When your business operates primarily online, your business name choice will count for a lot. It needs to reflect your business personality, needs to attract the right kind of customer and can count towards your site’s search engine optimisation as well. With so much resting on the choice,

Most companies already have their name well and truly chosen when they first approach an SEO company. If research indicates your traffic could improve with a name change, it might be an option your SEO consultant will consider. You can talk to us about this at SEO Consult. If a name change is on the cards, there are five steps you need to take:

1. Do your keyword research. Keyword research should be the first step in any optimisation campaign. Your keyword research should provide you with a select list of keywords, as well as the levels of competition that exist for each keyword. You need to judge your ability to compete for each keyword in order to choose your list, and the most dominant keyword is the one that’s best to incorporate into your name.

It’s important to note that the keyword or keywords you choose need to stand the test of time. Changing domain or site names isn’t an easy task.

2. Narrow your focus. Your business probably already has a specific focus. If your site’s name addresses a very specific need, it has a better chance of winning over a specific target user group. At the same time, it’s important not to focus yourself out of a market. Determine the markets that are most important to you, and which can act as sub-markets.

3. Work out a few options. Domain choices are becoming more restricted as more people get online. Working out a few different choices before you begin the registration process can save you some time and frustration. It also prevents you making up a hasty substitute you may come to regret.

4. Work it. Once you’ve chosen a great domain or site name, use it within and outside of your site to build brand identity.

5. Implement the domain change. This can be a delicate operation if you want to build on your existing traffic. There are all sorts of pitfalls awaiting the unwary site owner when they change from Domain A to Domain B, and it can be worthwhile to seek professional assistance.

The main thing to remember if you’re trying to transfer the traffic and rankings of old pages is that your new pages must significantly resemble the old ones. Domain hijacking is one of the oldest tricks used by black-hat operators, and the search engines have long since built in an awareness of this into their algorithms. If your new page is different to the old, there’s a chance it will be dropped from the index. This means that if one of your old ‘puppy food’ page had good traffic, but you don’t have a puppy food page on your new domain, you have to just let it go.

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