Select a Domain Name That Boosts SEO
It’s an SEO fact that your domain name will either assist with SEO or make life a lot harder!
There’s basically two ways to select a domain name. You can either choose the domain name first and use it as your company name or vice versa. Most companies prefer to retain their brand name in their URL. This method is fine if you have a big budget for SEO.
Many start-up companies select their URL first and then name their company. This is because of the non availability of the perfect URL.
Your chosen website URL (domain name) is your online identity. It will be visible to millions of internet users. It impacts your company image, website SEO and future business endeavors. Therefore before you go ahead a buy your chosen domain name, you should consider these factors.
If you want to increase your website SEO, I have written you these tips that will help you buy like a pro!
1. Choose a Keyword Rich Domain Name:
A keyword rich URL will help increase ranking in the search engine results pages otherwise known as SERPS. If the desired keyword rich URL has already been taken, you can add a prefix or a suffix to the keyword. It’s a fact that a domain name which contains a combination of keywords helps in drawing more traffic to the website.
2. Include Hyphens in the Domain Name:
There is mixed opinions on this point. What is important to remember is that search engines can still distinguish between hyphenated keywords just the same as un-hyphenated ones.
There is however one pitfall in using hyphens in the domain name. Your website visitor can land on the competitor’s website if they forget to add the hyphens. Another slight issue is that some people do not know what a hyphen is and so this can create an issue when telling someone your domain name over the phone.
3. Select A Top Level Domain Name:
A domain name should be selected based on the geographical location of the customers. If your website caters to the customers at a global level, a dot-com domain is suitable for you. If the dot-com domain is not available, you can choose between dot-net and dot-org. If your organization is based in United Kingdom, your top level domain should be dot-co-dot-uk.
4. Purchase a New Domain Name:
A domain name should be researched well before purchasing. It is an important to get a domain name related to your chosen business or niche.
Tips for purchasing a new domain name:
a. The name should be easy to spell and remember.
b. Domain names are inexpensive. You can register multiple keywords rich domain names and redirect them to the main domain.
c. Make sure that you are not infringing another company’s brand name.
d. If your company belongs to a particular region, you could consider choosing a geo specific URL. This helps in capturing the target audience. An example of a geo specific domain is www.manchestersolicitor.co.uk or www.pizzashopinnewyork.com
5. Purchase an Aged Domain Name:
If you are buying an already established domain name you should always check the background first.
Aged domains can either give your website an SEO advantage, or on the other-hand it could be a dead weight.
Tips for purchasing an aged URL:
a. Check the actual domain age. This will give you an idea of how old the domain is. Google gives a lot of importance to aged domains in search results pages. Your chances of ranking well improve with the age of the domain name. To check the age simply search in Google for a ‘whois’ tool. Enter the domain name, view the ‘whois’ record and within this document it will state when the domain name was first registered.
b. Note the page rank of the aged domain. Page Rank is Google’s way of advising the world how relevant and important the website is. It is calculated using a multitude of factors which include relevant backlinks from other similar themed sites with high Page Ranks.
c. Calculate the number of backlinks of the aged domain. An aged domain should have a few hundred backlinks. If the backlinks are not sufficient or are of poor quality, move on to purchasing another aged domain or just buy a new one and start from stratch.
Final Words..
My final words of advice is that a good domain name should not exceed 67 characters.
Register your domain with GoDaddy. They are the longest running registry and have a fantastic customer service centre.
It helps significantly with SEO if you also register the domain name for as many years as possible, rather than one year. This is picked up by search engines and proves that your site is here to stay and you have long term commitments to providing quality content. As a result the search engines will rank your site better.
Finally, its important to host your website on a Host provider that also has a reliable reputation and provides quick server speeds. I recommend Hostgator, especially for hosting WordPress Blogs.
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