…A very good place to start, indeed. For SEO and your site, the very beginning is your site’s domain name. Selecting the right one can put your site on a solid foundation that will reap rewards for years to come.

You could well ask, ‘just what name is the right name?’ Your decision needs to come from a combination of business needs, your own personal preference, and search engine optimization tactics. Let’s start with the latter first.

SEO and domain names

If your domain name contains your keywords, you’re well ahead of the competition when it comes to SEO. Having your keywords within your site’s address is an incredible help for SEO, as it boosts the keyword relevance for the page optimised for that keyword and has the whole site lending support. An exact-match domain is one of the best assets you can have online, but even incorporating keywords into your site address is a huge help.

Satisfying business needs

While SEO is important, it shouldn’t be the absolute guiding factor in deciding on your site’s name. Keywords don’t always make for the most attractive site name. The needs and likes of your target users need to be addressed as well.

For example, the top ten results for your main keyword of ‘computer hardware’ will have the popular exact match domain, but other domains that try for the exact match. Given the choice between ‘computerhardwaresales.com’ and ‘thetopcomputerhardwarestore.com’, users are likely to go for the latter, friendlier-looking site.

Business personality is an important factor. Your site’s address goes a long way to shaping its personality in the minds of your users, and it’s important not to overlook the value of this. When an internet user is selecting a site out of the top ten in the SERPs, they make a value judgement on the information you provide. If your site makes you appear trustworthy, friendly and approachable, you’ve got a good chance of being picked.

Select the right keyword

When working SEO into your site name choice, you need to ensure you’re headed in the right direction. Keywords change. As the language that internet users utilise in their searches evolves, so do your site’s keywords. For this reason, the keywords you include in your domain name need to be those that are likely to stick around. It can be hard to judge this, but in most industries the central words used to describe that industry don’t change. For example, ‘pet supplies’ will always be central to the pet supply industry.

At the same time, you need to select the keywords that you can compete on. If you’ve decided that ‘internet advice’ has too many powerful competitors for your site to have a chance, then naming your site ‘www.internet-advice-central.com’ is not a good idea. Look at the main industry keywords on your list, think about what’s likely to happen in the future, and choose carefully. It can help to get professional advice on such an important point, and you can talk to us at SEO Consult.

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