What Is A Domain Name
A domain is your websites name on the internet. Its the address that people type into their web browser to reach your website.
In a domain name, the first part is called the domain and the last part is called the domain extension. For example, in the domain name JeffBullas.com, JeffBullas is the domain and .com is the extension.
When you register a domain name, you need to choose both the domain and extension based on your website type.
Why Is Choosing The Right Domain Name So Important
Your domain name is probably one of the very first things most of your potential visitors / customers will see.
It has to:
Otherwise, you may end up losing visitors and you wont be able to build your brand the way you want.
At the same time and this is somewhat controversial , including keywords in it it could help your SEO efforts and getting the best domain extensions ) probably affects your rankings too.
You have only ONE shot!
If you dont get it right at first, it will be a tough job moving on to a different domain and rebranding yourself. Not to mention the obvious SEO losses
Establish Brand Identity By Picking The Perfect Domain Name
Your domain name might seem like a minor detail in the grand scheme of creating a website, but it reflects your business to potential customers or audiences right away.
If it’s long or confusing, many people will never be able to find your business or blog site. If your domain name doesn’t match or at least complement your brand name, it can come across as unprofessional or even spammy.
On the flip-side, a well-researched and thought-out domain name can boost your rankings in search engine results and provide audiences with a clear idea of what to expect when they visit your site. As such, it’s important to take the time to find a domain name that is just right for you.
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Domains That Convey Meaning
Sometimes it makes sense to register a domain that conveys a meaning.
SearchEngineJournal.com is a great domain because the words Search Engine tells you its a website about search engines. Then the word Journal conveys that this is a news site.
There used to be a trend to add the suffix watch at the end of domain name, with keywords in the prefix of the domain name, like WidgetWatch.
I never liked it because if you think about it, that word, watch, is adversarial within that context and in my opinion, needlessly so.
So a visitor unacquainted with a -watch site might assume that WidgetWatch was a site that keeps tabs on Widgets in order to report the latest negative thing the widget did.
When choosing a meaningful domain name, it may be useful to think about the qualities you want your site to be associated with.
So just write down the words of those feelings or qualities that you want the visitor to feel.
Now, review synonyms for the quality that you want a site visitor to associate with your site and play around with the words to find the right match.
Final Thoughts: The Domain Seo Effect: What You Need To Know
When you create your website, it can feel like youre building your business all over again. You need to select a domain name, find hosting services, and design your website.
If you want to generate organic traffic, you need to build your website with SEO ranking factors in mind.
However, with a little research and the right tools, you can get your website right the first time. To learn more about affordable hosting plans, visit iPage today.
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Domain Names Contain Keywords That Need Seo
Domain names containing keywords are 1 in 200 criteria for Google to rank web pages. In addition, the domain name containing the keywords that need Seo is easy to remember, helping customers to grasp immediately what the website content is about. For example, if you are Seo keywords related to accounting training, then the domain name is ‘ hocketoan.com ‘.
Seo Best Practices For Your Domain Name
You might wonder how to choose a domain name that helps your SEO and avoid domain names that can hurt your ranking.
Here are the best practices to master the domain SEO relationship and find the right domain name for your website.
Keep in mind your search engine ranking also depends on your content quality and web design.
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Putting Domain Seo Into Practice
Domain names are online digital identities that speak volumes about who you are, what you do, and what visitors should expect from you. While the name you choose will not necessarily affect search engine rankings, its a good idea to pick short, memorable, and highly relevant phrases that put you in the running with todays major brands.
With some dedicated effort and a little planning, you can choose an SEO friendly domain name that continues to reap the benefits long after registration.
Build And Surpass Expectations
Youll want users to expect a great product and shopping experience on your site, and you need to deliver. Showing an excellent first impression and meeting the following expectations is crucial for websites with SEO-friendly domain names.
After choosing the perfect domain name that looks and sounds terrific, youll need to invest effort into branding and content marketing to piece it all together!
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If Possible Choose A Domain That Includes An Industry Keyword
Search engine algorithms have a complicated process for figuring out what a particular page is about. While no one understands all the details of how it works, we do know that the algorithms pay attention to what words are used on a few main parts of a webpage, and give weight to some parts more than others. The page URL is widely regarded as part of the page thats given a lot of weight in algorithm calculations.
