Choosing a domain name

Browser address barWhen it comes to choosing a domain name, there are a number of things to consider. You want a name that is short, easy to remember, and relevant. You also want it to be something that can be easily typed into a browser. While including keywords in your domain carries weight with the search engines, and may give you an initial boost short-term in rankings, you don’t want it coming at the cost of building a brand for your business.

Unless you are an already established brand who can get away with just having their name as the domain, you ideally want to choose a domain that contains both your brand name, and a term related to your product or service. So for example, if I was a start-up, looking to establish myself in the business insurance industry, I’d choose something like xyzinsurance.com (xyz being the brand name), over something containing only keywords, such as insure-your-business.com. Having your brand in the domain name makes you unique, and is great for long-term recognition.

Including keywords in your domain name helps to establish trust with the search engines. It is also a good way to market yourself to someone who has only just heard of your domain name for the first time by helping them make the connection to what your website is about. This is good for start-ups who haven’t built their branding yet and are looking to establish themselves.

Another major benefit of having keywords is they also act as good anchor text (the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink) for when other sites link back to your site using only your domain name. The actual text used for inbound links to your site is one of many ranking factors search engines such as Google take into account when determining your sites relevancy for a particular keyword, and is usually something you don’t have much control over.

Other tips:

  • It is best to get a .com, com.au (for Australian businesses), .net or .org domain since search engines tend to give less trust to others
  • Avoid hyphens if possible
  • Try to keep it less than 3 words

Having a good domain name for your website is a good first step in doing well in the search engine rankings.  Good domain names are becoming harder to come by, but with a bit of creativity and some luck you should be able to find a good domain name that suits you and/or your business.

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