I was asked recently asked whether the URL for a web site made a difference when it comes to SEO. More specifically, I was asked whether it was better to have BackyardLiving.com or BackyardLivingMagazine.com for a magazine about all things related to making your backyard enjoyable place. And as with most things SEO-related, I answered yes and no. People really like it when I give them answers like that.
When taking in to account all the SEO-related activities there are to ensure high rankings, the URL itself is no where near the top of the list. Sure, for a site with a very narrow topic, the URL can help since people that link to it will more often than not include the URL as the title text which can influence search engines. But when the site's topic is broad, the URL is, at best, only going to cover a small sliver of the content on the site and thus it's importance is minimal.
What's more important to consider though is what URL will help your users the most. In this case, a branded URL will help and a short URL will also help. What you want to go after is the URL that users are most likely to come up with when not prompted. And if there are a few variations of the URL that seem equally strong, by all means register the lot. Just be sure to pick one primary URL and focus all your efforts on that one. Don't fall in to the trap of having multiple live URLs all with the same content or you'll run the risk of being penalized by the search engines for having duplicate content.
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