Keyword Domains for PPC
-
I have a client who wants to buy a lot of long domains with keywords in them, for example, thesandiegopetstore.com (this is fictional) and then set up a PPC landing page for each. They think that when someone types in "san diego pet store" that their domain will be listed high and then they will get a lot of traffic.
My concern is that they will own a lot of domains for their company and I thought Google is getting pretty adamant about companies not having a lot of domains, and I thought that keyword domains are not as effective as they used to be -- that branding is more important now.
Also, I think the domains they've picked target very competitive keywords and that perhaps they will get a lot unqualified traffic and will still have to pay for the clicks.
What do you think?
What is the best way to set up PPC landing pages?
-
Hi Karen,
SEOclient12 had some really good points, so let me just add my own 2 cents.
To boil down the question to it's fundamentals, you're asking if a keyword rich domain is better for PPC campaigns is more effective than directing the ads towards a non-keyword rich domain.
The easy solution is simply to amend the Display URL to include keywords. If you have the space, you can generally put whatever keywords here you want, including Dynamic Keyword Insertion. This has the usual effect of increasing your CTR, which in turn raises your quality score and lowers your cost per click.
(if you aren't familiar with Keyword Insertion, it's a great technique worth checking out)
This is the preferred solution and generally a lot easier than setting up unique domains for each ad. That's not to say that a unique, keyword rich domain won't help your conversion rate, but my suspicion is the benefit, if any, may not be worth the trouble.
Also, if you do set up multiple domains, be careful about linking them together (or make sure to keep them out of Google's index) as too many linking domains may be interpreted as a network.
Hope this helps. Best of luck with your SEO!
-
Thank you for your detailed response.
I'm still wondering if buying these keyword domains and using them for PPC landing pages would be more effective than using the company's website domain, which is already well-established and trusted but doesn't have keywords in it?
Which types of domains work better for PPC landing pages?
Does SEOmoz have an experience or knowledge in this area?
I was hoping to hear from mozzers on whether hosting PPC landing pages on keyword domains is more effective than hosting the PPC landing pages on the main trusted domain.
Does anyone anyone at SEOmoz know?
-
If the keywords they are targeting are very competitive then they will have to buy bidding high to appear where they want to anyway.
I think it would be very naive to think that the quality score would be impacted to such an extent by the keywords being in the domain names (other factors such as website authority and ad longevity have a much more important role imo).
Let's say that they appear in the top 6 for the keywords (through a combination of quality score and presumably high/unsustainable/aggressive bidding). If the content on their websites isn't good enough then the consumer is going to click through and leave. With an aggressive bidding strategy in place to achieve these high positions, it would most probably increase unqualified traffic, increase CPC and CPA, decrease CTS and result in an unprofitable ROI model.
In order to get the most out of PPC/landing pages imo the adverts need to be live for a while at a lower average position. Through work on the website and other initiatives to increase page authority and relevance to the ad, you could hopefully over time see your av.position increase without increasing costs. Then at this point I would find some sort of trade-off between how much money you're paying and what you're getting in return to find the most optimal average position.
Obviously there are a variety of other tactics for efficient bidding etc, but this is the basic approach I would take.
With regards to being penalised by Google; if you think there's a possibility of it happening, don't risk it.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Finding Organic search keywords
Hello How do I get the organic keywords that searchers type into organic search to find your website? I know google does not officially provide keywords for organic search now, only paid and I have seen work arounds at.. https://blog.kissmetrics.com/unlock-keyword-not-provided/ https://www.optimizesmart.com/optimize-organic-search-campaigns-keyword-referral-data/ Are there any other better suggestions you would give?
Paid Search Marketing | | TMS_spa0 -
PPC Adwords Trademark Protection
Hi Wheres the form for filling in/registering your brand with Google for trademark protection in adwords ? I can only find an infringement/complaint form, which given no one currently infringing i imagine will be pointless filling it in. I understand its possible to register trademark with Google in the first place If someone can direct me to the exact page will be much appreciated ? Many Thanks Dan
Paid Search Marketing | | Dan-Lawrence1 -
Will a javascript rewrite of city names on a home page from PPC traffic affect SEO negatively?
We have a client that was originally based out of Orlando and the entire website is SEO'ed for Orlando. In the long term we will start SEO'ing for Tampa. But In the short term, we want to drive traffic from Tampa to the website but we want that traffic to know the business specializes in Tampa service (he has local teams there). We are already using a ?_vsrefdom=changemynumber to change the phone number dynamically to a tampa area code for tracking purposes. We want to dynamically change all iterations of 'Orlando' with 'Tampa' using the same javascript. Does this cause any SEO problems or trip any alarms with Google?
Paid Search Marketing | | Highforge0 -
Youtube ad video ppc
anyone has any experience with youtube for adwords and how its converting, etc? tips on how to really narrow it down to keyword level and making sure impressions are based on your preferences? Thanks
Paid Search Marketing | | PaulDylan0 -
Which of these six keyword combinations would you go after?
I you could only optimize for one, SEO, which keyword phrase would you select and why? Going by the data I've attached with the two images. QMbkq.png 2ufnF.png
Paid Search Marketing | | bobjones0 -
Recommended tools for PPC competitive intelligence?
Do you guys have any tools you recommend for spying on your PPC competition? Trying to figure out which competitive intelligence tool offers the most value. http://searchengineland.com/tips-for-spying-on-your-ppc-competitors-89988
Paid Search Marketing | | qlkasdjfw0 -
PPC Campaign Setup Fee - Fair?
We already do our PPC campaigns with an agency and we're looking to create another campaign. They told us that the amount of traffic around our campaign would allow for about $2-3k spend per month, possibly with some additional funds placed into display ads. For this campaign, they have proposed a setup fee of $2k and an increased management fee of $750 -- is this a reasonable price?
Paid Search Marketing | | kylesuss0 -
How accurate is the Google´s keyword tool regarding monthly searches?
How correct is Google´s keyword tool regarding the estimated number of Global Monthly Searches? Judging from my adwords campaigns the real number of impressions is 1/3 compared to the estimated number for an exact match. What is your experience?
Paid Search Marketing | | europeandomaincentre0