How to Choose a Domain Name for SEO

Choosing a domain name for your business can be an exciting process. However, your choice of domain name can have a huge effect on how successful your new website’s going to be in terms of SEO. That’s why you’ll want to make sure you get it right straight away. And in order to help you out, we’ve come up with 7 amazing SEO tips for choosing a domain name so make sure you read on.

Don’t go for an exact match domain name

When choosing your domain, chances are you’ll be tempted to use an exact-match domain. This means you’ll want to choose a domain name that includes your keywords. Such domain names are usually referred to keyword domains. Let’s say you’re selling cheap used cars – www.cheapusedcars.com might seem like the right option but it’s always recommended that you go for something other than a keyword domain. Why? Well, in 2012, experts at Google realized that many websites are trying to improve their SEO rating by choosing a domain that matches their keywords. This resulted in Google dropping the Exact Match Domain Update and thus crushed all of these keyword domain websites. Therefore, if you’re starting a website, make sure you don’t use a keyword domain and choose something else instead.

Try to include your brand name

Your brand name is how your customers are going to distinguish you from your competitors which makes it a good enough reason to include it in your domain name. Another great reason to include your brand name into your domain is the fact that much of your website traffic is going to come from navigational search. And what is navigation search? Basically, this is a type of search query where a user is specifically trying to find your website. For example, if your company’s name is “Jacob Cars”, users might go for all kinds of navigational queries such as “jacob cars”, “jacobcars” and “jacob car” in order to reach your website. And if you include your brand name into your domain, all of these queries will yield the right website.

Remember that you can’t use trademarked domains

Depending on what your business does, you might be tempted to use another organization’s name in your domain. For example, if your company offers WordPress hosting, you need to know that you can’t use the word “wordpress” in your domain. This is the case because organizations such as WordPress trademark their name and prohibit other business from using it. Luckily, there are always some alternatives that can work like a charm as well. In this particular case, instead of using the word “wordpress” in your domain, you might want to go for “wp” which is guaranteed to do the trick as well. So, no matter what trademarked words you need to use, do a little research and come up something else that will also do the trick.

Avoid using hyphenated domains

There are so many great domain names that have already been booked. Therefore, it may seem convenient to add an extra hyphen in order to be able to use a domain you fancy. Still, this is always the best idea. For example, a domain name “face-book” may be available but since it’s too similar to “facebook,” it only looks spammy which definitely isn’t something you should aim at. And when it comes to SEO, using hyphens also isn’t a good idea. Even though SEO isn’t an exact science, experts advise against using hyphens in your domain name. Many “spammers” go for spamming domain names, something like “keyword-keyword-keyword.tld.” So, unless you want to be confused for a spammer, try to design your domain name without using a hyphen.

Choose the right TLD

Another important thing to consider when choosing your domain name is TLD. In order to make the most off of your SEO efforts, you should always aim at choosing a popular TLD such as .com or .org. On the other hand, if you’re trying to run an SEO-conscious website, choosing a low-quality TLD is never a good idea. Even though it might be both cheaper and easier for you to use one of these when naming your domain, bear in mind that these won’t help you achieve the amount of traffic you want. This is because low-quality TLDs are often associated with spammy behavior.

Buy a domain name from professionals

Turning to professionals you can buy a domain name from in your own country (for example, buying a domain name in Australia) is never a bad idea.  Experts at these companies should be able to help you make the process of registering or transferring your domain name as easy as possible. If you turn to one of these companies, all you’ll have to do is perform a quick search, answer a couple of questions and you’ll have your new domain name in no time. Another reason why we recommend buying a domain name from professionals is the fact that, this way, you won’t have to worry about any hidden costs. All you have to do is a take a closer look at the company’s domain pricing and you’ll know exactly how much your new domain name is going to cost you.

Don’t sweat over domain age

Some people believe that domain age is an important factor for SEO. Still, experts say this is only a myth since no search engine has ever confirmed that they consider the age of a domain when as a factor in ranking. This means you don’t have to worry about the age of domain you want to buy. What does matter to Google to some degree is how old your website is old. Still, according to experts, there’s almost no difference regarding Google between a domain that’s six months old and a domain that’s one year old. So, instead of worrying how old your domain is, you should put more effort into making your website more mobile-friendly and easy to use.

Follow these seven tips and you should be able to come up with a perfect SEO-friendly name for your website. Of course, can’t just choose an SEO-friendly domain name and wait for your Google ranking to improve. Instead, what you need to do is keep investing further in your SEO efforts in order to see your Google ranking improve.

About the Author

Raul Harman is a B.Sc. in Innovative entrepreneurship and has a lot to say about innovations in all aspects of digital technology and online marketing.

While he’s not enjoying travel, football and great food, you can find him on Technivorz.com.