Let’s talk domain names
Selecting a domain name is pretty confusing these days isn’t it? Seen those options thrown out to you while regsitering a domain at godaddy?
They give you 101 additional options to chose from apart from your primary selection. Many end up buying what they really don’t need. Selecting a domain itself is tedious, when all the hot-shot domain names are already taken and you have to compromise with all those weird combination domains.
Well, actually things are not that bad – though it looks that way. Even though the top domains like (cashonline.com) are taken, you can still manage to get cool domains. And that too if chosen wisely, will give you the possibility to rank higher on SERPS than the top domains .
Sounds just too much? Ok Listen well.
1. Select a domain with the targeted keywords in it.
Assuming that you know which niche you are targeting, pick up hot keywords in this category using a good keyword locator software(or free online tools). While selecting from the numerous options in selecting a domain name, select the one with the closest resemblance to your keyword. For example – If your keyword is “Blogging tips”, select “Coolbloggingtips” or “bloggingtips4u” or “tipsforblogging” etc.
2. Select a Top Level domain name
Yet another basic point – top level domain names(.com, .net, .org, .edu) have higher authority while .info domain names are spam. Or rather,a majority of surfers are believed to consider TLD’s as higher authority ones, so prefer them to the .ws,.info ones.
3. Register domain names for a longer period
Google thinks that a domain name registered for a loner period will have more authority as it’s not registered for a throw-away purpose. So extend those registration periods to 10 or 15 years, remember it saves you on the prices too.
4. Is it a brand or Google ranks?
I think many will disagree with me on the first point. When there is huge traffic to Johnchow.com than bloggingtips.com then what’s in the keyword? True.
Before selecting a domain, you should have a clear idea as to whether it’s going to be branded or not?
If it’s a brand that you are going to promote with your domain, like “yourname.com”, then the first point is irrelevant.
In which case ou should look into promoting your brand by other methods like offline promotions. If it’s traffic from Google tha you prefer, then including a keyword in your domain will be a better idea.
5. Brands unheard yet popular
Now, there is a third category of domains. Domains which are brands but does not do offline promotions but still get their traffic from Google. This is about aggresive promotion and link building. When you have a domain with yourname.com provided you have great content optimized for the targeted keywords, then simply getting a bunch of quality incoming links can take you higher on the SERPS. But had you a domain name with keywords in it, you wouldn’t have had to worry about incoming links much.
6. Select short domain names
A very basic idea here. Long domains look like spam, so make it sweet short and meaningful.
7. Hyphens for help
If you have trouble finding combinations that makes any sense, use hyphens to separate keywords. Example – basic-blogging-tips.com makes sense that basicbloggingtips.com right?
8. Weird is beautiful
There is yet another breed of websites who are brilliant! They use longer, non-recalable domain names just for the sake of getting linked. They have high quality content, that you can’t resist to link. Imagine if Darren’s website was called www.bloggerblogblogger.com while having the same contents as nof now, he would’ve got more incoming links than what he enjoys now.
Any disagreements? Comment on..
Written by Mani Karthik from Daily SEO BlogPosted on September 19th, 2007 and filed under Blogging
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18 Responses to “Let’s talk domain names”
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I’m not sure http://www.bloggerblogblogger.com is the best example of weird domain names. I kind of doubt it would be more successful than problogger as well but to each their own. It seems longer for the sake of longness. It doesn’t really add anything. For me del.icio.us and the like are still the weirdest of domain names.
I totally agree with your first point. Hence my new domain name seen on my blog.
It is obvious what keywords I will be targeting with this and I think I might have a fair chance at landing on the big G’s first page.
Also I found a trend in those domain names that have a double oo in it, such as Google, Squidoo, Moolah, etc. Not sure, why but these sites seem to do well because of the doubling up.
Monika
Branding in essential these days. A while ago I made the mistake of basing a website on a long domain name with dashes, and I’ve regretted it since. Clever, short and simple domains are definately key to success!
