It is important when you are creating a new website that you choose a good domain name because your choice of name can have a positive effect on your future search rankings!
I am going to highlight below the three ways which you can improve your rankings by selecting a good domain name!
1. Including a keyword(s) in your domain name
Your domain name is considered when the search engines decide where to rank your website in their search results page. If you include keywords, (i.e. the main area of your business) in your domain name then it can help you rank better in the search engines for that keyword, as it helps to promote your website for the chosen keyword
Need Proof?
Sainsbury’s have recently purchased www.SainsburysKitchenAppliances.co.uk and www.SainsburysWine.co.uk if you search for ‘Kitchen Appliances’ and ‘Wine’ in Google you will notice Sainsbury’s are the number 1 and 16 respectively in the search result.
2. Improve the quality of your incoming links
If you have a keyword in your domain name as mentioned in point 1, any incoming links to the domain will include your chosen keyword, as it is your domain name. So using the Sainsbury’s example above if I was to create a link to the website I would be including the keywords Kitchen Appliances and/or Wine in the link, this would help convince the search engines that the page is relevant for the relevant search terms. Yet all I have done is link through to their web address.
It’s a very clever way of getting people who only want to link to a web address of highlighting exactly what you do in the link without having to chase these people into changing the link text!
3. Register your domain for as long as possible!
When you are registering your domain name, register it for as long a period as possible! It will not cost you any more to sign up for a longer period, and it shows to the search engines that you are committed to the website and domain. Many ‘spammers’ who use ‘throw away’ domains will only purchase the domain for one year to minimise costs on a domain they do not plan on using for longer than 12 months. Therefore only registering a domain name for one year puts you in the same group as the ‘spammers’, which will have a negative affect on your website!
Caution
A few words of caution before you go of and research your perfect domain;
- Make the domain name easy to remember and do not use more than two hyphens (-).
- If you sell goods/services in many different areas try and find a keyword that can sum up the whole company, or you might find it difficult to expand the business in different areas.
- Read and then re-read your domain name, do not do what some unfortunate companies did and get a domain name that can be read differently, like The Therapist Finder’s website www.therapistfinder.co.uk (some people read this as ‘The Rapist Finder’) or a company called Pen Island www.penisland.com (who’s domain name appears to look like ‘Penis Land’)
In Summary
Think very long and hard about your domain name, it shouldn’t just be a quick purchase! A good domain name can dramatically help your business grow online. Use keywords, where appropriate, in your domain names and read and re-read your domain names, don’t get caught out with an embarrassing domain name!
Neil M Hancock is an e-Marketing Accounts Manager at Enigma Interactive, an award winning new media developer, specialising in web and multimedia development as well as offering a full e-Marketing service.
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