Tips on choosing a domain for a site
Contrary to the prevailing opinion, choice of domain name plays a critical role in the development and promotion of sites. Together with competent SEO optimization and quality content of the resource, all these factors allow to bring the project to the TOP, which is crucial, especially for commercial purposes.
What is the domain?
Before starting the process of choosing a domain, there is need to understand what it is all about. In reality, a domain is the name of your site, it is the address of the resource on the Internet. Its name may include numbers and letters. In addition, the more unique the domain is, the easier it will be to promote the project. It's also worth remembering that there are certain requirements for any domain name. Thus, the total number of characters in the title should not exceed 255 characters, and only 63 could be placed between the points. The later rule is applied only in the case of third-level domains and above.
Domain Name Levels
Each site address includes domain names of different levels, possible amount of which varies from two to five. Let's have a look at an example to make it clearer.
ca.hostzealot.com
In this case, the domain consists of three levels:
- com - top-level domain
- hostzealot - second-level domain
- ca - third-level domain
As you can see, the number of levels corresponds to the total number of words separated by dots. Nevertheless, there’s no need to intentionally add extra levels, unless circumstances warrant it. In the example above, the third-level domain name “ca” informs the user that upon transition the login page for your personal account will be opened. You will agree that such a structure is very convenient for perception.
The role of the domain in SEO promotion
In creating a resource for commercial purposes, the choice of a domain name needs to be taken more seriously. Both the position of the site in the TOP of search engines and the number of customers will surely depend on it. A top-level domain will take a crucial part in this case. In other words, it is also called a domain zone (ru, net, com, and so on). For more effective SEO promotion, you need to consider the following factors:
- The choice of a domain zone should be determined by the region in which the target audience of the company resides or by the type of activity
- The simpler and more unique the name of the resource (domain) will be, the better
- You should choose domain names with a good history, as search engines trust these resources the most
All these factors together will allow you to choose the right name for the site, thereby increasing its position among competitors in the theory.
Types of domain zones
Basically, there are two types of top-level domains-regional and thematic. In the first case, the name corresponds to the country in which the company operates. Here are some popular examples of such domains:
- uk - Britain
- us - USA
- ca - Canada
- se - Sweden
- de - Germany
- pl - Poland
- nl - Netherlands
- ru - Russia
- ua - Ukraine
If your activities are not limited to one country, then it is necessary to use the domain zone to simply indicate the type of activity. The most popular top-level domains are as follows:
- net - Internet communications and telecommunications
- org - Nonprofit organizations
- info - Sites and blogs that provide information services
- com - Commercial projects and resources
- gov - Official government resources
- edu - Sites of educational institutions and institutions
- tv - Resources related to television broadcasting
- shop - Projects for the sale of something and websites of online stores
- pro - Professional services platform
Also, you should remember a few unwritten rules that you need to consider when choosing a domain and its zone. Firstly, try not to use too long names. Secondly, try to avoid dashes and hyphens in the title. It’s possible to use them, but it is not recommended by specialists. Third, do not make domains that are similar to existing large sites. Sometimes this can be perceived as phishing and result in litigation.
Note that the cost of different domain zones can radically differ. It entirely depends on the history of the project, the direct domain of the top level and the number of characters in the name of the site. The fewer they are, the more expensive it will be to purchase a domain.
If you have thought it over and weighed everything, then, a little step remains - register a domain.