Does an "adult" word in domain negative affect SEO?

Vcize

3 what?!?
Aug 25, 2010
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A website I'm starting up has to do with people that move from one niche to another within a particular subject. Would using the word "slut" in the domain name negative affect SEO in any way, or make google think it's an adult site?

For instance www.widgetsluts.com would be a site about people who love buying all kinds of different widgets. Would the word "slut" give it some kind of adult connotation in google's eyes?

The site is not an "adult" site at all.
 


Yes, of course.

You never heard of Google's Safe Search?

Safe Search OFF


Save Search ON

Btw, the default is Safe Search ON.
Test it yourself.
Bompa

That does not answer the question.

Lets say I have a domain/site called penisland.com
if i were to type penis, G would never show my results under their auto crap. right? In reality, i want to sell pens. the name g should read is pen island.com. How do I make them know that its not an adult site?
 
That does not answer the question.

The question as I understood it was:
"Would the word "slut" give it some kind of adult connotation in google's eyes?"

So, I think I was close.




Lets say I have a domain/site called penisland.com
... In reality, i want to sell pens. the name g should read is pen island.com. How do I make them know that its not an adult site?

Yah, Google might see that both ways:
pen island
penis land

To "force" Google to read it in one way or another use hyphens.

pen-island.com


imo,
Bompa
 
I would agree with Bompa here. The case referring to the Penisland terminology is out of context here. Since we're talking about using an actual "adult" term here & branding around it. So in this case the page title for Widgetsluts.com would read "Widget Sluts".

So an affiliate marketing site with the name "fuckbitchesmakemoney.com" would still be filtered out by Safe Search. Even though it has little to do with anything adult.

The Safe Search filter does take in regard the actual content of the website as well.

Incorporating an adult term in your domain is not such a good idea, especially if you plan on branding around that term. Yes, you can post great content and pwn SERPs, but with the Safe-search filter set ON, you won't be visible to people with the filters applied. And as Bompa pointed out, they're set to ON by default.

Bottomline, if it is a business that's going to make you some money - stray away from using adult/profane terms in your domain and/or anywhere in your site. There is no point in taking chances and losing in on potential buyers/clients.

If you're adamant on getting them sluts in your domain, there are much more sanitized and subtle alternatives available for those terms.

For example - widgettarts.com :)
 
Google seems to be relaxing the stop-word filtering as they are looking more into INTENT. It used to be that you wouldn't even want to use the word "porn" on your page for fear that Google would block the page (they often would filter it out). Today, Google is smart enough to know the difference between an appropriate conversation and true pornography (for the most part).

There can be false positives so you would want to avoid adult/swearing on a money site unless it was absolutely necessary. Also... if you feel you must have adult terms then at least be cautious of co-occurring phrases. For example, avoid having "penis" and any stem of "suck" near each other. That's the kind of thing that will accidentally get your site flagged.
 
The question as I understood it was:
"Would the word "slut" give it some kind of adult connotation in google's eyes?"

So, I think I was close.






Yah, Google might see that both ways:
pen island
penis land

To "force" Google to read it in one way or another use hyphens.

pen-island.com


imo,
Bompa

I think you're completely right Bompa.

In your case though sluts is a dead giveaway and will probably have some negative effect on your site when it comes to ranking. You've also got to think about how much this will effect your link building efforts. Whether your site is about Widgets or not I wouldn't feel comfortable linking to your site if I have an OBL that has the word "sluts" in it.
 
In a short answer - yes i think it will have a negative connotation - and you might as well choose different words/phrasing to avoid any filtering out of your site.
 
Well, I guess it depends on your keyword optimization skills and on user's query.

I think your website appear for both the queries. A person who is looking for widget will find your website and there are chances that your website might appear for other query too.