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Fancy a .cat domain - for your SEO?

 

It seems like specialist domains are emerging from the woodwork, with everything from .cat domain and .guru domain to the new .uk domain. Do they still hold relevance for your SEO or is it now all becoming a bit of a fad and an opportunity for some Domain Registrars to make some easy cash?

It's important to get the right domain and make it a part of your SEO strategy.

If you’re not so 'SEO' sure how about a .cat domain?

Those of us vain enough (.my) or those that feel a religious ferver (.va – Vatican City State) can personalise our web domains, in the hope of making it more memorable and more visited. How about a .cat domain?

Interestingly I have been perusing a Blog (SEO by the SEA), where the author Bill Slawski, who has been involved in professional SEO since 1996, has done some interesting research on TLD and their popularity.

At the top end, Google’s most popular and least popular top level domains are as follows and probably no surprises here...

.com - Commercial - 4,860,000,000

.org - Noncommercial - 1,950,000,000

.edu - US accredited postsecondary institutions - 1,550,000,000

.gov - United States Government - 1,060,000,000

.uk - United Kingdom - 473,000,000

The most unusual domains that I find, are the most interesting. Could some amusing domains be created? If you run a specific ‘Mum’s site,' then bestm.um could be a worthwhile investment? Or if you're a fan of Barbarians Rugby, perhaps baabaas.ba could be a bit of fun. Or for Trekkie fans, how about makeit.so (which exists in a basic format)?

Yes it's all a bit of fun (and do treat our above suggestions as so!), but it carries more serious weight too. Even though all these domain types are available, some of them might not be available to you, as some do come with caveats – like .cat requires at least a page in Catalan!

Let's look at MOZ's domain pages for reference to explore the more serious element to this...

Top SEO tips when choosing a domain for your business

There are a number of considerations when selecting a domain name. Among them, are making the name short, easy to remember, and easy to type. It is also important that the name is easy to type into a browser. This is especially true for websites that rely on word-of-mouth advertising, which forces people to type domain names that they might not be familiar with into their web browser.

Word Separators
Avoid hyphens. Hyphens detract from credibility and can act as a spam indicator.

Top-Level Domain (TLD)
Top-level domains (like .com) are the extensions associated with domain names. For best ranking results, avoid uncommon top-level domains (TLDs). Like hyphens, TLDs such as .info, .cc, .ws, and .name are spam indicators.

Length
Avoid domain names longer than 15 characters. Short domain names are easier to remember, easier to share, and have a smaller chance of resulting in typos.

For SEO best practice, to maximize search engine-referred traffic, please follow this link for further information on this initial important decision on the name you wish to use for your business. Once you’ve read through this then make sure you research your prospective domain thoroughly as its impact can be great if you get it right or even make you a small fortune if you can sell it on

If you would like to know more about how domain name choice can affect your SEO, or are interested in a .uk domain to add to your .co.uk, please click here. Alternatively, if you would like to download our latest presentation on SEO, click here. Feel free to give us a call (01202 788333) or email us. We can arrange a consultation meeting to discuss your marketing needs. To find out more about the SEO services we offer, click here.

 

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