When people start working on a website, there are many details they consider vital – including the domain name. They believe it can help or harm your search engine rankings immensely. However, do domain names really matter nowadays – or are they just another SEO myth that refuses to die?
In short – yes, but not in the way you probably think. While search engines have advanced greatly since the early days, there are still some domain-related factors to consider – but they’re much deeper than just choosing the right extension or keyword.
Does Your Domain Name Really Affect SEO?
The domain name does have an effect on search engine rankings, but it isn’t really the main factor. Neither Google nor Bing use the exact match domain feature to determine the ranking of a particular website – although having such a domain certainly won’t harm the site’s position in SERP. In other words, while domain names do matter, they do so indirectly.
For instance, having an easy and catchy name increases its chances of getting clicked as a search result. Indeed, there are times when the use of hyphens in a domain name can make it appear less professional, as using a hyphen domain name may raise subtle concerns about professionalism and readability. It is true that the presence of hyphens does not influence the website’s search engine ranking. However, it can affect user experience negatively.
Actually, domain naming itself does not influence SEO performance much. It is more about the content that is added.
Important Factors for SEO Performance Today
When looking closer at the search algorithms and what determines page ranks, it becomes clear that the domain name is insignificant in terms of SEO ranking. It all comes down to the quality of content, backlinks, and overall user experience.
The quality of content continues to be an important driver. Whenever pages manage to satisfy user intents through their content, they receive high rankings irrespective of the domain name. Blogs, guides, and product pages are great examples of high-ranking content, as opposed to keyword stuffing, for example. Regardless of how impressive another website’s domain name is, if its content fails to perform adequately, the page will be ranked poorly.
Backlinks matter. If other authoritative websites mention your pages in links, it’s good for reputation and trustworthiness. Nothing about the domain name could ever change that. Also, SEO efforts involving website loading speed, mobile optimization, and the use of structured data matter much more than domain names.
User experience connects everything. If the website is not usable and visitors immediately close it after landing, this will eventually affect the position in SERPs. Again, there’s nothing a domain name can do for your rankings.
SEO Factors that Actually Don’t Matter as Much as You Think
Here are some persistent SEO myths involving domains that many webmasters believe:
- Exact match domains rank better. While years ago, it was true, today, exact matching does not bring any advantage in rankings. An exact match domain name is no guarantee for a website to outrank another page even if the domain contains the main keywords.
- Similarly, it is widely believed that using some specific extensions such as “.com” will help your business perform better on the web. Although such extensions are usually considered to be more trustworthy for customers because of their familiarity, search engines consider all domain extensions equally. Therefore, your website can perform as well on a “.net” or even a “.store” extension if it was optimized well.
Finally, hyphens are another subject for debate in the SEO industry. Some believe that they hurt website ranking, while others think the opposite is true. In reality, however, using hyphens neither helps nor harms website ranking.
How to Choose a Domain Name Properly
Based on everything that has been discussed above, there are several considerations one should take into account when choosing a proper domain name:
- First of all, simplicity should be considered your top priority. It will save you from various problems in the future.
- Secondly do not complicate everything with forced incorporation of keywords into your name. A catchy name that will sound like a brand name will give you much more flexibility when developing your site. It could happen that initially you wanted to go only in one direction, but as your experience accumulates, it turns out that another niche can be interesting for you as well. Therefore, it is better not to use too complicated keywords in your name.
Don’t forget to consider the pronunciation aspect. Although this detail is sometimes overlooked, people can spread your brand by mouth even nowadays, and this factor should be taken into account.
To sum up, a domain name should not control you; on the contrary, it should support your brand.
However, thinking that your domain name is an SEO power is a myth of the past. While domain names have their significance, mostly hidden and not obvious, what ultimately influences your rankings is the value your website brings.
Instead of spending days and weeks trying to think about the “perfect” domain for SEO purposes, pick up something easy to remember and concentrate on building something worth ranking.