When it comes to SEO, people use just one TLD (top level domain). Most often,.com,.net,.biz, etc. are best. Buy more common TLDs if your business is competitive. This prevents others from building a website with your brand name if you are in a competitive market. But why are we telling you all this.
Domains, domain names and SEO are all interlinked when it comes to website and search and hence it is important to understand the corelation between domain and SEO. While we probe into this, many questions arise, like – Is SEO dependant on domains? Does domain age with SEO or vice versa?
Domain age no longer affects SEO. Some say it’s irrelevant. Today, content, technical setup, user experience, and how well your website answers Google queries matter more. You must rank first for a query. That simple? Nope. Domain age may not affect ranking. Older domains may have many backlinks, search engine rankings, etc. That could affect ranking because that’s what digital marketers are concerned about.
Anyhow, we would, in this article try to understand different aspects of domain that influence SEO. So, if you are wondering why, please grab a seat and keep reading.
Exact Match Domain (EMD) boosts rankings?
If Buycheaphomes.com exists (it probably is). An exact match domain name. Google introduced the EMD Update in 2012. Google changed its algorithm so websites with keyword-rich domain names wouldn’t rank just for that. Before the update, yes. Do keyword-containing domain names still work after this update? No, mostly.
Domain names don’t need keywords. Build a site on a different domain, write content about that keyword or topic, and outrank a site with the keyword in its domain name.
If you built a brand around an EMD and still get lots of traffic, keep going. Just make your branding perfect.
Branding your domain name
Branding increased after the EMD (Exact Match domains) update. Focusing on your brand rather than a keyword in your domain name makes more sense. Like LEGO.com, Amazon.com, and Google.com. Brand matters. It’s memorable and sets you apart from the competition. Branding is permanent (always look on the positive side of things).
Starting a business requires a unique brand and domain name. Multiple generic or country code TLDs prevent others from claiming it. Brands stick with you. A catchy domain name will grab attention. So, as an exercise, your domain if brandable will work wonders for SEO if your audience can think of it and search for it.
SEO and Multi-domain websites
301 redirecting multiple domain names to the main domain: worth it? Multi-domain websites are only used for offline and online marketing. A second domain name can drive traffic to a website project or campaign. Last paragraph emphasises “branding”. Using multiple domain names for the same website also dilutes links. In al honestly, that practice can be bad and go from bad to worse if not carefully thought.
A second domain name can be useful to give link juice to the main domain.
What are Domain Authority and Domain Rating?
We think we should talk about and explain these ideas. You probably already know or have heard about Domain Authority, Domain Rating, or Authority score. They were made by well-known SEO software companies:
Domain Authority: Moz made it. This number tells you how well your website will do in the search results.
Domain Rating: It was built by Ahref. This metric shows how strong a website’s backlink profile is in general. Semrush made the Authority score. This metric is used to measure the overall quality and SEO performance of a domain or page.
Basically, these metrics try to figure out how good a website is based on many different factors. They all have one thing in common: the backlink profile of a site is used to figure out the score. For Ahref’s Domain Rating metric, the only thing it looks at is links.
Conclusion
Google doesn’t rank websites using these factors. They are software-specific measurements. Use these metrics to guide your SEO plan even if Google doesn’t. However, it may contain errors. So, please be aware of such things.
We are hoping you have understood the relation between domain and SEO and how it can influence your SEO and its rankings. Needless to say that while doing a domain name registration you need to be aware of the fact that a reliable and trusted partner can help you. In case you have had any doubts pertaining to this article, please share them with us in the comments section below. We will answer the doubts at your behest.