Hello all

I have a site that its doing well, and slowly winching its way up rankings, visitor numbers, visitor quality etc.

I do have a problem - I note that on a couple of products with a generic term to search for, we just cannot seem to get ranked No.1. These are sites with the generic term as their domain (e.g. teddybears.co.uk). We unfortunately sell more than just that generic terms....

We have 10-20x the incoming (great quality) links, we have higher page rank, we have higher everything, keywords in page name and title and description, new and updated content etc.

So, is the 'right' domain name is 'unbeatable' - discuss!

I would say the right domain is very significant.

Occassionally when I go domain name shopping [because unlike most women, I prefer it to shoe-shopping], I come across the odd really great domain name, and the only time they don't rank well is when they are parked domains full of crap advertising.  Otherwise I have found the better domain name is ranked higher than a poorer domain name with better content.  Maybe this isn't across the board, but definately seems to be the trend in my industry.

Actually you have me thinking about this one now, and a possible scenario could be the age of the domain being a factor.  Obviously most of the great domain names have been snapped up long ago so have been around longer gaining Googles trust.  Just a thought.

Yup... your logic is sound. Targeted domains are often older and that comes into play. The folks at Google say it isn't a major factor and we'd really have to look at the domains in question before simply saying that this is the case.

Not to overstate the obvious, but if that were a huge ranking signal the SERPs would be a bigger messs than they are IMO

Part of the benefit is that peeps will link to the domain name... if the domain name happens to containt a core KW... then it's likely to help the link profile as far as diverse, targeted links go.

..so that plays in as well... there are a few factors and without specific domains, and SERPs to look at, it's hard to say...

Hmmm...still not sure...

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ziegel

They are no.1, we are no.2

So its not age, we have more and better quality links, content seems good (but I could improve as ever!), we are older...

I have a 'ziegel-block.co.uk' domain in my back pocket, wondering if its worth pulling it out - we are about to have a huge push/new products/new factory opening, so it would be a good time. But the age would be brand new....