Domain names – such as “google.com” or “greenpeace.org” are an essential and key asset to every site on the internet. They offer a human-readable address at which our website can be found, by either searching on Google or by typing the address directly into the navigation bar of a web browser, such as Chrome or Safari on iPhones.
When first setting up your business or your own website, you will need to choose and register a domain name. You cannot offer a professional web presence without a dedicated domain name, and domain names play a vital role in both your branding and SEO – search engine optimization.
A well-formed domain will help your customers and visitors find your website, and search engines such as Google will read the domain name and use it to help decide what your site is about. This is not an area to skimp on research, cost or the decision making process as it can be a huge issue if you wish to change your domain name later, once it has been picked up by the search engine, social media sites and other sites who have linked to yours.
Picking the perfect domain name
Choosing the perfect domain name for your business website or project has to be one of the toughest decision making processes you can face when launching your first website or updating an older site.
A big part of this problem comes from the lack of availability of the most popular domain extensions such as .com domains – in fact you should never expect your catchy domain name idea or your generic business name to be available as a .com. If you are lucky your business name will be unusual enough that you will discover your desired domain is available to buy straight away, but this is rare event. Most of the time you will need to get creative with your domain name or use a domain extension with greater availability.
Ideally your domain name should be short, memorable and describe as exactly as possible your website project or business name and possibly your location.
It’s worth remembering that once a particular domain name has been bought, unless it lapses it will not be available to another website. That means if you have found the perfect domain name but your website or project isn’t quite ready yet, it is wise to go ahead and purchase the desired domain name so someone else can’t claim the same domain.
Domain name extensions explained
All domain names require a domain name extension, which is typically a .com, .org or any number of hundreds of country or niche specific extensions available today. A few years ago there were very few extensions available and this led to shortage of available domain names, so recently a large number of newer and more novel domain extensions have been created including .online, .guide, .reviews and .shop for example.
International domain name extensions – such as .it (Italy) or .es (Spain) can be used creatively and are a popular way of creating short, memorable domains such as “scoop.it”.
What is a Top-Level Domain (TLD)?
Some domain name extensions are classified as TLDs – Top Level Domains, such as .com, .org, .gov, .int, .edu and .mil. These are the most popular and desirable type of extensions and therefore often the most difficult to find freely available and unclaimed. Country specific extensions such as .it, .uk or .us are also classified as Top Level Domains so these can also be utilized with some creativity.
TLDs carry a certain weight when it comes to credibility, branding and SEO (search engine optimization). For example “webhelpadvice.com” is easier to remember than “webhelpadvice.guide” and as .com is the oldest and most popular form of domain name extension in the world, almost everyone will assume every worthwhile brand has a .com domain.
Top Level Domains are important for SEO purposes, as search engines such as Google place more importance on sites which use a TLD such as a .com or .edu. Links coming into your site from .edu and .gov can be extremely beneficial to your website ranking on search engines, and some site owners will actively try to foster links from these type of websites to game the search engines.
Click here to see a complete list of Top level Domains on Wikipedia.
Finding a good domain name
Given that TLDs are so desirable for so many reasons, we should always endeavor to use these domain name extensions if they are available for our business or website project. While some startups and digital service companies can use non-TLDs to great success, for the majority of business owners and professional websites we need to utilize the standard Top Level Domains such as .com or .net. So how do we discover if the a domain name is already taken by another website?
Domain names are primarily provided by domain and web hosting companies, of which there are hundreds around the world. Some are great to work with, and some not so great to work with, but ultimately they all provide certain standard and essential domain name services and usually a range of other associated requirements for the website owner such as email hosting and web site hosting.
Selecting and registering your domain name
In the US godaddy.com is very popular for domains, and in the UK (where we work from) 123-reg.co.uk is also popular. These domain hosting companies allow you to search for your desired domain name via a web interface, and they will quickly let you know if the domain is available for sale. With godaddy.com and some other domain providers you can also buy existing, pre-bought domains, which have lapsed payment and become available again or have simply expired because the owner no longer wanted them.There is an SEO benefit to buying an older domain (providing the name is relevant to the website you will be using it with), so this is definitely an option worth considering when choosing your domain name.
