Right now I do not have any of my main keywords in my URL. How important is this? Should I consider changing my URL or building a second site? I already have a lot of marketing out there for my current URL so I do not want to give it up but I also want to be ranked well. Does this really matter?

__________________
Ryan Tollefsen
Prudential Jack White Vista Real Estate

Alaska Real Estate | Anchorage Real Estate | Alaska Market Snapshot

They're somewhat important...when people naturally link to you, they will sometimes use the keywords in your URL as the anchor text. However, I wouldn't recommend starting from scratch simply b/c you don't have a keyword rich URL. You can do JUST fine w/o KW's in your URL. I would go so far as to say that a keyword rich URL isn't really that important - that the advantages are very minimal. Just my opinion, of course.

__________________
Eric Bramlett

Take your blogging to the next level. PM Me For a Free Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog on YOUR URL!!!

Austin Real Estate | Austin Texas Real Estate | Austin Condos

Good point.
I'm sure SE consider it in the algorithm somewhere. But it cant be much.
On my longtails I always try to use the keywords for that page.

__________________
Alex G.
Portland Real Estate

FREE LIST OF BPO COMPANIES and REO COMPANIES.

Of course on the flip side I have seen sites rank on the first page just because they have the keywords in the URL.

I agree though, it's not necessary for great rankings.

__________________
Scottsdale Real Estate
McDowell Mountain Ranch Real Estate
DC Ranch Real Estate

The only aspect I've seen in the algo is that it will pop keyword rich URLs when the keyword has literally NO competition. Most real estate terms are moderately to heavily competitive, so it's not going to mean a lot in an RE SEO campaign.

More important than a keyword rich URL is branding. I get a lot of type in traffic, and a healthy amount of search volume for my name, and the URLs of my other sites.

As a user, which would stick in your head better:
www.nwmove.com
-or-
www.portland-oregon-real-estate-search.com

I friggin' hate dashes in URLs. That's just me, though.

__________________
Eric Bramlett

Take your blogging to the next level. PM Me For a Free Self-Hosted Wordpress Blog on YOUR URL!!!

Austin Real Estate | Austin Texas Real Estate | Austin Condos

Just like Eric said, branding is extremely important. Just look at sites like trulia, amazon, ebay, etc., they all concentrate on their brand. That's how people remember them.

I think the benefits of a well established brand, far outweigh the benefits of a keyword in your URL. I would definately include keywords in interior pages, just in case.

__________________
Russell Volk, REALTOR®
Mid-Atlantic Real Estate
Feasterville, PA
Bucks County Real Estate | Newtown, PA Real Estate | Doylestown, PA Real Estate.

I have done some pretty extensive research pertaining to this topic.

Depending on how long you have had your current site and it's current ranking should determine whether or not you should start from scratch.

If you already have a strong site with acceptable rankings, then there is no reason to change. If, however, your site is new and you are just starting, having a keyword rich URL could be of benefit to you.

Now... if you decide to start from scratch, you can use a hyphenated URL and have it redirected to the shorter URL that you market.

For example: I have a client in the San Fernando Valley California. The URL that is indexed is san-fernando-valley-ca-real-estate.com and it is the URL that shows up in the address bar once at the site. BUT... he markets HomesInTheValley.info or DavidHitt.com and has them redirected. These are easier URLs for people to remember and they don't have to deal with the hyphens.

All in all... the importance of having keywords in your URL is minimal, yet beneficial, but not worth changing if you already have an established site.

__________________
Melissa Chapman
Real Estate Website Marketing and Optimization Specialist
(281) 935-4654
Jacksonville Florida Real Estate | Sherman Oaks Real Estate | The Woodlands Texas Real Estate

MisAlissa, you might want to rethink that one. The redirect appears to be for the domain only (all of the supporting pages resolve) and it is a 302 redirect.

__________________
OverSite.US | A Unique Web Directory
Real Estate Directory | A regional listing of quality real estate related web sites.
Tampa Bay Charter Fishing | Seeks references from the area resource pages of quality local sites.

If you have already started branding it. I would keep it. No reason to start over with a different URL. I agree with Eric, branding is way more important than a new URL.

I don't know eric. Personally I remember the dashes easier though I don't like them in URL's.

__________________
Beach Buy who is a Skins Fan
Outer Banks - Outer Banks Property Management - Outer Banks Real Estate - Coming Soon New REW Template and IDX

OK Ryan...

I just took a look at your site.

Can you create custom pages and name the pages?

Example: akhomeshow.com/anchorage-alaska-neighborhoods

In bold would be the name of your page.

You can accomplish the same effect by adding content and putting key terms in your sub page URLs.

SE's rank pages. So let's say you have a main page that lists Anchorage Neighborhoods:

/anchorage-alaska-neighborhoods

Then you create a page for one of the neighborhoods/subdivisions/whatever you call them there, then the name (URL) would be:

/anchorage-alaska-neighborhoods/name-of-neighborhood

This will give you the same effect as if you had key terms in your main URL.

The majority of my client's first page rankings are his interior pages that contain content about a specific market area.

Hope this helps.

__________________
Melissa Chapman
Real Estate Website Marketing and Optimization Specialist
(281) 935-4654
Jacksonville Florida Real Estate | Sherman Oaks Real Estate | The Woodlands Texas Real Estate