Search Engine Marketing Articles
Choosing a domain name
Your domain name (or URL) is the key to your website. It's the first place you start when creating a new site.
It forms your brand name (or includes an existing brand name).
This article will look at some of the issues surrounding your domain name.
Branding in your domain name
There are several schools of thought when it comes to choosing a domain name. Each has different benefits and pitfalls to it.
On one hand you can choose a domain name that is unique (eg, http://www.sellthosewidgets.com, http://www.google.com).
This has the same benefits as regular branding:
- Easier for the user to find you (your site is more likely to turn up number one for a search on your brand name).
- Easier for the user to remember your name (especially if it is a simple name).
- It's uniqueness helps your site stand out from your competition.
- You can promote it easier offline.
- But on the downside, the text that people use to link to you will not be keyword related.
It is believed that the text which people use to link to you can contribute to your ranking. This has to do with part of the algorithm Google uses to rank websites.
For example, it is thought that using the text "widget sales" when linking to a site will help increase the ranking of that site when people search for "widget sales" on Google.
This is because the PR algorithm is designed to bring up relevant results, so if someone else says that a site is about "widget sales", then it must be relevant to "widget sales".
This is an over-simplification and is merely conjecture - no-one really knows for sure (well, Google do - but they're not gonna tell us!).
At the end of the day, any influence link text and therefore your domain name has on your ranking will be minimal, if anything. It is far too easy a variable for people to manipulate.
But it has in the past led way for the use of keywords in domain names.
Keywords in your domain name
As was discussed above, there has been a case in the past for using keywords in your domain name (eg, www.dvd-sales.com).
The effect this has on your ranking is uncertain, but it does hold some other benefits.
Mainly, your users will know exactly what you are about as soon as they see your domain name.
There is also more chance of your users remembering you name as well.
It should be noted as although this is an advantage to branded domain names as well, it is only really relevant to those names that are short and / or easy to remember.
One point that should be noted with keyword domain names is - do you really want to limit your market? www.blue-widgets.com may be good for now, but what if you want to start selling green widgets?
The downside is that you will have more sites competing with you. If you run www.widgets.com, then everyone selling widgets will be rallying to get first place in the search engine results for the keyword "widgets".
This means that there is less chance that visitors will be able to find your site by searching for it using a search engine.
Don't over do it!
You can go to far when choosing your domain name. I realise most users don't notice it that much, but I really hate seeing domains that have 6 or 7 keywords stuffed in them. Especially the ones that have the keywords repeated!
It shows lack of originality and in my opinion - professionalism.
If you are going to choose a domain name, as a rule of thumb it should be no longer the 3 words long and be easy to remember (and type in!). If it doesn't fit on your business card, then it is no good!
Compromise
Ideally, you should find a good combination in your domain name that combines both keywords and branding.
For example, www.bobs-widgets.com is nice and generic. It leaves your domain open for new products, is easy to remember and users will be able to search for it easy (they search for "bobs widgets" and you will be number one).
It also creates a good identity for your site, which you can use to market your site.
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