I was in a discussion with a new client reaching out for our website designing services in Delhi. The discussion stretched to finalizing a domain name and a domain extension for their business. But, the client was not very sure about which domain name and domain extension to choose.
This led me to think about writing this post to help our prospects and clients in choosing the right domain name and domain extension for their business. Such that it helps in pushing the SEO efforts in the right direction.
What is a Domain Name?
www.domainname.com
In layman language a domain name is basically your Website’s Name on the internet network. Additionally, it is the address in the www world where the online users can find your website.
Moreover, a domain name can be a combination of letters, numbers and hyphen. And it is followed by a domain extension which is explained later in this post.
One more important fact. Domain Names are unique. This means that no two websites can have same domain name under any condition.
First, you have to think of a domain name, register it with a domain name provider like GoDaddy. And then you can have it under your account.
ICO can also help you purchase domain name. Contact us to buy your favorite domain now.
What is Domain Extension?
Series of characters written after domain name is called a domain extension. And it basically signifies an internet category or a country code.
- Let us understand it in a better way with an example. Examples of Domain extensions of Internet category are .com for commercial, .org for organization, .gov for government, .edu for educational institutions, .biz for businesses and .net for a network.
- And examples of domain extensions of country codes are .us, .uk or .ca.
How to choose my Domain Name?
Choosing a name takes utmost attention when starting a new firm. Moreover, when you are planning to take your business online by getting a dynamic website. Then the task gets even tougher. Because then the thoughts of;
how it will affect the SEO,
is it easy to remember; etc
Runs in your mind. Therefore, it’s better to go through these points to avoid any confusions.
- Keyword Inclusion
While it is not a direct ranking factor. But is does indirectly help Google and other search engines to recognize of your services.
- Brand over Keywords
If your brand name is not your targeted keyword. And you are shuffling between which to use in your domain name. Then let me tell you Google gives more value to branding than keywords.
Therefore, choose brand over keywords.
- Deliver the right message
Your website’s domain name must be in resonance with website’s features. It should give a clear direction to the users about your website’s purpose.
- Keep less characters
It is not a good practice to have long words as your domain name. Restrict the domains name to one or two small size words for good results.
How to choose the best Domain Extension?
Consider the below suggestions before finalizing your domain extension. Here we go:
- Country Specific
If at all you plan to target your business in a particular country only, then it’s best to get a country specific domain extension. For example; .ca for Canada or.us for United States of America.
- Industry definite
Further, if you want to target a specific audience among a particular industry then you can use industry specific domain extension. For example, if you’re a travel blogging company then you can use the domain extension as .travel.
- When in doubt choose.com
.com domain extension is 20 times more valuable than the other extensions like .net and .org. Moreover, it is still the most liked and most used domain extension worldwide.
Therefore, apart from having a geographical necessity or an industry inclination, it is highly suggested to always to use a .com equivalent.
And now the big guns;
Does Domain Names and Domain Extensions Affect SEO?
It does to a certain extent. However it does not strongly impact a site’s SEO and it’s ranking. But it does have an impact on them.
- Online Reputation management
Manage your online reputation management to increase your domain authority, and ultimately your SEO rankings.
Moreover, if possible try and buy all the other extensions of your domain name. This way you can protect your brand from a even a remote possibility of reputation damage.
- Relevancy Indication
Though keyword inclusion on domain name and choosing a geo specific extension is not a direct ranking signal. But, still search engines like Google count them as relevancy signals for matching queries.
- Attract the target audience
With the help of geographical extension you can reach your target audience. Especially, in the current scenario when Google is working on ways to improve its local search.
Conclusion
Google gives weight to fresh and relevant content over domain name and domain extension. Having said that, the importance of these two cannot be ignored completely.
Having a meaning and short domain name is an important relevancy signal. And so is geographical and industrial domain extensions.
In a way these two give a brief about what your company is about; a very short brief though.
Nevertheless, just pick the best possible domain name for you. Further, optimize your website with the help of a SEO company in Delhi and I’m sure you’ll be sorted!
Need help in booking your domain name or domain extension for your new website?
Contact us and we will get things in place for you.