Eh, decent points, but I was curious to whom you go to to register a top level tld for 15 years? For ICANN regulated domains, it’s usually 10 years (.com) Some companies are offering what they call longer registrations, but check the whois, it’s usually just prepaying for them to automatically renew your name for you.
I have never heard of google putting more weight on domains with longer registration periods. To be honest I think it sounds very unlikely. Google does give more weight to sites which have been on the web a lot longer but I dont think they give extra weight to those who have registered their domain a bit longer. If that was the case everyone would be extending their domain registration periods.
If anything, I would reccomend people not to register their domain too far into the future because you never know, you might have sold it by then (make sure you have auto renewal on though).
Hi folks, this may be familiar to some and it’s made for some intersting debate; Google recently filed United States Patent Application 20050071741. As part of that patent application, Google made apparent its efforts to wipe out search engine spam, stating:
‘Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith.”
One can surmise from this statement that domains registered for longer periods give the indication (true or not), that their owner is legitimate. Based on the patent, Google is apparently attempting to use a domain’s length of registration when indexing and ranking a Web site for inclusion in their organic search results. If nothing else, it’s a great sales pitch for domain registrars.
Wow. I had honestly never read this before (sorry for doubting you Mani!)
I think it’s a bit of an unfair rule to be honest. I have simply autorenewed my domains for years – should I be punished for it?
Spammers aren’t stupid – they will simply register their domains for longer.
I can vouch for using hyphens in a domain. Google says they don’t read words they read strings of letters, so I can’t imagine how a hyphen could hurt you.
I’ve also read the long your register your domain for the better. Reminds me to get off my butt, pony up, and extend those registrations.
Yeah, I don’t think you should be punished for not registering your domain for a long period of time. I am surprised they can even find that out.
Great list. I would agree with the other comments, branding is extremely important. Like you mentioned, weird is beautiful. Just go through the dictionary and start to mix up some words. If you really look at some popular websites like google, you try to wonder how they got the name, haha.
These are some solid points. Indeed, domains names are becoming more and more important in the branding process. I’m particularly fond of how some start-ups have used country domains to help spell their name — i.e. del.icio.us.
A little while back, I wrote a post on how, if you can’t the dot com that you want, you should look to other domains that might be used in spelling your site’s name. Here’s a list of country domains that might used to this effect: http://blog.searchanyway.com/2007/03/anyone_who_has_ever_gone.html
great points and great article, although it is a bit unfair to give favour to longer registered domains you can understand why it is that way. i think if possible .com is the way to go as most casual browsers tend to assume everything is .com, but i dont think the name matters too much as long as its short and memorbale
I think a good name is worth it. I disagree with you about the dash domains names. They may be good for search traffic, but ordinary users who are interested in the site don’t like dashes and won’t type them in for the most part.
I gain a lot of insight watching my nieces and my wife surf the net. They’re not technical at all and they behave like Jane User.
why do you think that .info domain names are spam?
Moreover, .info is a top level domain name, unlike .co.uk, which is second level domain name.
Glad that the topic gave way to a good debate.
Kevin, It’s “believed” that Google gives more weightage to domains (TLD’s) that are registered for a longer time. Reason – Trust.Chuck’s explanation is good enough to clear the point. Meanwhile, I don’t think Google punishes anyone for not having registerd for a longer time period. Just that if some one else have, they are favoured by G. So if you want the advantage, you better pull up your socks and extend the registration period.
As far as dashes are concerned, I agree with you Louis. They are great for search traffic, but one may not recall it as it should be.
Tom’s comment on domain branding is really interesting. To add to the fun,ever wondered what’s with the web 2.0 thing and domain names? Omit those vowels and you got a fresh new 2.0 style domain. Flickr? Jaxtr?
Cheers to all the commenters, really appreciate them.
Thanks very much for the 2.0 tips, Mani
about point 3. where can You register a domain for 10-15 years? I havent noticed registrat that can do it for omre than 6 years. Mayby it’s matter for google when it’s a year or 2 but are You sure that 15 years would help?