Choosing a domain name is one of the most crucial yet frequently ignored aspects of launching a website. People are frequently faced with the problem of employing their brand name or a term related to the products and services they provide. Furthermore, 500,000 new small businesses are established in the United States each year, with 60% having a website. With so much competition online, someone else may already hold the intended domain name you are looking for.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed and want to seek a domain name that is SEO friendly, our SEO company can help you greatly. We assure you it’s not difficult; keep it simple and avoid overthinking it, and you’ll find the right domain name.
This blog will look at domain name variants, how to choose the ideal one for your site, and how your choice and decision affect SEO. Let’s get started. We are a local SEO company in the USA offering a wide variety of services ranging from SEO services, google my business (GMB), web design/redesign service, and many more.
Is Your Domain Name Important for SEO?
Without a doubt, your domain name influences SEO.
It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to purchase a domain name that matches your brand or keywords; you want a domain name that generates a lot of online traffic, shows your company’s online presence, and promotes your overall brand reputation. Moreover, according to the research of the Search Engine Journal that the first organic result that appears on Google search has a click-through rate of 28.5 percent, so you need a comprehensive strategy to improve your rankings.
While the SEO value of your domain name is not the most significant component in increasing your ranking score, its overall influence may demonstrate its significance. Assume you possess a well-known brand or a domain name corresponding to a user’s search intent. In this scenario, it is obvious that your impressions and click-through rate will be high, proving that search engines accept your site as an important and valuable website. If you can pick a domain name that helps drive domain and regulate traffic to your site, you’ll see how it may positively affect all other aspects of SEO, similar to a domino effect.
The Most Effective Method For Selecting A Domain Name
As earlier mentioned, you can choose a brand-focused or keyword-optimized domain name. Each of these tactics can provide benefits, and certain research can assist you in determining which path is best for you. First, discuss these two ways and choose your perfect SEO domain name.
Branding & Promotional Domain Names
You may have observed that the majority of websites you visit use this strategy for selecting a domain name for SEO. Your brand is what your customers remember and endorse. So, whether they meet you in person or online, they’ll first search for your organization’s name.
In any case, you must use one or more domain names for your brand. You must own them if you want to utilize them or redirect them to another domain.
A small number of well-known companies use keyword-targeted domain names. People buy businesses because they identify and want to work with them. Do you believe that if apple used the domain name worldsbestsmartphone.com, people would click on or search for apple.com?
Your brand is what builds trust. This trust inspires more online customers to visit your site, read, and share your content, increasing your SEO reputation and ranking.
Following are some indicators that you should use a branded domain name if you are looking for high click rates:
- It is an established and ongoing business with a great customer base.
- You have already started to promote your business and increase your brand reputation.
- Your branding includes specifics about the services you provide, such as tastycatering.com.
Domain Names Containing Keywords
While researching SEO and how to pick a domain name, you may assume that a keyword-optimized domain name is the best option. In the end, keywords are a critical component of every SEO approach. Things are slightly different when we discuss the domain names.
A keyword-based domain name, such as floridahairstylist.com, combines geography and services. On the other hand, these domains do not bear the company name; rather, they communicate to the user what they are doing and where their business is.
You are correct that the content of the keyword is critical since it tells a lot about your company. On the other hand, Google discredits domain names with exact matches that do not have a lot of keyword content on the site. If you’re certain you want to include keywords in your domain, we recommend combining them with your brand to cover all bases.
Domain Name Extent
In general, the length and size of your domain name have no impact on ranking considerations; it will be visible in SERPs with everyone else. On the other hand, if you have a lengthy domain name that is tough to remember and type, you are considerably less prone to acquire direct visitors to your website.
Geographical Perspective – Selected Domain Extensions
National top-level domains such as .ca, .nl, .uk, and .de, are the only domain extensions that influence your search results. As expected, these additions will considerably influence your presence in other countries’ SERPs.
If you select a .uk domain, you may expect minimal live search traffic from the United States. You’re essentially notifying search engines that your site is designed for a certain country, which means it won’t display in search results.
Usual Domain Extensions
Alternative extensions for famous domains, such as .com, .gov, or .org, have no impact on your rating. However, it would help if you were mindful of a factor known as user preference. What do you ponder of a website ending with .info or .biz domain extensions? Users will not click on your domain if they believe it is spam. When picking a domain name, keep this in mind too.