A website that has its primary keyword right in the domain name can get an SEO boost because of it. But for that reason, a lot of the most obvious keywords to target in your industry will likely be takeneither by your competitors or by domain investors that charge a high price for them.
Also, going this route has some risks. You dont want the domain name you choose to seem spammy or be confusing to your visitors.
A few notes to consider here:
- If you already have an established brand, prioritizing your brand name when choosing a domain is usually smarter than going for a keyword.
- If you havent chosen your brand name yet, consider a brand name that includes a relevant keyword.
- To find a brand and domain name that is still available, add something unique about your brand to the name, like putting your name in front of the keyword, e.g. katesflowerdelivery.com. Or if your brand is local, adding your geographic location, e.g. charlotteflowerdelivery.com.
How To Pick A Good Domain Name
Youve decided to start your own business and thought of a perfect name for it. You might even consider copyrighting it. The next step is choosing a fitting domain to launch your services online.
Domain names can be many things: long, short, quirky, whatever fits. Logically, whatever you go for, the domain name you pick should complement your business or service.
Given the hundreds of thousands of websites in existence, the logical domain name might have been snapped up by someone else. When your first pick isnt available, you have to settle for a different name. This is the real struggle behind choosing a domain name and finding a viable alternative. If you need help choosing the best website names for any business, weve got some handy tips.
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Make It Easy To Spell And Remember
When it comes to picking domain names, keeping it short and sweet is one of the best practices, as it makes it easy to remember. Have you ever encountered a situation wherein you wanted to know more about a brand, but cant remember the name because its hard to remember? This is what you should avoid for your domain name. Sometimes, the simplest domain names are the most effective, and looking at famous examples makes this point even truer.
These famous examples include sites like Google , Apple , and Facebook . While these brands have been recognized for the services that they have provided, their catchy and memorable names sure have helped in making them more memorable.
Choose A Domain That Is Predictable To Type
Even if you nail brand-ability and pronounceability
If your domain name is not predictable to type, it will fail.
That means, no weird spellings.
Take this domain for instance:
Naymz
- Is it pronounceable? Just about.
- Is it easy to type? No.
Aside from avoiding hard-to-spell names, steer clear of domain names with double letters.
For example, a domain like ChessSetter.com is going to be prone to typos, and as a result, will inevitably lose traffic.
Another essential consideration is being friendly to type on mobile.
Accounting only for current levels of device usage, at least half of the people navigating to your domain are very likely using a mobile device to get there.
First, youve got to consider the dreaded auto-correct function.
And second, choose a domain that is friendly for use on mobile-device keyboards.
What do I mean by that?
Take Sean Sis website seo-hacker.com.
Its a short, catchy domain, but on mobile devices, it requires you to switch between keywords:
And that can cause mistypes, and a whole load of frustration.
So, when youre considering a domain name, first try it out on your mobile phone.
The result should be ridiculously easy to type domain, even for technophobes.
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Don’t Sweat Over Domain Age
The notion that the age of a domain is an important SEO ranking factor is a myth. When asked about domain registration length, Google’s Matt Cutts said, “To the best of my knowledge, no search engine has ever confirmed that they use length of registration as a factor in scoring. If a company is asserting that as a fact, that would be troubling. The primary reason to renew a domain would be if it’s your main domain, you plan to keep it for a while, or you’d prefer the convenience of renewing so that you don’t need to stress about your domain expiring.”
What does matter to Google are things like how long its been since your site was first crawled or since the first inbound link was recorded. Even so, though, Matt Cutts assures that “the difference between a domain that’s six months old and one year old is really not that big at all.”
Domain Extensions: What You Need To Know To Get Your Suffix Right
Theres no doubt about it
Dot com is the undisputed king of domain extensions.
Since the internet took off, dot com is how the worlds described internet businesses.
Despite the burgeoning number of domain extensions on the market, .com remains the most recognized of all top-level-domains.
Its a great TLD for SEO too.
As we already pointed out, a memorable name is critical to a domains success.
And, the same applies to a domains suffix .
Im sure youll agree with me that .com is memorable, but what about gTLDs like .io and .biz?
Not so much.
Cognitive fluency dictates we should opt for a domain extension thats easy to remember.
