There are many considerations when you are choosing a domain name for your website. It’s probably one of the decisions that causes the most anxiety when getting your business online. While choosing domain names for improving SEO has less impact now than it used to, it’s still an important factor in enabling the success of your website.
A number of years ago, a website’s domain name could have a huge impact on its rankings. Some companies bought domain names solely for ranking. Google caught on that many of these sites ranked well, but lacked valuable content. Eventually, Google made it more difficult for companies that attempted to improve their rankings and augmenting their SEO with weak websites that used Exact Match Domains. While choosing domain names for improving SEO has less impact now than it used to, it’s still an important factor in enabling the success of your website. When choosing a domain name you should keep in mind how the name could impact your SEO.
Let’s explore how domain names affect your SEO strategy.
Even though a domain name may not contribute to your rankings like it once did, they can provide:
- Higher clickthrough rates
- More trust
- More attention in the search engine results pages
- More brand potential
If your business is new, you are still in the early stages of becoming a brand. Well-known brands don’t have to worry about including keywords in their domain name. For example, Adidas doesn’t have to include “sneakers” or “athletic shoes” in its domain name. Their brand is recognizable on its own.
Take for example a small shoe company, using their name alone (especially if the word “shoes” doesn’t appear in the name) may not be enough to improve ranking. If the business specialize in kids shoes, it’s wise to include that in the domain name.
Selecting the Right Domain Name
When your choosing domain names for improving SEO don’t worry about using concatenated names, words that run together. Search engines have no difficulty parsing domain names like americanexpress.com for example. Hyphens can be used and may improve how well your domain name is understood. Mensexchange vs. mens-exchange, they could be two very different websites! No more than two hyphens per domain name is a good guideline.
Perhaps you’re having difficulty finding a domain name that incorporates keywords, use this domain name generator for ideas. By selecting words available domains are generated for you.
Using keywords may not have the same impact on ranking as a few years ago, but it’s what makes your online presence uniquely yours. Having a partial match domain name encourages you to have high quality content and the best SEP practices. Having those elements can help you rank better in search engine results.