The most important factor in evaluating is whether you would click on it. If the answer is yes, you’re good to go.
How To Select An SEO-Friendly Domain Name?
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Use high-level domain extensions
Before buying a domain, you must first choose whether a domain extension is appropriate for your company. There are approximately 1K+ domain extensions accessible in almost every domain name system, making it extremely difficult to pick one.
Expert says that the “.com” suffix exists on more than 49% of all domain names. You may also utilize common domain extensions like “.org”, “.net”, “.info”, “.edu”, etc.
Nevertheless, if you want to build a blog, a company, or any other form of a lucrative website, we recommend using the.com domain extension. When someone first tells us the website’s name, you might notice that we usually access the website with the .com extension. It’s because it’s so common.
You might be wondering if picking a .com domain has any SEO benefits. There are, but all that matters is the domain, not the extension. The extension concept was introduced to distinguish between various sorts of web pages.
For instance;
.com –.com domain is allocated for businesses and profitable websites. e.g., facebook.com.
.net – This extension was intended for network-related sites, such as php.net.
.edu – .edu extension is reserved for educational websites. For instance, massachusetts.edu.
.org – The .org extension is commonly used by non-profit organizations (NPOs), such as WordPress.org.
We guess it is easy for you to understand which domain extension is best for your website. If you consider making money from your website, use the .com domain. If you’re still confused about the type of extension best suited for your website, check out the differences between .net and .com domains.
Now, here’s the issue.
The.com extension is quite popular, and all of the ideal .com names have already been secured. In this scenario, you must either establish new domain names or use .net or .org.
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Select branded domain names
Haven’t you ever thought about why a new website usually ranks above the popular one? The explanation is that it is more than simply a website; each website is itself a brand. “Brand signals” are used by search engines to display high-quality website articles.
To elaborate more on what makes a domain name noteworthy and branded? Well, quite frankly, numerous elements contribute to making them brandable, like as
- A brand name like google.com is distinctive and has no particular meaning or sense.
- It’s really traditional and simple to remember.
- It’s simple to say.
- It distinguishes itself from the crowd.
The “facebook.com” domain, for example, looks to be more configurable than “TheNewBrandFacebook.com.”
To brainstorm new domain names, consider adding important phrases or random suffixes, but make sure the new domain seems like a notable brand, as we previously mentioned.
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Use precise and short domain names
Your domain should be precise and as short as possible alongside being relatable too. Short domain names are easy to remember and speak.
According to their business line, the most successful companies, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Twitter, and Facebook, have short, precise, and related domain names.
The most frequent domain name length, according to research, is around 12 characters. Your domain name should be between 6 and 14 characters long.
“Facebook.com” is a website with precisely eight characters.
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Do not use hyphens in your domain name
Avoiding hyphens and numerals when picking a domain name for SEO is preferable.
Hyphens and numerals complicate pronunciation.
Consider the website Google.com.
Google.com is a short and simple domain name to remember. Google.com also has the sense of a brand.
If the name had hyphens or digits, such as “Goo-gle.com” or “Number1Google.com,” the company could not have expanded as quickly as they have to date.
So, the simple tip here is to keep it basic and don’t use hyphens or digits while choosing a domain name for your website.
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Ensure it is simple to memorize and type
Exploring a domain name that is simple to recall is critical to your online success.
It is quite difficult for visitors to write a complicated domain name like jjkmysitee.com. People tend to disregard such things that they find hard to remember.
Consider how your users will be puzzled by your domain name if they wish to visit your website again and how if they misspell your domain name, they might find themselves on another website. This can be a major reason why you don’t have sufficient online visitors on your website, or your business is low on revenue.
Consider how successful websites and businesses select their domain names: Facebook, CNN, Google, Twitter, and others.
You should notice that they all have one thing in common: they’re all easy to write and comprehend.
In summary
If you don’t overcomplicate things, choosing a domain name for SEO is simple. Users appreciate brands they recognize and can easily connect with and remember, which search engines enjoy. But your domain name should only be a minor element of a larger, more comprehensive SEO plan. It has a minor influence on your search ranking compared to other factors, so don’t worry.