If you discover that your business name or website name idea is not available as a .com or other TLD, picking a domain name can be a frustrating challenge and one which might take some time and brainstorming to resolve. While it is not the end of the world if you can’t find your perfect domain name, it is important to put some effort into finding a name that works both as a branding tool and offers some SEO benefits.
Should you use hyphens in a domain name?
Say your business name is “Best Antiques” and you discover that “bestantiques.com” is not available, then it’s better to employ a single hyphenated domain name such as “best-antiques.com” than use a non-TLD domain extension such as “bestantiques.shop”. Human readability is an essential element to choosing the right domain name and so long as your domain name is not littered with several hyphens, this scenario presents an ideal solution.
Choosing an easy to remember domain name
For any business or brand there is a huge advantage to choosing a domain name that is easy to read and remember. Surprisingly – in this digital age of instant sharing – word of mouth and (fallible) human memory still play a large part in the success of your domain name. Visitors will often read your domain name printed on the side of a truck, in a magazine advert or on some product packaging and they will need to remember it easily enough to type into their web browser or phone at a later date.
This necessitates the need to use domain names which are short and concise, using only 1, 2 or 3 syllables maximum. Extremely long domain names can be very difficult for both humans to read and remember, and for search engines to decipher what your website is about.
What is the best length for a domain name?
The ideal length of a domain name is simply as short as possible, while being as descriptive and memorable as you can make it. If your business name has more than a few words you might consider shortening the name in a way that still makes sense, such as using abbreviations.
Should I use keywords in my domain name?
There was a time years ago when using “exact match domains” such as “blue-running-sneakers.com” would yield excellent results in the search engine rankings such as Google. Sadly – as with so many of these search engine tricks and shortcuts – SEO isn’t quite so easy anymore. The likes of Google’s algorithms have become far too sophisticated and educated to fall for such simple and exploited tactics, so attempting this type of thing these days will not be worth the effort.
That’s not to say adding a keyword to your domain name is off the table altogether, as using a carefully chosen keyword that reflects your business or what your website is about can offer some potential SEO benefits. For example if you run a roofing business out of London called “Harris & Sons” then choosing the domain name “londonroofer.com” would be far more beneficial in terms of search engine ranking than picking the domain name “harrisandsons.com”, which essentially means nothing to anyone who doesn’t know your brand.
How to buy a domain name
Domain names are not so much bought as rented, and typically you will purchase domain names for a period of 1 or 2 years at a time. If you allow the domain name to lapse or you don’t pay your domain hosting invoices your domain name will become public again and most likely someone will buy up your lapsed or expired domain (remember, aged domains hold some SEO value so are valuable assets).
Once you have purchased your domain name, you will be sent details of how to edit your domain name’s technical details to point to your own website hosting server.
The difference between domain hosting and web hosting
It is important to understand if you are starting out in website development or are not very technically minded that domain names and web hosting space are always located on two entirely separate physical servers, even if you purchased the domain name and web hosting service from the same company, such as godaddy.com. You will typically pay for the domain name hosting and the web space hosting using different accounts and invoices.
So if you hire a web developer or digital agency to create your website for you, you’ll need to provide them with both the log in details for domain name (so they can access the domain’s technical particulars) and also access for the web hosting account dashboard. That way they can connect (or point) the domain name to the web hosting account, add some content and ultimately make your website public.
If you would like to learn how to set up your own domain name settings, we have a tutorial on how to do that here.
Should I buy more than one domain for a single website?
Buying multiple domain names is not particularly expensive and kind of fun – it really feels as if you are moving your business forward by doing so. However except for a few cases we would advise not to buy more than 2 or 3 domains names for one website.
While it’s true you can point many different domain names to one single site, there are no practical reasons to do so, and especially not from an SEO perspective. I’ve worked with many clients over the years who have gone completely overboard with their domain name spending spree and purchased dozens of domains for different countries and all varieties of TLD domains, but ultimately for no discernible benefit. In this case you are just creating for yourself a lot of extra fees and admin from the domain name hosting company, not to mention extra work setting up all the different domains to point to the same place.
The exceptions to this are if you own a brand name that you do not wish others to purchase, so you would purchase as many variations of the brand name domain as you can, or you are large multinational company who wishes to own country specific domain names for ease of use for their customers and some SEO benefits. In almost all situations of the smaller business owner or entrepreneur you only need to purchase one domain name, or a couple of variations – for example owning .com and .co.uk if you are based in the UK.
