Can long domain names rank?

[cernus11]

Nah he owns them, but he was previously posting using a different name i think. As for the question, the longer a domain gets, the worse it is imo and I believe that Google gives less of an exact match boost to longer domain names, as i think it makes sense that they are less likely to be brands.

Agree with this - In my opinion exact match domains give a boost when you give Google the impression it is your "brand". I think that becomes a harder sell when it comes to 4 word exact match and above.

[Sebastian]

Agree with the above two posters

Disclaimer: the below is my view only, but I thought I'd share....

The boost you get is because Google is willing to entertain that your domain is likely to be your brand if it's short ... that's why it gives a generous head start to one keyword and 2 keyword domains for the exact match query. As Matt Cuts put in in a video, it's your business name.

So Google is willing to be nice at first, and gives you the benefit of the doubt. The other reason is that it's technically really hard to determine if a 2 KW domain is keyword stuffing or a brand. That's the inflection point imo. 3 Keywords is less likely to be a brand, but still a possibility.

But if you launch bestonlinepokerbonuscodes2010.net, how likely is it to be a brand vs someone trying to game the system. I've launched sites like that, and it's my belief that you start with brand value boost for exact query = 0. There's defo a cut-off point somewhere along the way. Not to say that the keywords in the domains won't help you when the site is mature, but you won't get a head start.

[pokeraussie]

Not to say that the keywords in the domains won't help you when the site is mature, but you won't get a head start.

Exactly. You won't get a head start, but you certainly make it easier for yourself to rank eventually.

What is with the auto updates in the thread without refreshing the page, loving the real-time web.

[PTC]

If your intention is to build a small website to exploit the search engines, then I see no problem with long domains. If you care at all about branding or you think that people might want to type your URL in manually... then longer can hurt you.

Don't forget that you can rank #3 and still get more clicks from the SERPs than the guy in #1 and #2 (Pretty sure that Michael taught me that first). Your URL will play a role in this CTR, as well as meta descriptions title tags etc. In other words... ranking #1 is pointless if nobody clicks through, you should always make some branding considerations in your domain name.