Domain Names – Longer the better
Controversial? But there are reasons.
There was a small meeting of webmasters and armature bloggers at Samanta Hall in Hayat Academy. The startling new views, spilled against those traditional conventions, were clear indication of shifting trend in information technology. Rest of the topics are out of scope for this small blog post but what startled me was choice of domain names. This made me bit more curious to look for information and share with you the favor for longer domain names.
Once upon a time, movies were titled with one word. I don’t know much abut Holleywood, but this was what in Bolleywood and Kolleywood. “Dosti”, “Hiphajat”, “Samjhana”, “Bishwas” used to be the names. Recent trend in motion pictures adopted longer titles such as “Youg dekhi Youg Samma”, “Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge”, “Ma ta Timi Bina Marihalchhu”. Is it just because all the ‘’one word’ titles are already consumed?
Search Engines started to index longer and multi-worded keywords to better match their result. It’s the time for webmasters and bloggers to grasp the trend and meta tag their keyword with list of phrases than list of words. Has longer started to become better?
Christopher Heng of thesitewizard.com favours short domain names. He says:
“Which would I go for? I’d go for the shorter name if I can get a meaningful one, but I’m not averse to longer names. However, I would probably avoid extremely long names verging on 67 characters. Aside from the obvious problem that people might not be able to remember such a long name, it would also be a chore typing it and trying to fit it as a title on your web page”
Similarly, Jijo Sunny opines short domain names are very important if you are going to buy one for your website.
“Choosing a short domain is a very important matter before you are going to register a new domain…
Here are some features of the short domain names:
They are his views. There are opposing arguments though. For human brain, it is easy to remember phrases and sentences compared to words. Which one you find it easier to remember for longer time - mbws.com or myBestWebSite.com?
The statement “Short URLs are highly search engine optimized” is no more true. Experts suggests to use your primary keywords in domain name – better separated with dashes (-). For example online-money-making-opportunities.com is far better favored by search engines than to ommo.com. I don’t believe you’ll get money.com anymore.
Sunny’s third statement is nothing more than funny!
ActiveDomain.com reveals some secrets of long domain names in its resources page:
“Well, obviously, money and profit is a big factor but it allows you to really market any existing site you may have. Many people are registering long domain names in order to get their websites ranked on top of the search engines. It is another way to generate traffic for a minimal cost.
Search engines tend to like words that are separated by dashes (little known secret!). People have been registering keywords as domain names to target search engine results but now you can register multiple keywords using this method. Mind you, you still need to be selective and do your research. This latest internet marketing technique is already being used by thousands of people.”
There might be many people still interested to own a shortest domain name, Are you too?
26 Responses to “Domain Names – Longer the better”
Featured in MMO Social Network on April 1, 2010
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Chris@ 48hours logo on April 1, 2010
I actually played around with this idea and did some research. True that having the keywords in your domain name helps. But that’s not a overwhelming factor. I say it give you some extra juices with SERP ranking. But Google also give extra points for shorter domain names.
.-= Chris@ 48hours logo´s last blog ..How to run a successful logo design contest =-.
shkhanal
Twitter: icttrends
on April 2, 2010
Thank you Chris for your views. Now, it is important how much value a search engine assigns to short domain names and keyword loaded domain names.
When we don’t care to make shortest URL for our posts, is there really any value to make only our home page URL shortest? Would love if you share the findings of your research in this regard.
Dana @ Blogging Tips Blog
Twitter: danalingga
on April 2, 2010
I think the best is meaningful domain name whether it short or long.
.-= Dana @ Blogging Tips Blog´s last blog ..Should Read The Tag of Blog Post – Especially in April 1st =-.
Gruvix
Twitter: gruvix
on April 24, 2010
You are right, i think that is the question. Best regards from argentina
.-= Gruvix´s last blog ..Top 3 Juegos gratis para BlackBerry =-.
Chris@hosting a blog
Twitter: Blogtap
on April 2, 2010
Hmm, I think that the most important thing is that at least a few keywords are jammed into the domain name. Length does matter though, especially if you have many keywords in your domain.
.-= Chris@hosting a blog´s last blog ..By: Buying a domain for your blog « Blogging 101 « Blogtap.net =-.
shkhanal
Twitter: icttrends
on April 2, 2010
So, you believe that we can accept bit longer doman names (5 to 10 character long) if a few keywords can be put into.
I used this domain name ictTrends.com for my blog and its much surprising to see some traffic from search engine for keyword ICT and TRends though my blog is not about them. I never promoted the domain with those keywords. So, the keywords in domain play much more role than what I was realizing.
Heru Kurniawan on April 3, 2010
You make a point with this post, my opinion that best domain names are still those short, 2-3 keywords, easy memorable ones. Plus, the longer it is, more prone to types it is. Excellent post!
.-= Heru Kurniawan´s last blog ..Lesson About Marketing (Learned by Micheael Cheney) =-.
