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Chapter 6 Of $100M SEO for startups course

Written by Jan-Oliver Seidenfuss

This is the complete guide on how domains can help you rank higher.

We'll dive deep into

what domain types exist
why they influence rankings
how Bank Statement Converter makes $18k/month using this strategy

So if you're thinking about buying a domain, you should read this first!

Let's jump in:

This is the complete guide on how domains can help you rank higher.

We'll dive deep into

what domain types exist
why they influence rankings
how Bank Statement Converter makes $18k/month using this strategy

So if you're thinking about buying a domain, you should read this first!

Let's jump in:

This is the complete guide on how domains can help you rank higher.

We'll dive deep into

what domain types exist
why they influence rankings
how Bank Statement Converter makes $18k/month using this strategy

So if you're thinking about buying a domain, you should read this first!

Let's jump in:

About this Course

Course Chapters

This is chapter 5 of our SEO for Startups course.

If you aren't following along, don't worry.

I'll include links to previous chapters for context. This way, you can easily catch up on any necessary background information.

Enjoy! ✌️

This is chapter 5 of our SEO for Startups course.

If you aren't following along, don't worry.

I'll include links to previous chapters for context. This way, you can easily catch up on any necessary background information.

Enjoy! ✌️

This is chapter 5 of our SEO for Startups course.

If you aren't following along, don't worry.

I'll include links to previous chapters for context. This way, you can easily catch up on any necessary background information.

Enjoy! ✌️

Quick Recap

In the previous chapter we mapped keywords to stages along the customer journey.

If you didn’t read it, make sure to check it out!

The example we used was Flappie.

We found that the topic people are searching for when they try to find Flappie’s product is “ai cat flap".

Searchers know the solution - ai cat flap - exists, but don't know any brands.

So, why does this matter for Flappie?

Well, ideally Flappie would rank number 1 for this search query, as people are very likely to make a purchase.

And guess what, the domain can help Flappie with that.

Let me explain! 👇

In the previous chapter we mapped keywords to stages along the customer journey.

If you didn’t read it, make sure to check it out!

The example we used was Flappie.

We found that the topic people are searching for when they try to find Flappie’s product is “ai cat flap".

Searchers know the solution - ai cat flap - exists, but don't know any brands.

So, why does this matter for Flappie?

Well, ideally Flappie would rank number 1 for this search query, as people are very likely to make a purchase.

And guess what, the domain can help Flappie with that.

Let me explain! 👇

In the previous chapter we mapped keywords to stages along the customer journey.

If you didn’t read it, make sure to check it out!

The example we used was Flappie.

We found that the topic people are searching for when they try to find Flappie’s product is “ai cat flap".

Searchers know the solution - ai cat flap - exists, but don't know any brands.

So, why does this matter for Flappie?

Well, ideally Flappie would rank number 1 for this search query, as people are very likely to make a purchase.

And guess what, the domain can help Flappie with that.

Let me explain! 👇

Domain Types

There are 3 different types of domains Flappie could have for the keyword "ai cat flap".

Exact Match Domain (EMD) that matches the keyword exactly: aicatflap.com
Partial Match Domains (PMD) that matches parts of the keyword: flappie.com
No Match Domains (NMD) that doesn’t match the keyword: brandname.com

Here is another example.

But what’s the difference? Why does this matter for ranking?

There are 3 different types of domains Flappie could have for the keyword "ai cat flap".

Exact Match Domain (EMD) that matches the keyword exactly: aicatflap.com
Partial Match Domains (PMD) that matches parts of the keyword: flappie.com
No Match Domains (NMD) that doesn’t match the keyword: brandname.com

Here is another example.

But what’s the difference? Why does this matter for ranking?

There are 3 different types of domains Flappie could have for the keyword "ai cat flap".

Exact Match Domain (EMD) that matches the keyword exactly: aicatflap.com
Partial Match Domains (PMD) that matches parts of the keyword: flappie.com
No Match Domains (NMD) that doesn’t match the keyword: brandname.com

Here is another example.

But what’s the difference? Why does this matter for ranking?

Impact of Domain Type

Loosely speaking, you get Topical Authority for the keywords that are part of your domain.

And with more Topical Authority, you rank higher.

So if you use your product focused topic name as exact match domain, you'll establish a lot of Topical Authority for it & potentially outrank competitors.

This can be huge.

Because people that aren't aware of your brand will use your brand name to search for product options in general. And you will rank #1.

Let's make this clear with Flappie as example.

People that aren't aware of Flappie but want to find a solution to their problem use the product focused topic keywords to find solutions.

If Flappie's domain and brand name would be aicatflap.com, it would be very difficult for competitors to outrank them for that specific keyword.

You see the benefit?

The domain can be chosen strategically to make ranking easier for important keywords with strong commercial intent.

Nice!

But why do you get Topical Authority exactly?

It comes down to two factors.

Branded search: People looking for a page that is called "AI Cat Flap" will use this keyword exactly to find it. They put it into Google. And then click on your website. Your branded search is the product focused topic name. Therefore, you establish Topical Authority for it.
Anchor text in backlinks: People linking to a page will often use the website's name as anchor text. Thus, if the site's name is "AI Cat Flap", a lot of backlinks will contain the product focused topic name. Therefore, the site gains Topical Authority for it.

The same holds true for partial matches of the keywords in the domain. We'll se an example of that below.

But there is also a downside to an exact match domain: Branding.

“AI Cat Flap” is a pretty mediocre brand name.

Still, for a lot of Solopreneur projects, this is just fine.

Let’s see a few nice example for all domain types to understand this tradeoff better.

