Quick question here: How important is a domain name in regard to SEO efforts? I have two, one with a 301 redirect pointing to a longer one only because the longer one is indexed and has merrit with the serps. The short domain is something like "bluewidget.com" and the long - indexed - and ranking domain is "bluewidgetonline.com". Is it to the sites advantage to switch to the short domain? The site, longer domain, has been indexed with major search engines for about 5 years, generates some traffic organically, and has been around for awhile. However using the shorter domain is more brandable and I'm wondering if there is an SEO value to domain length? Please advise. Thanks.
Not really since Google (talking majority here) puts much more weight on domain age than length and generally because domain length is better from a usability perspective. However, that doesn't mean you go and register a 10 word domain but a one word, two word or three word domain should rank just as equally depending on the main factors. (Domain age, on-page seo and off-page seo etc) So "bluewidgetonline.com" would be far more beneficial because its been indexed for over 5 years (which is great). But, in terms of branding/marketing, the shorter one would be good for that reason...SEO doesn't really come into it. Hopefully that helps mate
Thank you, that all makes sense. I was just wondering if I should switch the domain to the shorter because it's a recent purchase and contains 14 characters instead of 20. I guess it would make sense to use the shorter domain with the 301 redirect on printed marketing material, and the longer for SEO purposes because of it's age? Please clarify if I'm off track? PS - This forum rocks! I'm a newb and am loving what I'm learning.
IMO, it is better to restrict the length of the URL to something normal. Google Says, Long URLs May Hurt You!
What would be considered a long URL? In this case the long URL is 21 characters not including the .com or the www. The short one is fifteen characters. I also own shorter domains but would have to change the brand to use them. The current brand has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, US News, Money Magazine, and some other notable publications. The 15 character domain would be my preference for now. If character length is truly important I do have an amazing 8 character domain that I could use but would need to change the brand and lose the credibility of the PR??? Should I just create a new business with a different name and keep both???? What should I do???? What is necessary to keep your ranking if you do change the domain name? Yes, this is a can of worms, I know and have heard!!! However I paid a fair amount of money for the new domain and if it's beneficial to my SEO efforts I want to switch! If it's not beneficial to SEO efforts then it seems that a 301 would be in order and just as effective offline when promoting a domain in general??? Please help, now I'm confused.....
keyword rich short domain is good. You can include 2 keywords in your domain, try to make as short as you can. like genuineseoexperts, it consists 2 keywords.