At SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk we are no strangers to choosing a good domain name and it is an exceptionally important part of the search engine optimization process. A lot of information surrounding choosing a domain name states how it is important that domain names are either full of keywords or include one of your strongest keywords. Having said this, depending on the length of your domain name and the nature of your business, there are arguments against including keywords within your domain name and instead stating that the focus of these should be in your title and description tags instead.
The reason we embark on SEO techniques is simply to target search engines. As the likes of Google and Bing are in fact robots and not people, it has previously been fairly easy to understand how they operate. Relevance has always been a firm favourite of search engines, so if your company name resembles the main search phrases used, then the search engine is going to perceive your site as a trusted and reliable source.
A good example of a website domain name for this is the B&Q website. The domain name for this company is actually diy.com, and as this is the main industry they are in, it is likely that a lot of people will use ‘DIY’ as a search keyword. The keyword is relevant and is also part of the domain name, meaning that the search engines instantly give it a high ranking.
All of this of course makes perfect sense, yet there can be instances where this could be a downfall. For starters, search engines are becoming much more advanced and with the introduction of personalised searching, they are becoming less like robots and more like human minds. None of us know exactly what criteria search engines us, and whilst we can have a very good estimate, it is highly unlikely we will understand fully how it works. The other part to this is the fact that search engines change their criteria for ranking on a regular basis, so what they favour one week could be a lot lower priority the next.
The other problem companies face is that the nature of the business could expand and become more diverse. In the case of B&Q, one of their largest revenue streams is now business to business, meaning that rather than them catering for one man in his home, they are supplying the trade with goods. Whilst this is an exceptionally positive thing for the company, if it ever gets to the point where trade becomes their main offering and diy takes a back seat, there could be relevance issues. Whilst this is an unlikely occurrence for a company such as this, it is good to use as an example in this instance.
Domains which are keyword rich can work wonders, but they should not take the place of a strong brand image. If your company name is simple and strong, then it is probably a good idea to use this as your domain, as it will not date and will always be relevant.
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Posted by Jon.
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