Loosely speaking, you get Topical Authority for the keywords that are part of your domain.

And with more Topical Authority, you rank higher.

So if you use your product focused topic name as exact match domain, you'll establish a lot of Topical Authority for it & potentially outrank competitors.

This can be huge.

Because people that aren't aware of your brand will use your brand name to search for product options in general. And you will rank #1.

Let's make this clear with Flappie as example.

People that aren't aware of Flappie but want to find a solution to their problem use the product focused topic keywords to find solutions.

If Flappie's domain and brand name would be aicatflap.com, it would be very difficult for competitors to outrank them for that specific keyword.

You see the benefit?

The domain can be chosen strategically to make ranking easier for important keywords with strong commercial intent.

Nice!

But why do you get Topical Authority exactly?

It comes down to two factors.

Branded search: People looking for a page that is called "AI Cat Flap" will use this keyword exactly to find it. They put it into Google. And then click on your website. Your branded search is the product focused topic name. Therefore, you establish Topical Authority for it.
Anchor text in backlinks: People linking to a page will often use the website's name as anchor text. Thus, if the site's name is "AI Cat Flap", a lot of backlinks will contain the product focused topic name. Therefore, the site gains Topical Authority for it.

The same holds true for partial matches of the keywords in the domain. We'll se an example of that below.

But there is also a downside to an exact match domain: Branding.

“AI Cat Flap” is a pretty mediocre brand name.

Still, for a lot of Solopreneur projects, this is just fine.

Let’s see a few nice example for all domain types to understand this tradeoff better.

Loosely speaking, you get Topical Authority for the keywords that are part of your domain.

And with more Topical Authority, you rank higher.

So if you use your product focused topic name as exact match domain, you'll establish a lot of Topical Authority for it & potentially outrank competitors.

This can be huge.

Because people that aren't aware of your brand will use your brand name to search for product options in general. And you will rank #1.

Let's make this clear with Flappie as example.

People that aren't aware of Flappie but want to find a solution to their problem use the product focused topic keywords to find solutions.

If Flappie's domain and brand name would be aicatflap.com, it would be very difficult for competitors to outrank them for that specific keyword.

You see the benefit?

The domain can be chosen strategically to make ranking easier for important keywords with strong commercial intent.

Nice!

But why do you get Topical Authority exactly?

It comes down to two factors.

Branded search: People looking for a page that is called "AI Cat Flap" will use this keyword exactly to find it. They put it into Google. And then click on your website. Your branded search is the product focused topic name. Therefore, you establish Topical Authority for it.
Anchor text in backlinks: People linking to a page will often use the website's name as anchor text. Thus, if the site's name is "AI Cat Flap", a lot of backlinks will contain the product focused topic name. Therefore, the site gains Topical Authority for it.

The same holds true for partial matches of the keywords in the domain. We'll se an example of that below.

But there is also a downside to an exact match domain: Branding.

“AI Cat Flap” is a pretty mediocre brand name.

Still, for a lot of Solopreneur projects, this is just fine.

Let’s see a few nice example for all domain types to understand this tradeoff better.

Exact Match Domain

This is a fantastic example I came across on X - Bank Statement Converter.

Bank Statement Converter does exactly what it sounds like: Convert a bank statement into Excel.

It's founded by Angus Cheng who makes 18k/month with this simple tool.

Pretty impressive.

But what does it have to do with an exact match domain?

Well, the keyword that people use to find exactly what he's offering (product focused topic name) is bank statement converter.

The domain is an exact match - bankstatementconverter.com!

The benefit?

When you search for this keyword, bankstatementconverter.com ranks #1.

And that is even though all the other pages have more Domain Authority.

I could give you the same Topical Authority based explanation for why this is the case as above.

But here's a more intuitive way of thinking about it instead.

Google wants to show users the content that matches their intent best.

If people heard about bankstatementconverter.com from non-SEO marketing efforts & want to check it out, they will search for bank statement converter.

As they are looking for Angus Cheng’s solution, they will only click on that.

Even if it would not rank in #1 yet.

Afterwards, they will close Google because they found what they were looking for.

A very strong signal to Google. It shows that bankstatementconverter.com fulfils the intent of the user.

So they will start ranking the site higher for similar searches like bank statement converter.

But they don’t know that it is actually people searching for the “brand” name which just happens to be an exact match of the keyword.

So there is no way for them to differentiate between people searching for the keyword in general and people just searching for Angus Cheng's tool.

That’s why they just rank bankstatementconverter.com #1 for all of them.

Note however that if you do not fulfil the intent of the users, you will not rank even with an exact match domain.

bankstatementconverter.com does a very nice job here as well.

Users coming to the page can directly upload their pdf.

One click. Obvious call to action. Good stuff.

This is a fantastic example I came across on X - Bank Statement Converter.

Bank Statement Converter does exactly what it sounds like: Convert a bank statement into Excel.

It's founded by Angus Cheng who makes 18k/month with this simple tool.

Pretty impressive.

But what does it have to do with an exact match domain?

Well, the keyword that people use to find exactly what he's offering (product focused topic name) is bank statement converter.

The domain is an exact match - bankstatementconverter.com!

The benefit?

When you search for this keyword, bankstatementconverter.com ranks #1.

And that is even though all the other pages have more Domain Authority.

I could give you the same Topical Authority based explanation for why this is the case as above.

But here's a more intuitive way of thinking about it instead.

Google wants to show users the content that matches their intent best.

If people heard about bankstatementconverter.com from non-SEO marketing efforts & want to check it out, they will search for bank statement converter.