I love domain names. Admittedly I’m a bit of a domain addict and frequently grab domains names I like for ideas I get “just in case”. It used to be easy to come up with great domain names but as more and more people and businesses have gotten into the game it’s become increasingly competitive to get a good domain name, even for long tail domain names. Your domain name won’t necessarily make or break you from a Search Engine Optimization standpoint but a bad domain name can hurt you a little and may result in missed opportunity along the way.
Generally when I get an idea for a domain name I go look it up to see if the first thing that comes to mind is available. But before I buy it, or if I need to come up with similar ideas I’ll do some keyword research using Google’s Keyword Tool and might even hit Thesaurus.com if I’m having difficulty coming up with logical synonyms. If I find during my keyword research that the word or phrase I’ve chosen has less search volume than another keyword/phrase that is just as descriptive I might substitute a word or two. Just make sure that if you use a synonym that it is truly logical and has search volume.
In a nutshell the process looks likes this:
- Check for Domain Name Idea Availability
- Keyword Research the Domain (look for good search volume for the same or similar phrase)
- Use Thesaurus.com to look for synonyms if necessary
- Check for new/modified domain name availability and lock it down!
The URL Iyour domain name plus whatever comes after) of any given content on your site also plays an important role in SEO. Many content management systems will generate what is called a query string (starts with a question mark) with a bunch of gobbeldygook after it (never thought I’d get to use “gobbeldygook” in a post by the way… ). Unfortunately search engines don’t really make a lot of sense out of query strings so it’s important to get relevant keywords into your URL to give your content a better chance of getting a little extra SEO juice. WordPress (my platform of choice) makes setting up logical, keyword-centric URL’s a breeze by setting your permalinks (Settings > Permalinks). Good URL’s can also make your site more user friendly and easy for people to navigate, though navigation is really another topic for discussion.
So quick lesson, 1) Logical Keyword Centric Domain name and 2) make sure you or your web-dude set up and use logical URL structures.
Exception to the URL keyword stuff: If you’re running an ecommerce site (or any other site) transactional pages don’t really benefit from the above concepts so don’t sweat those. This is really more important for your “content” like articles, blog posts, etc… not transactional stuff.
So…
Good URL:
http://www.vsellis.com/wordpress-how-to/seo-your-url-and-domain-name/
Bad URL:
http://www.vsellis.com/?pid=689&variable=4839
One more thing on the domain name: if you are using a proper name that is ok. I established vsellis.com a long long time ago (like 12 years or something), if I had been more savy back then I probably would have used scottellis.com (now that is owned by another Scott Ellis) since people are more likely to search for me as “Scott Ellis” than “VSEllis.” Regardless, if you are picking a domain for your self or our company use the name that fits, eventually your name will become a searched for keyword when people look for you (hopefully anyway!).
Good luck and happy domain hunting…
About Scott Ellis
