Choosing a domain name for your business is a crucial decision, especially if you aim for growth. Consider whether to select a descriptive domain, the name length, the use of hyphens, and the domain extension.
Ideally, the domain will be used for as long as a company is operational. How do you choose the right domain name?
A Change of Domain Name
It can be damaging to change a domain name midway through the life of a business. When businesses change domain names, they risk:
- Loss of trust signals from search engines and AI.
Although it does not carry much weight, Google uses the age of the domain name and whether it has remained registered to the same company as positive signals for a business listing. - Loss of backlinks and mentions.
If you change domain name, make sure you know where all your quality backlinks are coming from, and ask each site to change the web address once you have moved over. - Search results if URLs are not redirected correctly.
When a business changes its domain name but keeps the same website, it is bound to lose link juice. Make sure that, if you change the domain name and move the website across, all URLs are redirected on a page-by-page basis. Sub-folders and deep content pages should also link to relevant content. Avoid redirecting all pages to the new domain’s home page. - The business email addresses.
This is usually easy to resolve. Redirect your old business email address to your new one, and keep it that way for a couple of years (depending on how long you had the old domain). - Cost of changing offline marketing.
Make sure you update all offline marketing and branding materials to the new website address.
A change in domain name is easily rectified as long as you take the necessary precautions. However, choosing a domain name correctly in the first place will save you some headaches.
What is a Domain Name?
A domain name is a website address. Other common terms you might hear are ‘web address’ and ‘URL’ (Uniform Resource Locator). Although URL is more commonly used for specific pages.
Tips on Choosing a Domain Name
When choosing a domain name, a business should first consider:
- How easy it is to type.
- How confusing it looks when it is written down, or whether it creates other words.
- If it reflects the website or brand well.
- How easy it is to remember.
- If the business will trade internationally.
- If the business will expand into other markets.
i.e. reserving billsoutdoorfurniture.com rather than billsbenches.com if the company is likely to expand.
Sometimes two words together can create a third, confusing word in the middle of the domain. Write domain name ideas down on paper or in a text editor like Word or Apple Pages.
Stare at them. Say them out loud. Spell them out repeatedly.
These exercises will help you spot any possible glitches.
Stick to domain names containing between one and two words; however, as the web gets bigger, three or even four are acceptable. The following may help you to decide on the perfect domain name.
Descriptive Domain Names
Where possible, strike a balance between a unique, brand-friendly domain name and one that includes a key term. The key term will highlight the product or service.
If a company name is used in offline marketing, it should really appear somewhere within the domain.
Keywords in a domain name once played an important role in helping search engine users find a business. They now have little value on search rank, but could still be worth considering for marketing.
A keyword, or key term, is descriptive and instantly interprets the company’s industry. Used on a sign or vehicle, the general public can understand what the business does.
Try to choose something meaningful, but keep the domain as short as possible.
Length of Domain Name
Avoid domain names that exceed 16 characters. They are a chore to type, confusing when spelling it out, and is hard for people to remember.
That said, whilst short names are easier to type, a domain name that uses full words rather than abbreviations will be easier to memorise.
For example, notonthehighstreet.com has been really successful and is easy to write and remember.
Whereas the Kaydee Web domain kaydee.net is quite generic. It is therefore not always easy for people to spell (our CEO chose it when she was young).
Good things about our domain are;
- It is short.
- The .net can be depicted as someone who works in the industry and is not country-specific.
- We did not use keywords in the domain.
The above points work for us because Kaydee Web has moved from ‘web design’ to ‘ design and optimisation’, and is now international rather than UK-only.
Hyphens in Domain Names
Search engines used to register hyphens as spaces, e.g. snow-chalets.com would be seen as two words.
These days, search engines are more intelligent and will easily parse the keywords in the address snowchalets.com. Especially if a site is optimised well for key terms.
People are accustomed to typing ‘alloneword’ names. Plus, the unhyphenated names are easier to convey in verbal situations.
If a potential domain looks odd when written down, hyphenated names can make it easier on the eye. The words can be distinguished.
Try not to use more than one hyphen in a domain name, as using hyphens correlates strongly with spammy behaviour.
Domain Extensions
If the audience is a local community or if the product will be delivered within one country, it makes sense to use a country-specific domain suffix. E.g. .co.uk, .ca, .jp.
If a site will benefit from an international audience, a .com is readily used. The .com domain extension was originally used for commercial companies, but is now recognised as an international domain. Businesses of any size or industry can use a .com extension today. Some go straight for the “.com”, because their audience is comfortable with it.
The “.org” extension describes a non-profit organisation.
A .net is usually used for a company in the internet industry. While .uk.ltd may be used if you are a limited UK company.
In the end, the right domain name is a choice for you and your team. We hope some of the points made above will help your company with its decision.
