Question
Our current URL is strummersmusic.com, but I'd like to change it to strummersmusicguitar.com, I've already gotten the name.
We've had the current URL for about 2 years, but I've neglected the site more than taken care of it. However, we've reached a point in time where we've had to decide whether to keep it going or give it up. We've gotten help and we will be going forward with the business.
I've been reading more about SEO and URLs and since our primary product line is guitars, I thought we should change our URL. Also, I found singular 'guitar' gets better hits than the plural 'guitars'.
Since our site isn't strongly established, so I thought it may be safe to change. I would also keep the strummersmusic.com and redirect to the new site.
Would this be a good thing to do???
Thanks!
Gina
Answer
Would this be a good thing to do???
I don't see why not. I'm sure some search engines place weight on the keywords in the URL, however, I don't believe Google does (much). Be certain your redirect is "friendly"... a 301 "permanent" redirect is the best approach.
If I may suggest something... if you have the resources, time and energy, why not make one web site an "informational" web site only, with articles, a guitar/amp/music directory, perhaps a blog, a user forum... any or all of the above. And throughout the information site, have links to your "selling" site.
If users find your information site important, they will link to it... and good things will follow!
And of course, the obvious... you would have two web presences versus one.
I realize it's daunting to think about, plus an added expense... take it for what it's worth.
Best of luck!
Cheers
Answer
My first reaction would be to say NO.
It's hard enough to type that long domain name, strummersmusic, without adding another word to the end. In other words, I think your name is getting too long...
Now maybe strummersguitar would be okay. But if I were you I wouldn't change the domain name. Just change the site layout. And add the guitar words in the various spots that search engines pick up....
JMHO... mostly due to watching myself make multiple typing errors just trying to get subscribersclub.com typed right multiple times per day....
Elaine
Answer
Since strummersmusic.com is already established, I would just concentrate on getting better SEO and SERP's from that domain. Not many sites get a huge boost from a keyword rich domain name, content is key.
I like Fiberguy's idea of making one of them an "informative" site and back linking to the ecommerce site.
If you do decide to make the change, I suggest that you do a '301' redirect for all of your product pages and not just your index page, Google could see the duplicate content and penalize you and potentially get sandboxed! Even better, if you're on a Linux/Apache server then modify your .htaccess file to perform the redirects for you.
Sometimes too much emphasis is put on domain names, and content becomes secondary. JMO
Answer
I'll just keep one I have. I'll talk with dh about adding the strummersmusicguitars.com as an informational site. That sounds like a great idea and now that we have some help, it may be a possiblity.
Thanks for the feedback!!
Gina