How Important is an SEO-Friendly Domain Name?

How Important is an SEO-Friendly Domain Name?

Often times I’m asked by clients to help them choose a domain name. Google does give some weight to the keywords in domain names, although not as much as they used to. Nevertheless, having keywords in your domain name is still important because it can give you a small bump, possibly improving your search engine ranking. Let’s say you have a roofing company that primarily serves the Chicagoland area and your business name is XYZ Roofing. Some good SEO-Friendly domain name options would be xyzroofingchicago.com or chicagolandxyzroofing.com. Whenever possible you want to combine your service (roofing), service area (Chicago or Chicagoland) and company name.

I have an existing domain name – Should I change it?

No. Another more important ranking factor is the age of your domain. A domain that has been in existence for 20 years with a company website on it gets a lot of credit from Google. If you already have a domain name with a website on it just keep it. I have moved existing websites to a new domain with 301 permanent redirects from all the old URL’s to the new URL’s. 100% of the time the ranking takes a hit. It will eventually rebound, but most companies can’t afford to lose traffic.

Where can I see what domain names are available for purchase?

There are many domain registrars but my favorite is Namecheap. They charge $8.88/year to register a domain, which is one of the lowest prices you will find. Their website is easy to use and they’ve been around for a long time. Right on their homepage, there’s a box to search available domain names.

Is a long URL going to be tough for customers to type in?

While SEO-Friendly domain names are great for SEO, a super long domain name can be annoying for customers. Try to limit your domain name to 20 characters or less. Another thing to consider is that most people will just do a Google search (ie XYZ Roofing) when they’re looking for your company, so don’t worry too much about the URL. One of my customers on Long Island, NY came to me with a URL he already had, which is longislandwindowwashingpowerwashing.com. While it’s a really long and inconvenient URL to type in, his search rankings are really good because of it. Balance is key.

There’s a lot more to SEO

While your domain name is a ranking factor, it’s not a huge factor. Having a good title, description, headings and content is also crucial. Backlinks to your website and company information listings are also very important. If you’re looking for a domain name, have an existing domain or just need some SEO improvement, please contact me today. I’d love the opportunity to help your business improve its web presence.

When you work with Brian Houdek Web Design you work with me – a skilled freelance website designer and digital marketing expert in the Chicago area

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