Memorability ensures users will find your website when they go looking for it.
Because of that, I suggest that if the .com you want is available you should snatch it with both hands.
Its the most common and popular, but also the most expensive:
If the .com is unavailable or too expensive, I recommend you choose the .net.
There is however, one exception to this rule:
Choose a ccTLD if you target a specific country.
Country code top level domains are the single strongest way you can show users your content is focussed towards a certain country.
When you use a ccTLD, Google assumes your site is relevant to the geographic area targeted by the ccTLD:
- .co.uk United Kingdom
- .fm Federated States of Micronesia
These are some of ccTLDs that have become popular with tech companies in recent years.
I hope Ive made it clear
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Do You Even Need A New Domain
One of the first questions a business should ask if whether or not the new domain or subdomain is needed? Can the new content or product live within a subfolder on the existing site? If the new product or service like a closely related cousin to the existing business, can it live on a subdomain? Think about the various customers coming to your site would they benefit from seeing this new content on the same site or a different site? Would it create a disjointed experience? All of these questions come down to what is useful for your users. The analysis done to answer these questions should focus on user experience.
From a search engine perspective, building your sites authority is an important factor in achieving organic success. PageRank is something that is core to Googles ever-changing ranking algorithm. PageRank has also gone through changes but generally speaking, it is a mathematical equation that helps Google ascertain the quality and quantity of links to a webpage. This evaluation helps determine a relative score of a pages importance and authority which is one of the many factors that Google considers when they are deciding which pages to rank over another. One way we can help increase PageRank of a site is by consolidating links under 1 domain rather than splitting those links across multiple domains.
Check If Its Not Trademarked Or Already Used
Before you move forward with a specific domain name, check to see if the name is available on social media sites, as well as if there are any trademarks already registered to the name.
To build your brand, its ideal to have the same name across your domain and social networks. This builds familiarity and makes it easy for your visitors, fans, and customers to find you around the web.
Avoid legal issues you should stay away from names that already have trademarks.
How can you quickly check social networks and trademarks for your potential domain name?
Its quite easy with a tool like Knowem. Search your potential domain name itll show you if its available throughout over 25 popular social networks and if there are any trademarks already registered to the name.
If its taken, consider tweaking it so that you can create original social media profiles.
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What Is Seo Domain Name
The notion that the age of a domain is an important SEO ranking factor is a myth. When asked about domain registration length, Googles Matt Cutts said, To the best of my knowledge, no search engine has ever confirmed that they use length of registration as a factor in scoring.
Considering this, what is a good domain name?
Follow These 5 Tips When Choosing A Domain Name
- Shoot For Something Brandable. Google values brands over just about anything else.
- Opt For The .com Extension.
- Keep It Short and Memorable.
Who is the best domain name registrar?
Best Domain Name Registrars Compared
- Namecheap. Namecheap is a solid choice for registering your domain name.
- Bluehost. Bluehost is well known as a web host, theyre typically regarded as one of the best hosts for those just getting started online.
Domain Age: Dont Sweat It
You dont have to lie about your age. A little myth busting for you: domain registration length isnt an important SEO consideration. Hooray! Whether you started your newfangled website two years or two days ago, dont sweat it. If you are filling it with quality content and have given it an SEO-conscious domain, youre on the right track for top performance points.
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Carefully Consider How Words Look Pushed Together In A Domain Name
The nature of domain names is that, if you use more than one word, they need to be squished together.
Dont just do this blindly, though. Ensure those words actually look good smooshed together and are easy to type.
And dont make gaffes like these, either:
- Teacherstalking.com Nope, this was not a hub for teacher stalkers. This was once the home base for the Teachers Association.
- Itscrap.com This site sold IT scrap parts. Not crap.
- Speedofart.com An unfortunately-named art site.
You Own A Local Business
If you own a local business, things can be a little bit different.
You should to go with keywords that people use to find your services or products and that help describe your business. At the same time, it wouldnt be such a bad idea to also consider targeting your location in your domain name unless you plan to move in the future.
This way when potential customers do an internet search for whichever service you provide in their local area, your website or brand name will face much better chances of coming up on their screens. And it will be easier for them to remember later.
As far as country-specific TLDs are concerned, those will only make sense if youre not a global company or your company wants to target customers in a specific country.
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