Hello and welcome to this brief guide on choosing the right domain name for your company. The first month of 2022 is already passing, so it’s wise to prepare yourself and learn everything you need to know before purchasing a domain name for your business in 2022.
If you still can’t decide what your domain name should look like so that you can completely leverage its potential, keep reading.
Speaking of, if you’re new to this subject and want to learn more, you can check out our article about what a domain is, what types of domain names are there and why domain security matters.
Domains and Keywords
There are some myths that you should use keywords in your domain. Maybe in some cases, such as if visitors are searching to rent a car, they are more likely to visit your site if your domain is carrentals.com rather than budget.com or avis.com. But this is not a rule, and you should not limit yourself to using keywords at all costs. For example, Lego didn’t use any keywords in its domain name, but that didn’t affect the traffic on their website. And just because a website’s domain name contains a keyword does not imply that its content is more relevant. Sometimes all you have to do is pick something that is a little more brandable.
To sum, if you have a small or local business, choose a domain name that includes keywords. However, if you have a business that you believe will grow into a large corporation, choose a domain name that is closely related to your company and brand.
Domains and TLD
Choosing the right domain extension is an essential factor to consider while picking a domain name. To do that, you should be acquainted with the types of domain names.
At this point, there are some basic guidelines to follow. For example, if you are an organization, you should use the .org TLD, .gov TLD is for the government, and .edu is for educational websites.
Branded domains often use more generic TLDs such as .com, while local businesses use domain extensions linked to their location. Let’s take an example; if you offer attorney services in France, you can use some of the following domains: lawyer.fr, callalawyer.fr, avocat.fr, or l-avocat.fr. Ok, you can’t, because those domains are already registered, but you get the point.
And we have some good news for our Aussie folks. The .au domain extension will be available in March 2022; you will no longer need to use www.yourdomainname.com.au; instead, you can simply use www.yourdomainname.au.
Domains and Length
The length of your domain name depends on the type of your business. If you go with a branded domain, you should keep it under ten characters and two words max. Be inspired by the domain names of top brands such as Tesla, Amazon, Google, Apple, Pixar, and BMW, which all have less than six characters. And if you own a small business and want to use keywords in your domain, consider choosing domains with two or three words and less than 15 characters long. We’re talking about the domain name length here, not the URL length.
URL length is different from domain length. The URL is the complete web address placed in the URL bar when you visit a particular page of a website. For instance, our domain name is black.host, while the URL of this page is black.host/blog/choose-the-right-domain-name-2022. The URL length only plays a role in canonicalization. That means that if there are multiple copies of one web page, the Google bot will probably choose the shorter and cleaner URLs. But don’t worry, this will not affect your ranking in any way.
Domains and Pronunciation
Here’s something to keep in mind before deciding on a domain name. If you’ve already set your heart on a domain, before you go and purchase it, try to pronounce it to a dozen people and ask them to write it down on a piece of paper. If everyone writes it right from the beginning, congratulations, you have just found your perfect domain. But if they have trouble writing it correctly and have misspellings, then it may be best to think twice before taking the card out of your wallet.
A domain name should be easy to pronounce, spell, and predictable to type. Because, if it’s not, there’s a good chance that you’ll lose a lot of traffic for a silly reason that you could easily have avoided right from the start. Hence, register your domain name only when you’re confident that it’s the right one!
Bonus Tip: Beware of cheap domains; they usually come with a cost. If you’re not familiar with this, you can check our article and learn what mistakes to avoid when purchasing a cheap domain name.
Well, that’s it for now. I hope 2022 will be a fulfilling year for you and your business and that you’ll work hard and achieve great success. And remember, in addition to the best domain name, you should also choose the best web hosting for your website.
Keep up the good work fellas!
