The Truth About Domain Names And Your SEO

A domain is a readable/recognizable address for a website, also called a URL. The domain allows you to access the location of a website.

Domains are to IP addresses as business names are to addresses. When you talk about visiting a place, you don’t usually say you’re heading to 102 Main Street–you’re much more likely to say you are heading to Jim’s Diner, or Stan’s Market. Similarly, it’s a lot easier and more efficient to remember Boostability.com than to memorize a 10-digit IP address.

Additionally, a considerable number of websites can be hosted on a shared server (and thus have the same IP address), meaning that even if you know the IP address, you also need to know the username. In addition to being an obvious security issue, knowing both pieces of information would be both time consuming and tedious. Hence, the use of domains on the internet.

Because your domain is associated with your company, choosing the right domain name is an important decision. Here are a couple of myths you may have heard about domain selection, and why these myths are best practices for building your online brand:

Myth 1: I Can Use Word Spacers in My Domain

Spaces aren’t allowed in URLs. While you can buy a domain with a hyphen, we recommend that you try to avoid using any word spacer altogether.

Word spacers distract the user and aren’t as memorable. And if a user forgets the hyphen, they will land on another page altogether, or just see an error.

Myth 2: The Domain Length Matters

While domain length doesn’t have an affect on SEO from a search engine standpoint, domain length does affect the user. A longer domain name is often more difficult to remember. We suggest avoiding anything over 15 characters.

Myth 3: All Top Level Domains (TLDs) Are Created Equal

A TLD is the “.com” portion of the URL. Other examples include: .biz, .net, .info, etc. Dot com TLDs are the highest quality and the most SEO friendly since “.com” has been around since the inception of the internet. It’s easier to remember .com than .biz or .net. Other TLDs may provide you with a preferable URL, but your SEO may take a hit as a result.

Myth 4: I Need to Use Sub-domains as Part of My SEO Practices

This myth is probably the most popular. However, search engines don’t put a lot of weight on sub-domains. In fact, most search engines recommend that you put everything in sub-folders as opposed to sub-domains. The only instance in which you would use a sub-domain is if you have a language-specific website.

Myth 5: When Moving a Domain, I Don’t Need to Do Anything Else

If for one reason or another you need to change a domain or move your website to a different domain, you will need to make a 301 redirect. Without a 301 redirect, you will see these two issues:

1. If Google has indexed a specific page and it continues to come up in the results, the user will click on the link and be taken to a dead end.
2. When Google re-crawls your old site, it will find a 404 error and lower your ranking.

Ignore these myths when coming up with your new domain. Make your domain relevant and memorable and you’ll be on your way to an SEO friendly website!