What’s in a domain name ? When it comes to SEO , it can be a lot more than you think. Your domain name defines who you are, what services you provide, and how you appear in the marketplace. Depending on the name you choose to register, your online presence can appear more or less friendly to curious visitors. Today, global competition to rank for a good domain is becoming increasingly intense: global SEO spending has jumped to $80 billion in 2021. Ranking high in SEO is more important than ever, especially when it comes to your domain name. Domain SEO affects almost everything that is published on your websites – your content , your landing pages , and even your products . Understanding exactly how your domain name affects page rank and web traffic is oman b2b leads
critical to your brand’s success. Let’s cover the basics of domain SEO, starting with its actual definition.
Contents hide
1 What is Domain SEO?
2 Does a domain name matter for SEO?
3 Steps to Choose an SEO Friendly Domain Name
3.1 Choose the right keywords
3.2 Choose a short domain name
3.3 Keep your domain name simple
3.4 Choose a reliable domain extension
4 Conducting SEO analysis of competitors' domain names
5 How to Improve Your Domain Name SEO
5.1 Create valuable content
5.2 Backlinks to the original domain
5.3 Increasing the level of domain name branding
6 Examples of SEO-Friendly Domain Names
7 Do I need to change my domain name for SEO?
8 Domain SEO Tools to Create a Winning Strategy
8.1 Domain name
8.2 Tools to increase domain authority
8.3 Domain Monitoring Tools
9 Putting Domain SEO into Practice
9.1 Related publications:
What is Domain SEO?
Domain SEO is the practice of optimizing your domains to make them more accessible to visitors and search engines . It involves choosing a simple phrase, an additional subdomain, and a top-level domain (TLD) to create the perfect web identity. Contrary to popular belief, domain SEO is different from web page or URL SEO:
Web page SEO involves optimizing digital web content , including copy, images , and related buttons.
URL SEO focuses on optimizing title tags, link anchor text, and elements of the actual web address.
Domain SEO is only aimed at optimizing the name of the domain you have registered.
Domain name SEO is best used as a complementary strategy to other SEO efforts , including on-page , off-page, and technical approaches. The more time you spend creating a streamlined, polished domain name, the easier it will be to advance other SEO strategies .
Does a domain name matter for SEO?
Domain name length, keywords , and extensions are all critical components of an SEO strategy. A strong, focused, and simple domain name will attract more traffic and interest from people and search engines. You might be tempted to assume that domain names are less important than other SEO elements. However, ta or freeshippingforlife.biz, for example. Neither of these domains inspires much trust. In fact, you may be more likely to think that these addresses are scams simply because of their names. Customers know this, and so do search engines .
Steps to Choose an SEO Friendly Domain Name
The best way to choose your next domain name for an SEO company is to keep keywords in mind, consider shorter lengths, and focus on simple or abbreviated terms. While you may not find yourself on the first page of Google overnight, you will base your domain on best practices from the start and reap the benefits in the end.
Choose the right keywords
The importance of using keywords in a domain has changed over the years. Keywords were once a staple of search indexing on sites like Google, and were used by hundreds of thousands of e-commerce brands in the early 2000s. Today, keywords continue to play a role in domain SEO — albeit in a reduced context. These days, domains don’t need keywords written into their names to get a boost in search engines . However, it’s not always a bad idea to add a few terms to provide clarity around your brand. Luxury clothing brand Giulio Fashion uses a keyword in its domain name, giuliofashion.com, without seeming spammy or clunky. Giulio’s company is complemented well by the addition of “Fashion,” setting expectations and helping searchers find what they’re looking for. Sabo Skirt (saboskirt.com) is another example of a brand adding keywords to boost relevancy. Remember, a great domain name doesn’t have to be entirely focused on keywords. Try to choose a domain name with one or two keywords , or express your brand idea with a short acronym.
Choose a short domain name
The actual length of your domain name does not affect its ranking in search engines, particularly Google. However, it can and will have a significant impact on customer recall. Research shows that the average domain length is just 13 characters. For the world's 500 most popular websites, that number drops to seven characters.
Either way, consider creating a domain name that will hold its own without overwhelming your audience . Remember: the shorter the domain name, the more valuable it is.
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Keep your domain name simple
Wharton Dean of Entrepreneurship Carl Ulrich conducted an intensive study that measured empirical data on online domains, including their market performance . The study found that simple, straightforward naming schemes were the most effective:
For every character in a domain name beyond the seventh, traffic decreases by 2%.
Less complex addresses without hyphens can help avoid traffic fines .
Repetition of vowels and consonants corresponds to the worst rank.
The takeaway for entrepreneurs? The simpler your domain name, the better it will perform.
Choose a reliable domain extension
Without a doubt, the .com TLD is perhaps the most coveted of them all. It is currently the most trusted domain extension in the world, and is 33% more memorable than any other TLD. While using a .com TLD itself will not provide any search engine benefits, it will prove your credibility to customers, which will organically boost your rankings. All is not lost if you don’t have access to a .com TLD. Extensions like .co continue to gain audience trust, as do .us and .net. According to research from Growth Badger, it’s best to avoid generic top-level domains (gTLDs) that were introduced after 2015, including .frogans, .moda, .olayan, and other less marketable terms .
Conducting SEO analysis of competitors' domain names
Before you purchase an SEO-friendly domain name, you may want to check out the domains used by your biggest competitors. Competitor domain name analysis allows you to better understand the market position, ranking, and perception of your competitors’ domains. You can use this analysis to inform your decisions before purchasing a domain name. Unlike a site audit or content assessment , all you need to conduct an SEO competitor domain name analysis is a set of simple questions. By asking these questions, you can analyze your competitors’ domain name decisions and understand how this has potentially impacted their online rankings. You can use this knowledge to select keywords, phrases, gTLDs, and domain lengths that are even better than those your competitors are using .
