Keyword Rich Domains for SEO

Armed with a good grasp of the way top level domain name extensions are managed and governed on the internet, you are better prepared to begin the process of actually buying the domain name for your site. In the internet's early history, this was a relatively easy process, as so many names were available. Today though, finding the right domain name for your website can often be a challenging experience. Keeping a few factors in mind throughout your purchase process however, will make is significantly easier task. These include the length of the domain name, (in characters); the registration period for the name (in years), and also the choice of a keyword rich domain names, or a nonsensical one.

Generally, the shorter the domain name, the better. Shorter names are easier to remember. They are easier to type, for users directly visiting your site instead of using a search engine. Short names, particularly those derived from a single English word, are often the best choice for websites seeking to attract a broad range of traffic. 

Longer names on the other hand, do allow you to be more specific in the naming of the website. They can also appear to be more relevant when they appear in search engine results. From a search engine optimization perspective, multiword search queries matching these long domain names can help to direct traffic that is very highly targeted to your website. All other things being equal, this could result in higher conversion rates on your site. 

http://football.com and http://youth-football-london.com are examples showing how a longer domain name can be used in SEO to more specifically target the visitors to a site.

Contrary to what many commentators might want to suggest, there is no perfect size when it comes to the length of domain names. Ultimately whatever decision you make will involve trade-offs between the names relevancy to search results, the ease of remembering it, and indeed your business name. This is one of the reason many website owners buy multiple domain names, use one as their primary name, and either use 301 redirects to point to the main domain name, or run the alternative domain names as separate sites to enhance then main brand.

The reality today, is that the vast majority of domain names available for purchase will either be two or three-word combinations. Given this, your best strategy for a new website, is to come up with a combination that easily 'rolls off the tongue' and is easy to remember. A good starting point, is with a list of the main words that can be used to describe, or associated with your website or business operations. In addition, there are a few tools available online to help you refine this list with analysis of keywords, and currently popular search terms. These include:

Domainsbot - this provides advanced semantic name online lookup tools

Domaintools - Using this site, you can enter an existing name, or phrase, and it will generate a list of suggestions, with details of availability for various gTLDs.

Bustaname - You can use this tool to submit a list of words, and it will generate combination domain name suggestions

Nameboy - This site adds hyphenating and rhyming word options to generate suggestions

Namestation - This tool will also generate multilingual domain name suggestions

The list above is neither complete nor exhaustive, and there is certainly no harm in trying a few different tools out, to see what combinations they come up with. Indeed, many web hosting providers offer similar name suggestion tools, although these tend to be less advanced than the examples in the list above. With a bit of creativity, effort and some lateral thinking though, you can come up with a domain name that is both keyword rich, and easy enough to remember, to suit your website.