SEO Recap: Ten Tips for Domain Name Selection

Selecting a domain name, as noted, means doing accurate domain name research and keyword analysis. Your domain name should be keyword rich in order to enhance the SEO power of your website. There are many factors to consider, however, and format is also important. You want to be able to leverage the maximum benefit from your domain name in terms of SEO, branding, easy of independent search, etc. Industry best practices change over time, but currently there are several things to prioritize.

2. Shorter is better. A long domain name is hard to remember and hard to type in for searchers.

3. Keywords are important. This will cement the relationship between your site and your product or service in your customers’ minds.

4. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple – seriously! It’s a fact that shorter and more meaningful domain names are more easily remembered.

5. Lose the hyphenation. There was a time when many webmasters were using hyphenation in their domain names to separate words, but now it is not necessary; the search engines are able to recognize whole words in the given string, and real people will find it difficult to remember the hyphens in the URL.

6. Spell it right. When you give your web address to someone, you shouldn’t have to have a lot of qualifiers because of random spelling

7. Pronounce it. You should also keep in mind that your domain name should be easily pronounced. Again, when you relay your website address to customers over the phone verbally you want your address to be easily understood.

8. Don’t copy competitors. You don’t want to be know as the ‘knock off’ version of a well known brand. Build your own.

9. Use plurals if possible. ‘Hotels’ instead of ‘hotel’. Many people search online for plurals.

10. Stay near the top of the alphabet. Just like yellow pages, some directories list websites alphabetically – although this is a minor consideration and should only be given weight if possible when all other conditions are met.

Once you have hit on the perfect domain name, register it fast and get hosting through a secure server. Don’t leave it sitting around – make sure you have a well working website before you start promoting, and build your brand from the ground up by using solid SEO tactics to increase your online visibility through social networking and marketing.

Also, when you register your domain name, take it for a minimum of two years – preferably fives or more. This shows the search engines that you are committed to building a solid domain, and keeps you from having to scramble each year to re-register and also eliminates the danger of you forgetting and losing an established domain after a lot of hard work!

A solid domain name is the foundation of a solid website. You can build on it to create a firm base for your site to stand on, and go on from there.