Does your domain name matter for SEO?

Like many aspects of SEO, a website's domain name can affect its SEO. Spammers used to create elaborate domain names explicitly detailing their strategies, but this no longer works.

Domain names don't necessarily have a severe impact on SEO by themselves, but they can be invaluable in combination with other SEO efforts.

Put Customers First

When considering what your domain name should be, customers are everything. If you create a name intended to please Google, you're more likely to damage your website instead. Google cares about pleasing customers, and so should you.

Ultimately, your domain name should meet these criteria, remaining:

• Memorable and easy to read
• Relevant
• Unique
• Authoritative
• Not spammy

The more your domain name appeals to the people you're targeting, the higher chance you'll have of drawing them in.

Try Not to Use Generic Names

Using your company name for a domain name may seem like a good way to expand brand awareness and make your domain unique, but you can benefit from using an exact match domain name. Exact match domains include phrases that people are actually likely to search, including products and services that you offer. A domain name that includes these products, such as "securitysystems.com" can rank higher than brand name domains like "[generic company name]security.com." As a result, Google is more likely to rank the domain name that includes relevant search terms over competitors with generic names.

Use Google-Friendly Extensions

Most websites use .com, .net, or .org, or specific country extensions such as .co.uk, but many others might use rarer ones like .info, .biz, and .name, which Google doesn't like. Keep your extension common if you want to rank higher.

General Rules to Follow

There are certain other rules you can follow when choosing your domain name, including:

• Keep the name short, ideally fewer than 15 characters
• One word is great, two words are acceptable, but anything beyond that is potentially bad for your website
• Avoid hyphens except when creating subpages such as "domainname.com/services-page"
• Maintain correct spellings
• Make the domain unique so it stands out
• Try not to use numbers or words that have multiple variations

With these tips in mind, you can develop a domain name that effectively attracts ideal customers while keeping you above the competition.