The most important decision when creating a website is likely to be the domain name. When the time comes to make this selection, there are two schools of thought. The first is creating a domain that comes close to a popular search term people use to find a companies product or service. The opposing concept is to brand a company by creating a domain name that is company specific. This article talks to both approaches and weighs the benefits of each.
For example, a hypothetical company called Creature Feature offers pet grooming in Seattle. A customer searching for this service might use different search terms but let's say that, through keyword research we find that 'Seattle pet groomer" is a typical search. Do we create a matching domain or do we want to create a customer brand? If we not restricted to a domain name, perhaps a good matching name would be seattlepetgroomer.com. Since this domain names matches a potential client's target search they will likely see an initial jump in page position over a non-matching domain since the search engines give relevance to the URL. This benefit can often be short-term. This is because a URL is only one factor the search engines consider. A site's age, for example, has a large impact. So as a non-matching site's age grows, they may rank similarly .
There are also downsides to a keyword matched domain. They certainly are limited to the audience they target. People search for products and services in vastly different ways, so a matched domain may not provide the benefit expected. In addition, a customer may wish to create a brand and, with an matching domain, that isn't possible. "A matching domain name can also be viewed as a negative or phishing attempt," says Chloe Gimblette of a NJ Web Design Company. "This is due to many advertisement related websites using domains of this type."
The other way to go is with a brand or company name as the domain decision. This typically means using the company name as the domain name. This can create a brand association with your customers in the long-term. Think of common name brand products or services. Often their names are meaningless from a product perspective. The name Ford, for example, is known for cars and trucks but has nothing to do with them by name alone. Also, a typical SEO approach is to use keywords and phrases as internal slugs so that their URL still caters to the search engines. An address like mystore.com/what-I-sell can both retain a brand and make the URL search engine friendly.
I think most people would want to use a branded name as a domain but often choose a matching name to help their on-line visibility. A site will certainly see a positive gain in the search results from doing so. While these gains might be short-lived due to other search factors, it's evident it helps to some degree. Customer will also find that the obvious domain names are already taken and be forced to create a branded name or risk a silly URL as a result. Ultimately, the domain name should fit a customers needs regardless of which approach.
For example, a hypothetical company called Creature Feature offers pet grooming in Seattle. A customer searching for this service might use different search terms but let's say that, through keyword research we find that 'Seattle pet groomer" is a typical search. Do we create a matching domain or do we want to create a customer brand? If we not restricted to a domain name, perhaps a good matching name would be seattlepetgroomer.com. Since this domain names matches a potential client's target search they will likely see an initial jump in page position over a non-matching domain since the search engines give relevance to the URL. This benefit can often be short-term. This is because a URL is only one factor the search engines consider. A site's age, for example, has a large impact. So as a non-matching site's age grows, they may rank similarly .
There are also downsides to a keyword matched domain. They certainly are limited to the audience they target. People search for products and services in vastly different ways, so a matched domain may not provide the benefit expected. In addition, a customer may wish to create a brand and, with an matching domain, that isn't possible. "A matching domain name can also be viewed as a negative or phishing attempt," says Chloe Gimblette of a NJ Web Design Company. "This is due to many advertisement related websites using domains of this type."
The other way to go is with a brand or company name as the domain decision. This typically means using the company name as the domain name. This can create a brand association with your customers in the long-term. Think of common name brand products or services. Often their names are meaningless from a product perspective. The name Ford, for example, is known for cars and trucks but has nothing to do with them by name alone. Also, a typical SEO approach is to use keywords and phrases as internal slugs so that their URL still caters to the search engines. An address like mystore.com/what-I-sell can both retain a brand and make the URL search engine friendly.
I think most people would want to use a branded name as a domain but often choose a matching name to help their on-line visibility. A site will certainly see a positive gain in the search results from doing so. While these gains might be short-lived due to other search factors, it's evident it helps to some degree. Customer will also find that the obvious domain names are already taken and be forced to create a branded name or risk a silly URL as a result. Ultimately, the domain name should fit a customers needs regardless of which approach.
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