Does Domain Name Affect SEO? Guide to Domain Names

Does Domain Name Affect SEO?

Yes, it does. The domain name has a great effect on SEO, but in ways that you may not think.

In the early stages of Google and SEO, choosing the right domain with the right keywords would almost guarantee you first page rankings on Google, but now you have be a little bit more strategic about choosing the right domain name for optimal SEO rankings.

Choosing the exact or the right domain name matters a lot to your business. It is a vital part of your marketing strategies followed for your business promotion.

The domain name should fit or match your business branding without a slight mismatch. Also, a complicated domain name is not advisable for your business growth.

Are you ready to start a new website?

If yes, choosing the perfect domain name is a vital decision you make.

Here is a guide to domain names for SEO:

Does a Domain Name Matter for SEO?

Your foremost aim is to make people recognize your website, brand, and business undeniably if you consider your domain name alone. What is the benefit of an SEO-optimized domain name?

Yes, an SEO optimized domain gives a clear understanding of the website, such as its services and products offered to the public. Your domain name has more chances to be clicked by the customers among the sea of options in the search engine list.

Yet another benefit is that the right audience is met by the right domain name that you choose. Also, your SEO rankings can improve with a good domain name.

Impact of Domain Names On SEO and Search Rankings

As we already discussed above, the domain name has a massive impact on SEO and search rankings. What are the two ways that domain can impact your business? The following are the two ways found, such as Branding and Keywords.

Branding

Your brand and domain name should match each other without a slight error. This step is important because the customers will recognize your business online in a facile way. Your business identity is possible by the customers by matching the brand name with the domain.

Yet another task is to choose the business name for the purpose. You shall make use of the existing business name in your domain name. Choosing an SEO-friendly domain name is vital to you.

Why branding is vital for your business?

The more you show your brand name in the search engines, the more likely your website is going to get clicks from the search engines . A strong online brand enhances customers’ interest more to click the website in the search engine.

Excellent branding makes the customer revisit your website, and so your website’s trust and credibility are increased. As a result, your website ranking gets improved on Google search.

SEO specialists always emphasize online business owners use their brand names as their domain names to achieve the goals because:

It will increase your company’s brand awareness
Increases the click through rate to your website
Will increase your traffic
Increases your company’s trust on the search engines

Keyword Domains

Asides from the above branding task, you may need to go further in picking a domain name that has keywords. When we say keywords here, it should coincide with your business. For example, if you are a painter, you shall go for an exclusive domain name like sunshinepainters.com.

What are the Possible Domain Names You Can Go Ahead With?

Just imagine your name is Jack, and you have a furniture shop in Houston, Texas. You might have decided to hire a web design company in Houston and get a website for your business, and hence you show interest in choosing a domain name.

Yes, you have a goal to reach plenty of customers across the globe to market your business. So, you shall select the following domain names for your website. The following domain name options are:

First, we shall see about the brand domain name for your better understanding. An bad example for a branded domain name would be Jackshoptexas.com.

In the above example, the domain name does not give the customer any clue about your business or service.

So, what is the use of this domain name? So, your domain name should give many details about the business you do and the service you offer to the customers.

So, you shall concentrate a lot on promoting your brand. In short, a customer who reads your domain name has to get a clear picture of your business.

The domain name should link your brand and service each other. So, your domain name should tell them that you are doing a furniture business in Texas. The customer has to connect the domain name with the service or product you are involved in at the moment they read.

This can be a great example for a domain name that targets both Texas, your brand, and service: jacksfurnituretx.com.

What Is the Local+Service Domain?

The best example of the above domain category is TexasFurnitureStore.com. With this example, you explain to the search engines that your a furniture store in Texas which makes it better for search engines to know what your website is about a little bit more.

It also gives an exact answer about your location. The best advice for business owners who want to start a website is to consider lesser domain extension. For example, if you own a furniture store in Houston, Texas, you don’t want your domain name looking like this:

Furniturestorehoustontexas.com

Instead, you can have it looking like this:

furniturestorehtx.com

furniturestorehouston.com

What is the use of the right domain name? The right domain name provides the following:

The brand potential is increased
Higher click through rate
Increased trust

Don’t try to include all kinds of keywords to your domain as this can be harmful in the long run. You want your domain name to be memorable too.

What About Adding a Hyphen In The Domain Name?

Does adding a hyphen in your domain name affect SEO? Yes, many businesses use hyphens if they have two words in the domain. This is to improve the readability feature of the customers.

How does it affect SEO? Using hyphens decreases the readability and fluency of domain name in the search engines eyes. Also, it could look spammy in Google’s eyes as many spammers use hyphens to create duplicate versions of an authorized website.

Search Engines do not necessarily recognize or rank your website due to the hyphen in the domain name, and hence it may put off.

So, do not use hyphens when you create a domain name. When you choose a domain name, you should focus on the following:

It is better to avoid exact domain names or match domains
Avoid inexactness
Select a domain name that is not difficult to remember but an easy one
Make a domain name that is easy to remember

Domain Name Tips

Here are some best practices for choosing the best domain name:

1. Memorable domain name

Always strive best domain name that is easy to remember, write and pronounce.

Pick a domain name that is memorable and remembered by others in their mind. Word-of-mouth and top-of-mind marketing is vital for your website’s success. So, your domain name has to be referred by customers to others. If so, it is easy for humans and simple for search engines.

2. Industry related broad keywords

Match your domain name with keywords that are related to your business. A friendly and catchy title entices the customers to feel it. You should do deep research before you finalize the domain name with keywords. Consult an expert or an SEO specialist for the task to reap a lot of benefits later on.

3. Top-level domains

For attracting more traffic, you should aim to buy a .com domain. In case if it is not available, you shall go for .net. , or .co. You shall also remember that the .biz, .info domains do not attract good traffic to your domains.

The reason you should aim for .com domains is because it is highly trusted and it will more likely end up in more clicks and traffic to your website.

4. Domain age

When it comes to domain age, many people think that domain age is a major ranking factor in SEO. Domain age alone is not a good measure to consider domain age. Instead, you should consider the following factors:

The site’s first crawl after establishing
Recording the first inbound link.

Final Thoughts

The above details and suggestions give you an answer to the question “does domain name affect SEO?”. Now, you have understood how a domain name impacts the SEO efforts you put in.

Stand in the shoes of a customer when you create a domain name. A well-planned domain name is a base for a quality website that you dreamt about.