Choosing a Domain Name

This is part 2 in my series of how to improve your search engine rankings. Because I endeavor to provide an all-inclusive guide, I will be starting from the very beginning, and today’s part of this series is on choosing the proper domain name for your internet business.

There are two options available when choosing a domain name to represent your website:

1. A keyword focused domain name
2. A “Branded” domain name

Each one has its place and purpose, and what will work out best for your business really depends on how you intend to run your website. There’s a lot of debate on which approach is truly “best”, but in the end I think that either approach has its own set of pros and cons.

Keyword Focused Domain Names

The biggest benefit for keyword focused domain names is pretty obvious, it’s the keyword targeting. In keyword markets with hardened competition, whether there are 2 million competitors or 80 million is irrelevant; keyword focused domain names can give you a significant foothold when trying to rank highly for the keywords used in the domain name. However, as is rather obvious in keyword markets with hardened competition, a keyword focused domain name does not automatically mean top ten rankings, it simply means that you have an advantage over others who are trying to rank highly for those particular keywords.

Personally, I like the keyword focused domain name approach better than the “branded” approach for most of my websites because of the aforementioned fact. Something that I noticed on my own a long time ago, and something that I subsequently read over on the v7n website (I don’t know the exact location anymore) is that the keywords used in the domain name and page names of a website act as incoming anchor text, meaning that you can rank for keywords not found anywhere within the websites copy or its title if those words happen to be within the URL of your website.

This theory, though since I’ve seen it first-hand I don’t think it qualifies as a theory, can be seen somewhat in my post about keyword targeting with domain names. Basically, I redirected an unused domain with the words “freelance ghostwriter” in the URL to a different writing website, a website that completely lacked the phrase anywhere on the website. You can read the post linked to, but suffice it to say that a keyword focused domain name has substantial keyword-targeting power.

Another benefit for using keyword targeted domain names is that when they show up in the SERPs (search engine results pages), users should know straight-away what the website is all about, which can lead to increased clickthroughs from the SERPs, and if not increased clickthroughs, at least better qualified clickthroughs (targeted visitors). Really, this point speaks volumes as to the importance of proper page titles and keyword-focused page names as well, but that’ll be covered in a different post.

Yet another benefit of using a keyword targeted domain name is their ability to be sold without too much “red tape” attached. This is generally speaking, of course. When a person or company purchases a branded domain name which represents their business, especially if they have setup a DBA, LLC or have incorporated that name, there can be some legal hassles if the person or company decides to sell that domain name later on down the line.

Problems with keyword-focused domain names

Just as there are benefits to keyword targeted domain names, there can be problems associated with using them as well. The biggest problem that I know of, anyway, is the issue with credibility in the eyes of the user. This tends to be more problematic when a website owner goes to great lengths to obtain a keyword focused domain name that looks “spammy” in and of itself, for instance:

http://keyword-focused-domain-name.com
or
http://keyw-ords-brok-en-upimproperly.com

In my semi-professional opinion, it’s better to leave those types of domain names alone at all costs. That is, unless your goal is to setup a spammy looking website with a short-term life expectancy in the SERPs.

Branded Domain Names

Branded domain names are a whole other beast, and at some point it may be in your best interest to go the “branded” route in lieu of the keyword focused route when choosing a domain name for your internet business.

Generally, these types of domain names are best suited for a person or company when they are looking to dominate a niche and establish themselves as a “household” name. Branded names can be seen clearly in both the “online” world of virtual real-estate and the “offline” world of brick and mortar establishments.

Here are a few examples of branded names: Google, eBay, McDonalds, Dominos, Starbucks, Subway, Citgo, Yahoo… the list can go on & on.

A substantial benefit to using the branded domain name approach is that once the branded name is established, it is automatically equated with whatever product or service that it happens to offer. For instance, when you think of McDonalds, you probably think of fast-food or french fries; when you think of eBay, you probably think of an online mega-store with thousands of products that you can pick up dirt cheap; when you think of Google, you probably equate the name with internet search or advertising.

This is what using a branded domain name can do for your business; once it’s been established, or “branded”, users will automatically equate what your website has to offer with your name and this goes a long way in helping your web presence establish credibility.

Problems with Branded Domain Names

As mentioned earlier in this post, one of the problems with using the branded domain name approach is that it requires a fair amount of effort to establish itself in the search engines. To qualify what I mean lest you think I’m an idiot – Of course it would be simple to rank highly for a branded name that isn’t part of the online vernacular, such as when you create a non-existent word & take that as your branded domain name. However, ranking highly for an obscure or completely made-up keyword isn’t the same as branding.

By branding I mean that you establish, through optimization and marketing, a relationship between what your website has to offer and the name of your website. The natural relationship that I am getting at can be seen with my above examples of:

eBay = Online Marketplace
McDonalds = Fast Food

and so on. When people start to naturally equate what your website has to offer with your branded name, then you have started the branding process.

Another problem that can creep up in situations when you use the branded domain name approach is if you happen to try and sell the domain, again mentioned above. While, generally speaking, keyword focused domain names aren’t made into company names or “brands”, probably because of the legal problems with claiming trademark on everyday phrases, it can be a real problem when you’re trying to sell your branded domain name when it’s tied to a real company, especially so when you’re selling it to a person or business entity in a different country.

Which type of domain name should you choose?

Really, that’s up to you. I think I’ve sufficiently outlined pros and cons for both scenarios and what you decide to do should be dependent on how you plan to run your business and what you’re looking to get out of it.

I absolutely welcome any thoughts or personal insight into this topic.

Improving your search engine rankings posts

Here are the other posts in this series, for easy reference:

Part 1: Conquering your competitors in the SERPs