Hello,
I would like to know what is grammatically correct, what is usual, 
what is best as domain name and why: canadian hotels, canada's hotels
or canada hotels
Regards
nikenn

Hello Nikenn,

When I would search for a hotel in Canada, I would use the two
keywords "canada" and "hotel", as opposed to "Canadian Hotels". (I
believe both "hotel" and "hotels" to be intuitive; one may want a
listing, but is looking forward to stay in a single hotel only.)
Optimal names for this would be canadahotel.com, canada-hotels.com,
and variations, which all seem to be taken.

As alternative to that, one might look for "hotels in canada", either
as phrase or by using both terms "hotels" and "canada". While
hotels-in-canada.com is reserved already, hotels-in-canada.info is
still free.

But one might also search using a phrase like "canada hotel guide".
This I find a catchy name and -- at the time this answer is posted --
it happens to be free in at least the following three variants:

  hotel-guide-canada.com

  canada-hotel-guide.info

  the-canada-hotel-guide.com

You would have a good chance to target for the keywords "hotel guide
canada". As a phrase search, this returns only 41 pages on Google.
Even as a keyword search, the correct phrase order would be preferred.
This also solves the problem of grammatical correctness, since "Hotel
Guide (for Canada)" is correct. Interestingly enough, "Hotel Guide for
Canada" (as phrase) returns only four results with Google.


Let me recapitulate the comments:
- Most agree "canada" is the more natural search term, even when
"canadian" might be more grammatically correct.
- The following three domain names were pointed out as possibilities
by Denco-ga:

  canadienhotels.com 
  canadienhotels.ca 
  canadian-hotels.ca


Good luck, and I hope it helps!


Search terms:
canada hotel guide
"canada hotel guide"
hotel guide canada
(...)

---

Request for Answer Clarification by nikenn-ga on 02 Mar 2003 08:33 PST

Hi j_philipp,
Ok, I believe that most people will use canada and hotel or hotels as
a search words, but I don't understand why is canadahotels better than
canadianhotels as a domain name.I believe that people will easier
remember usual and grammatically correct term and that canadianhotels
can be better used in marketing purpose.Is canadahotels sound better
than canadianhotels? (It doesn't matter for this question are these
domain names available)
Regards
nikenn

---

Clarification of Answer by j_philipp-ga on 03 Mar 2003 00:27 PST

Hello Nikenn,

It's my opinion that canadahotels.com is much more "Internet speak"
than canadianhotels.com. (Please also see the comments posted by
others.) You asked what is usual; I would say it is, and therefore
also better as domain name (regardless of availability, as you said).
The search terms one would enter are far more likely to be "canada"
and "hotel" (or "hotels") than "canadian" hotel. This should show it's
also more natural.

And interestingly enough, even when "canadian hotels" might be more
correct, it is less common on the Web; the phrase "canadian hotels"
returns only 3,870 pages on Google, while "canada hotels" returns
86,600.

In my opinion it is much more intuitive to think in terms of, "I'm
looking for a hotel in Canada" than "I'm looking for a Canadian
hotel", since latter could indicate a "Canadian-style" hotel
independent of its location -- compare to the phrasing "Canadian
embassy", which is in many countries that are not Canada.

To wrap it up; wether or not it sounds better might be a matter of
taste, but I believe on average canadahotels.com is more intuitive and
therefore easier to remember. And faster to type -- shorter domain
names are also typically easier to remember.

Hope it helps!

I think "Canada Hotels" sounds a bit illiterate, but the other two
options are quite grammatically correct.

Hello there - I'm putting this in comments because in reality grammer
has little to do with the naming of a domain, usage has much more to
do with it.  I don't know if you are in the process of setting up a
domain or not but most everything on your site from the domain to the
title should reflect what words you expect people to use in their
search for what you have to offer.

There are also so many websites dedicated to domains and domain naming
which offer contradictory advice that the best thing to do is use a
little common sense.

How are most people going to search for Canadian hotels.  Well, it
will prpbably be with those two exact words "Canadian hotels."  that's
what you want the search engines to find.  While a few people might
search by Canada's hotels or Canada hotels, most will probably use the
Canadian hotels search term.  So if such a domain is available, use
it.  Also include the term in your meta-tags and on the page.  In your
meta tags you may want to also use the other terms so they are there
and you may want to try and include them in the text of the page
somehow.

So I'm addressing this not from a grammatical standpoint but from what
might give you the best results.

I'm sure there may be as many opinions about this as there are
researchers.  So if you get a lot of advice from us, you are going to
have to sort through it and find what best fits with your own
philosophy.

It is obvious I cannot address this from a grammatical standpoint.  I
have too many typos in that other comment. :)

Cheers
digs

Dear Nikenn,

I'm surprised that Digsalot suggests that potential users would search
for a hotel in Canada using "Canadian" and "hotels".  If I were
looking for a hotel for my Canadian holiday, I should want a hotel in
Canada, so I'd search using those words: "hotel" and "Canada". 
Providing the hotel was in Canada, it wouldn't matter to me whether it
was Canadian, American, Mexican, Australian, Inuit, etc.

And if Pinkfreud thinks "Canada Hotels" sounds illiterate, s/he
obviously thinks the same about Google Answers.  Does he suggest
renaming this service "Google's Answers" or "Googlean Answers"?  There
is nothing illiterate about using a noun attributively.

I trust this helps.

Carnegie.

I agree with carnegie-ga on the first part; personally, I would first
search for: canada hotels .  I suspect that most other people would,
if they are looking for hotels in Canada.  Thus, that would be the
best domain name.

However, grammatically, I'd say that "Canadian hotels" is best of the
three options.  Even better would be "hotels in Canada".  But they
would both be mediocre domain names.

If you choose canadianhotels as a domain name, it would be advisable
to also register canadienhotels as this is how the domain may be
remembered by French speakers. Covering possible foreign-language
permutations of domain names is a good idea anyway, particularly for a
travel-related site, but especially in this case as parts of Canada
are bilingual.

Owain

I agree with digsalot in that grammar has little to do with the
Internet and domain names.  I would go (agreeing with carnegie)
for canadahotels.com but it and canadahotels.ca are both taken.

Also taken:

canadianhotels.com
canadianhotels.ca

Available (as of this posting):

canadienhotels.com
canadienhotels.ca

The .ca extender is for (naturally) Canada.

canadashotels is clumsy and somewhat confusing if you advertise
a website as Canada's Hotels because people will try to type in
the apostrophe (really!) but for whatever it is worth, the domain
name of canadashotels.ca (but not the .com) is available, as is
canada-hotels.ca (but, again, .com is gone).

canadian-hotels.com is taken but canadian-hotels.ca is available.

Because the word "answers" is also a verb, Google Answers sounds less
illiterate than Canada Hotels.

thank you very much for comments!
regards
nikenn