Does choice of domain name impact SEO ranking?
Selecting a domain name is one of the important tasks when it comes to creating a website. Choosing an appropriate domain name helps users easily remember your website. Now, the question arises of whether domain names matter in case of ranking high in SEO and are keywords necessary to be included in it. Choosing a relevant domain name alone for your company will not help you improve your SEO. To increase visitors to the website, one will have to improve its website’s SEO tactics. It might be a tricky job to choose the correct domain name for your website; you must consider your brand, your business services, and your searchability. Hence, the key is in finding an appropriate domain name that is both brand-centric and SEO-friendly. This article will cover the impact of domain names on SEO ranking and how to pick an SEO-friendly domain name for your website. But first, let’s understand the fundamentals.
Domain name and SEO – Terms defined
Domain Name
– During the earlier days, an IP(Internet Protocol) address was used to access websites. To reduce the complexity in remembering the long script of IP Addresses, domain names were discovered. The domain name we see in the URL(uniform resource locator) of a website is mapped to these IP Addresses. A URL is a complete address that can be used to visit a particular website whereas a domain name is a small part of it. A domain name is the identification label of your website which represents your business brand. For example amazon.com, nykaa.com
Let’s take an example of the URL: https://www.xyz.com/
Here the Domain name is xyz.com,
the Subdomain is www,
Domain is xyz,
and Top-level domain is .com.
SEO
– Search is one of the primary ways for people to find information on the internet. Search results are shown in an ordered list, and the higher a site can rank on that result list, the more visitors it will receive. Only a few percent of searchers click beyond the first page of search results. The term SEO means “search engine optimization”. SEO allows pages to rank higher in search engines, which further helps to increase traffic to a website and thereby increase sales. Hence, even a minor improvement in search engine rankings can lead to increased traffic and generate revenue for a website.
The Domain-SEO Connection
Does the name of your domain name matter when it comes to SEO? Is it possible to improve SEO by selecting an appropriate domain name? Keep reading to reveal the secret. Earlier, SEO could be increased by adding keywords to the domain name. But after the Google algorithm update, things have changed. When it comes to domain names, you definitely want people to remember your brand, your company, and the services you provide. In order to get your site to rank well, it is not necessary to add keywords in the domain name. Search engines are highly aware of keyword stuffing in domain names and actively discourage website owners from using exact match domain names (EDMs). Instead, concentrate on creating a domain name that is well-branded and appropriate for your organization.
Exact Match Domain (EMD)
An EMD is simply a domain name that precisely matches or is identical to a search query entered into a web browser. Let’s consider an example; if you search on Google typing cheap cars for sale and you get the website cheapcarsforsale.com on the top list, it is obvious for you to click on that link. Years ago, EMDs ranked really well in Google’s SERPs just because their domain name exactly matched the user’s search query. This technique of simply stuffing keywords in a domain name may seem like a shortcut to rank well in search engines. Website developers took advantage of EMDs in the past for ranking high on Google without putting any effort into content creation or site construction. However, after Google’s EMD (exact match domain) upgrade, the impact of such keywords on rankings has gradually reduced.
How to pick an SEO-friendly domain name for your website?
When building a website, choosing a (TLD)Top-level domain for your URL address is an important factor. The benefits of having a branded domain name include an increase in brand awareness, brand trust as well as brand engagement. When choosing a domain name for ranking high in SEO, make sure to pick a name that perfectly fits your business and brand. You need to create an SEO-friendly domain that does not give a spammy impression.
Few key points to keep in mind while selecting a domain name are listed below:
- Keep It Short & Concise
- Avoid hyphens if possible
- Stay Unique and Brandable
- Choose a proper domain extension
- Choose A Domain Name That’s Easy to Remember
If generic domain names are chosen for websites, they become less recognizable as well as creates confusion. One example would be articles.com, articles.net, articles.info, articles.org, articles.web. Hence, opt for a unique brand name that could differentiate your business from the crowd. By using a common name, there is a high amount of chance for accidentally driving your website’s traffic to any other website. Companies can turn their website branding into a valuable foundation and effective part of their overall marketing and communication strategy.
.COM, .ORG, .NET, .INFO, .TECH are some of the gTLDs and .IN, .US, .CO, .TV are the ccTLDs. For more, here is a quick glance at the wide range of gTLDs and ccTLDs offered by ConnectReseller.
Conclusion
Hence to conclude, choosing a relevant domain name alone for your company will not help you improve your SEO. It is advised to have a catchy and unique brand name to stand out from the crowd. Building a search-engine-optimized website depends on quality content creation, consistent posting, right keyword selection, speed web page loading, and many other factors. For monitoring SEO progress, tools such as Authority Labs, Google Analytics, DataForSEO can be used. But remember, if you want to be noticeable online, the key is in Branding!