Often times when we think Search Engine Optimization, we overlook the little things. Choosing a domain name is important to increase your effectiveness in the SEO battle. You may have chosen a great name, however, is it relevant to your target keywords? Keywords are important in the SEO battle and should be addressed throughout the domain name selection process. The next ten pointers will guide and assist you in choosing the best domain name for your business and to help in the quest for higher search engine rankings.
- Try to use your main keyword in the domain name. If the goal is to sell baseball cards in the San Francisco Bay area, try something to the effect of BayAreaBaseballCards.com.
- Be sure to prepare for brand recognition. In all businesses, effective branding is essential; choose a name that is precise and exciting and that will also leave a memorable thought in your customers mind.
- Avoid using unwanted characters. Underscores, hyphens, dashes and other special characters deduct from your SEO score.
- Forget using numbers. Numbers are treated like special characters, search engines don’t like them.
- Although difficult, try obtaining a short name. As time goes on, domains are being snatched up by the day. With this in mind, keep it short and sweet.
- Choose a credible name. In link building efforts, you’ll want to have an attractive name so your link affiliates will be proud have it on their sites.
- Go with a .com extension. It seems as though the search spiders favor .com over all other options. The only exception to the rule is if you’re eligible for a .org, .edu or .gov extension.
- Buy the additional .net, .biz extensions for the sole purpose of linking back to your .com site. It fights off potential site copiers and also assists in building inbound links.
- Check the domain history. It’s possible the domain was used in the past and could have been flagged by the search engines. Do your research and make sure it’s not black listed!
- Register your domain for over three years at a time. The engines prefer longer registrations as they believe the site will be around for a long period of time.
If you find that all of your a-list names have already been taken, use a thesaurus to get the same point across without straying away from your keyword.