Sushie on April 3, 2010
In my opinion, short domain name are better than long name but the most important is that there are keywords in the url, it is more easy to remember.
How Achieved Google PR 4 from 1? on April 5, 2010
[...] Domain Names – Longer the better [...]
Tim on April 6, 2010
I don’t have a domain registered yet but I think I would prefer to keep a long domain name, maximum of two words like
word1-word2.com
That seems acceptable and still very elegant to look at.
.-= Tim´s last blog ..Why You Should Carefully Choose Your Friends =-.
shkhanal
Twitter: icttrends
on April 6, 2010
Yes Tim, I never expect I’ll get some meaningful domain name of one word only. All of them are already grabbed. The best way is to choose two words that is easier to remember as well as contain keywords in it. This will have both the benefit of regular readers as well as search engine favor.
Sourish | Wordpress Install Guide
Twitter: http://www.wordpressinstall.org
on April 6, 2010
longtail domain names are easy to find and rank for. though a little hard to remember for regular readers
.-= Sourish | WordPress Install Guide´s last undefined ..Response cached until Wed 7 @ 10:40 GMT (Refreshes in 23.99 Hours) =-.
shkhanal
Twitter: icttrends
on April 6, 2010
We should not lean too much to technical benefits only and completely forget regular readers. The best domain name is the one that is within the limit regarding length with maximum possible keyword injected.
Simon on April 6, 2010
I believe you should target your audience not a google spider. Key wording is useful but don’t let it lose you customers. It’s always best to stick with a website name that reflects the business and product, and more importantly can be remembered.
shkhanal
Twitter: icttrends
on April 6, 2010
I agree with you whole heartedly, but at the same time, I can’t forget the fact that more than 90% of site traffic are from search engines. Search Engines and Audience are not two opposing entitnes, but in fact, search engines are the guides to visitors. If the guide himself does not know your villa well, how can you expect huge number of tourists?
Regarding sticking to website name, I agree. When you choose website name that reflects the business and product, it will certainly be natural to choose brand name itself. My point is, if you don’t get your desired one word domain name, will you pay thousands and millions of dollars for domain name? Are you so scared with long domain name? Up to acceptable longest domain name has benefits than pitfalls.
An Example of Perfect SEO - BloggingJunkie | ICT Trends on April 7, 2010
[...] Domain Names – Longer the better [...]
Kim on April 7, 2010
Is it true that dashes are helpful? I was looking up domain names the other day and, of course, all the ones that I wanted were taken but many were available with dashes between the words. I didn’t think they were useful but now I’m wondering if I should reconsider them.
.-= Kim´s last blog ..Travelogue =-.
shkhanal
Twitter: icttrends
on April 8, 2010
It is not dashes that help you in ranking, but when the domain name with desired keywords is not available it is better to choose one with dashes rather than a completely different domain name.
Dave - Belize Real Estate Expert on April 25, 2010
Yes I agree that the dashes in the desired keywords for a similar domain name are VERY important in the eyes of Google, but one thing I have noticed with my websites is the end-user (the customer) will sometimes get confused and type in your COMPETITOR’S site!
This has happened to me both ways. Sometimes my competitor’s customers will accidentally email me, and sometimes my customers will accidentally email my competitors.
It’s not very common (as far as I know…..!) but it is definitely something you need to consider when choosing your domain names.
.-= Dave – Belize Real Estate Expert´s last blog ..Real Estate in Belize – 15 Acres of Citrus at Mile 19 on the Hummingbird Hwy! No. 1265 =-.
Dave
Twitter: None
on April 26, 2010
I don’t have a domain registered yet but I think I would prefer to keep a long domain name, maximum of two words like
word1-word2.com
That seems acceptable and still very elegant to look at.
.-= Tim´s last blog ..Why You Should Carefully Choose Your Friends =-.
Keith on April 27, 2010
Interesting that you think dashes help – I’ve used them in a few domain names, but not a lot of people like them when registering their own domain name. I might just point some customers at this page when we’re going around in circles trying to find a name for their new website!
painters Portland on May 6, 2010
All the links in your blogs are very useful:)
Apartment Croatia on May 20, 2010
usually, shorter domain names will be easily remembered by all and it also helps in link building…
Ken McFarland on July 18, 2010
I'm sure opinions on this are like belly buttons – everybody's got one. And I've heard conflicting info on what the SEs prefer. But my own approach is first, to try and find the shortest DN available that includes my main keywords or site name, without hyphens. If that doesn't work, I'll insert a hyphen and see how it goes. Amazing how many times that one hyphen can get you a version of what you want while staying with a dot-com instead of falling back to a dot-net or other.
John on January 2, 2011
I do agree with you. Domain are cheaper then few years ago. Now you can buy a lot of domain and sell them.. but it is not so easy. In one hand b4 u had to pay much more, but now u could sell it much more. But what to do now? Its good question – bcs domain with 1 word is hard to register we have to choose name with more words in name – is it worth this price? I wish someone can tell us something about it.