familiarity & recognition always lead toward the generic keyword. Whether one finds desired information at that generic domain name destination is another issue. I have often stated that the perfect synergy is a premium generic domain name that has been fully developed with relevant content, such as Hotels.com, Spain.info, or Charlotte.US. Such sites deliver an excellent user experience.

Domain Name, SEO bing, domain name optimization, google, seo, yahoo

I was browsing some other domain blogs this morning and saw Michael Berkens’ post of an article by a popular SEO (Search Engine Optimization) publisher, SEOmoz.

SEOmoz examined a number of variables tied to achieving high search engine rankings, and they found that an exact match domain name carried more weight in high search engine placement than any other contributing factor. It is important to note that this was an objective study by someone outside of the domain name industry (not a domain industry insider).

A correlation analysis was performed using accepted scientific methodology and based on a sample of 11,351 search results pages in both Google and Bing. The conclusion included such observations as  …

Just by itself, exact match is remarkably high in correlation to rankings. No other on-site/on-page factor we examined even came close.

This conclusion mirrors not only the long held view of many domain name investors, but also represents a certain inherent logic that has often angered those late in the game to the power of generic, exact match domain names.

Exact match domain names describe the business, service, product, or location that a buying consumer is interested in. This exact match appeal did not originate from within the domain industry, but has been in existence for many years in all areas of society and business. Public libraries provide category headings. Yellow page directories use pure search words. And any search performed in a major search engine is built upon the exact match keywords which describe your search query.

In domain industry circles, this has been commonly referred to as generic domains or pure keyword domains. One is simply more likely to find the information & products relevant to their search when the domain name is an exact match to their search query. This is why Hotels.com or Spain.info are so popular. They deliver what is described within the domain name itself.

Will exact match domains names continue to be regarded as highly relevant in search engine optimization and ranking? My forecast is a definite … yes. The domain name system, and entire internet structure, is built on the power of language and the meaning of words. There is no better replacement. It’s just that simple. And exact match domain names sit right in the middle of this time proven universal truth.

Incidentally, this blog is not named PremiumDomains.biz by accident.

Site Development domain name investment, generic domain names, seo