A search for ‘legal document shop’ on Google brings back an unexpected result at the top spot on google.co.uk. At first it looks pretty solid, after all the domain is legaldocumentshop.co.uk. However once you click through to the site it gets a bit confusing.
Why I am confused…
-There is no content other than ‘Coming soon’
-My SEO toolbar is showing no Page Rank and according to Yahoo no incoming links
-A search for incoming links on Google brings back no results either
-A look at the page source shows no hidden text
However, what is does have is…
-A domain name exactly the same as the search term
-A domain with the country code I made the search from (co.uk)
-A title tag exactly the same as the search term
The site in 2nd position has a page rank of 4, more incoming links, an older domain name and an entry in DMOZ. What it doesn’t have is the exact phrase in the title tag and the domain is a brand name. Is the title tag and an exact match localised domain name alone enough to propel you to the top of Google’s results?
An aside…
A big reason why this surprised me is that as users we have become conditioned to expect Google to bring back the correct results instantly at the first attempt. So much so that eye tracking research has shown if we don’t see the result in the top 1 to 3 positions many of us will just search again rather than scroll down or go to the second page.
Maybe I wouldn’t have had the same response if Yahoo or Microsoft had done the same?
Hey Matthew
Thanks for yet another interesting post.
I’m interested in setting up a blog myself and wonder what the application is behind this blog?
Sandra
Hi Sandra,
We use WordPress – it is the most popular blogging software available and it is free! If you are hosting with us on a Home Pro or higher you can do a one click install from your Control Panel. Hope this helps.
Jonathan.
Could you tell me which particular WordPress theme you are using as I really like the this one.
Hi Sandra,
I think we used the default one but modified it heavily.
Jonathan
Sorry which default one I don’t av WordPress on my account, I think these themes have names.
Hi Sandra,
It this one:
WordPress Default 1.6 by Michael Heilemann
Hope this helps.
Jonathan.
Wow, what an interesting result, just goes to show how important it is to get keywords in your domain name. At Big Dot Media (http://www.bigdotmedia.co.uk) we advice customers to buy multiple domains now and point them to their corporate site for their chosen keywords if available. It seems to get them better results.