Keyword Rich Domain and Company Domain

Now, is there any way of having two domains. One would have the company name and one would be a keyword rich domain. Then I would point the company name to the keyword rich domain.

Now, I know this can be done but I wouldn't want to be penalised by Google for doing so. Would a 301 redirect do the trick?

I'd like to have a catchy company name but also have a keyword rich domain for those searching for my services via Google.

p.s. I've read through the Domain Name Important or Not thread but thought this could warrant a separate post.

Yes it can be done.

If you do a 301 redirect you will be fine with Google and other search engines.

I would suggest that there is little point in getting a keyword rich domain. It does very very little for SEO nowadays, in any competetive market it will go un noticed.

Its better to get a catchy name that can be remebered or if branding is important, as I suspect it is here, get a company related domain name.

Are you looking to run this site for the long term? If so, pick branding over keywords.

Yes, definitely for the long term but I wondered if it would be better to have all of stationery, business cards etc with my company domain name and then forward that to a keyword rich domain name so I can try to get the keyword rich domain up in the rankings.

Don't bother.

Pick a short catchy brand name and stick with it. Don't worry about keywords in Domain (KIDS). Yes, I strongly believe they hold some SEO strength, but VERY little. Keywords in the domain are good for short term, noncompetitive keywords. The other reason that they're helpful is when Natural Linking occurs. Other webmasters might be more willing to put the keywords from your domain in a link (better than a random brand name.) BUT again, for the long term, Brand wins the battle.

The reason why you see so many sites with K.I.D.s in the top is because these sites have been around for a while from when KIDS had even more importance in SEO and they've been building on those keywords. If they're top ten, it's purely coincidental. The webmaster has obviously been concentrating on that particular keyword when building backlinks, and that's why they're ranking well.

the trust of the brand and the company is compromised when the URL changes when the site is visited (which is what a 301 would do). Additionally if you do anything involving purchasing on your site then you will need to uses https and the certificate will have to be purchased under the "keyword domain" and the customer will see the keyword domain in the address bar, not "the site on your business card"

I could go on and on but you said you already read the KIDS thread so I am sure you have heard my piece.

In short use the company name for your official website.

Having a 301 redirect setup should be fine, my two cents. or host at different places and interlink to get benefit.

This is the right idea.

Keyword in Domain doesn't do anything more than a brand domain - it doesn't promote itself, it doesn't acquire links itself... someone needs to do that for it...

For the morons that define their successes by a keyword are bloody idiots... they had to work hard, labor hard in getting the content in the site and then work hard, labor hard in getting the links... to say the domain name made getting the anchor easy or easier - is also foolish - "just ask"...

How much additional effrot does it take to "ask for a specific anchor" over allowing the link provider own judgement... conversely how many places ONLY LINK BY A POLICY - "if it isn't in the domain name it isn't a link anchor?

If people want to downplay they roles in creating the success of any ranking achievements to a domain name... OK but that doesn't mean that is what really happen.

Thanks for everyone's input and help with this issue. It I were to go down the route of having a keyword-rich domain then it would also have to be catchy so it could also act as the company name. That's almost impossible in this day where most of the short and catchy keyword-rich domains are taken so I've decided to stick with having the company name for the domain name. Thanks again.

Isd like to make one note re KIDS. In my experience if you get links with just your url no matter how unkiddy it is those links still go a long way toward your relevancy. Google only needs a few keyword anchors to tell it what your site is about, the quality comes through the link not teh anchor text.
so a page about widgets has 100 links from authority sites pointing at it with only the unkiddy site URL. If you have done a good job with on-page optimization and those sites are true authorities with teh same topics as your page then Google already knows what your site is about, regardless of the anchor text. Then if you get a few with anchor text even better.

I rarely piss and moan about anchor text, especially if I am being given an authority link. I am just happy to receive the link

Paraphrasing that:

On one hand you'll get keyword phrase from the lowest of the lows... not because you have a site full of the keyword phrase stuff but because you have that domain name.

Nicely done!

Versus

On the other you get Company name from say DMOZ...

Totally unacceptable!

Is that in agreement or not. I dont get it. I am awful tired today...