What Domain Name to Use Keyword or Brand

You have the idea to your site clear in your head, the only thing lefts, is to choose your domain name. Should you chose a keyword rich domain name or go for a brand type of domain name? Let’s take a closer look on the two types of domain names, keyword and brand domains, in this article.

A common assumption is, that a keyword rich domain name will give you a higher ranking in the search engines, that’s wrong. A keyword rich domain name does not guarantee you a high ranking in the search engines, alone. There are more factors that the search engines use to determine your rank, than just your domain name. Now, don’t get me wrong, I didn’t say that a keyword domain is useless. I said that there, might be other factors, that would outrank a keyword rich domain name, like the number of backlinks, that points to your domain.

I think that this rule is, simple and easy to follow, when it comes to select your domain name. If you build a site that your surfers will visit just a few times, to buy an e-book for example, then you should go for a keyword rich domain name. If your goal is to build a site that you hope will get returning visitors, a keyword rich domain, is not your best shoot.

If you are building a website, that you will have returning visitors, you should consider a brand domain name. A brand domain name is, easy to remember and type in, also it will stick inside your head very easily. Brand names are domains like, Yahoo, Google, YouTube, Ask, etc. Such domain names will, over time, start living their own life. It’s much easier for people to remember a brand domain name, and share them with others at work, college or the subway. It’s much easier to remember Google, than it is to remember MyBestSearchSiteOnline dot com, isn’t?

So if you want your surfers coming back to your new website, help them out by giving them a short, easy to remember domain name. Also, by selecting a brand domain name, you might, get a domain name that will, eventually, build credibility around it and start to market itself.

What about hyphened domain names, then? Well, again, it all depends on what site you are planning. If you build a site to sell your e-book, service or gadget, then go with a keyword rich domain name, hyphened or not, doesn’t matter. However, if you are building a site for returning visitors, then go for a brand domain name.

Here are some tips on how to come up with those brand domain names, which can be hard to come up with. Play with words, or better, let your friends play with words. You can give them two or more words and let them create new words, based out of them. For example, Google and solution, can give you hoolution, after a while, you will have plenty of words that can be used for your new, brand domain name. Just give it time and don’t give up.

About the Author
Learn more about designing, building and how to generate traffic, to your site, at the new webmasters blog Floogi

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Tags: brand, domain, Domain Names, keywords, Website