{"id":1015,"date":"2017-05-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T21:28:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediaoptions.com\/blog\/domain-names-impact-seo\/"},"modified":"2025-10-15T22:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T22:16:07","slug":"blog-domain-names-impact-seo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediaoptions.com\/blog\/domain-names-impact-seo\/","title":{"rendered":"Domain Names Impact SEO"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What happens when another brand owns your brand online?<\/p>\n

Getting ranked on the first page of Google for your search term is priceless.<\/p>\n

I think you will agree with me when I say that SEO is critical to any company\u2019s success online.**<\/h2>\n

So then\u2026 SEO is King, right? Well, sort of. If you understand these key elements of how your domain name impacts your branding and SEO you could increase your traffic by 40% or see 2x in your click-through rates. When you deal with the quality of domains and the number of companies we contact you hear several reoccurring objections.<\/p>\n

One common objection we hear is:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cMy SEO team says domains don\u2019t matter anymore<\/em>\u201d.<\/h3>\n

SEO has come a long way, and a good SEO team should be able to get your domain ranked above the competition.<\/p>\n

This does not mean that branding is dead or domain names don\u2019t matter.It is actually the opposite when you look into the details of what makes SEO successful.Your brand and domain\u00a0name\u00a0impacts every level of your company and culture.\u00a0 It is how you speak of business, how you introduce yourself, and email.<\/p>\n

SEO is a major and crucial element to the success of any online business.\u00a0 The SEO team should help but not be driving significant branding decisions.<\/p>\n

The skills of the SEO team and the branding team are different.\u00a0 This is kind of like saying when you are buying a building for your business\/store, my accountant doesn\u2019t think location matters anymore for my business.\u00a0 Your accountant is necessary but within their expertise.<\/p>\n

If you let pure algorithms determine your branding strategy, you run serious mistakes of building your foundation on a weak brand which impacts conversion, positioning, and product expansion.<\/p>\n

For example, Gusto rebranded from ZenPayroll because they needed a brand that would allow them to increase their product offerings.\u00a0 They also captured the direct brandable domain \u2013 Gusto.com.\u00a0 This decision actually hurt their short-term SEO however positioned them for long term growth (more on this later). A great brand will increase you SEO because of how it captures authority, leadership and reinforces your brand.<\/p>\n

Here are several of the ways that domains impact SEO in a positive way.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Branding<\/li>\n
  2. Communicate leadership positioning<\/li>\n
  3. Conversion<\/li>\n
  4. Link building<\/li>\n
  5. Building trust<\/li>\n
  6. Email<\/li>\n
  7. Ease of sharing<\/li>\n
  8. Avoiding confusion with other brands<\/li>\n
  9. Connecting with consumer intent<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Domain names impact SEO\u00a0 however not always in an obvious way.<\/p>\n

    Too often SEO experts get stuck on the algorithm side of SEO and forget the human element of SEO and impact from building a great brand.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Your domain needs to match your brand.\u00a0 The closer your domain is to your brand the exponential impact to your marketing and positioning.\u00a0 It communicates power with your marketing.\u00a0 This is because we have come to expect top companies to own exact match, premium, and category defining domains.<\/p>\n

    What are the key elements of SEO?<\/h3>\n

    Let\u2019s look at what a few SEO masters have to say.<\/p>\n

    Neil Patel<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Here is how Neil Patel defines Search Engine Optimization (SEO)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    \u201cSearch engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your online content so that a search engine likes to show it as a top result for searches of a particular keyword.\u201d Neil Patel<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Here are some of the basic SEO strategies that Neil writes about \u2013(my recap)<\/em><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Produce quality content<\/li>\n
    2. Make sure people want your content through keyword research<\/li>\n
    3. Post often to keep the content fresh<\/li>\n
    4. Make sure your content is optimized for the search engines (titles, meta data, etc\u2026)<\/li>\n
    5. Get backlinks and lots of them<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      If you are looking for more information, I would recommend checking out this summit from Neil and many top experts in SEO.<\/p>\n

      \"Domain<\/p>\n

      Brian Dean<\/strong> is the master at backlinks and understanding their importance on impacting your sites SEO.<\/p>\n

      He analyzed over one million Google search results to understand what is the top item impacting SEO<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      His key Takeaway was that links from a diverse group of domains are vital for SEO.\u00a0 He found the number of domains linking to a page correlated with rankings more than any other factor.They also found that longer content that covered a topic in depth outperformed content that was shallow.<\/p>\n

      How your brand\/domain connects with your content will play a determining factor in generating backlinks.Your content needs to be authentic and connect with your audience. Acquiring backlinks is an important part of every SEO strategy.<\/p>\n

      Links are easier to get when you brand communicates authority and consumer intent.\u00a0Think how much easier it is to get links with sand.com<\/strong> versus DebbiesSandCompany.com.<\/p>\n

      Short brandable domains are highly valued for this very reason.\u00a0 For example, Fly.com recently sold for $2.8M in April 2017. It is kind of like how when you look in your inbox and see an email from someone saying they are from your bank but using a super spamy email address (very creepy).<\/p>\n

      The shorter the domain or closer to your brand the more trust we put into link.\u00a0 We think this way because there are so many scams and viruses today.\u00a0 It is just how we protect ourselves online.<\/p>\n

      SEO implies that you have a link to share and keywords are a major element of ranking and connecting to intent.SEO supports a great brand by getting the message out to drive traffic.\u00a0 The strong the brand, authority, and leadership of the company the easier SEO become.<\/p>\n

      Notice that Neil uses NeilPatel.com, QuickSprout.com<\/a>, Kissmetrics.com and not MyNeilPatel.com or QuickSproutUSA.com.\u00a0 Also look at how Moz utilizes MOZ.com for their domain and not MyMoz.com.<\/p>\n

      I\u00a0am sure this comment is going to upset quite a few people, but you lose trust points the longer the domain and further from your brand\u00a0(outside of category defining domains).\u00a0 The .com domain instills the most trust because of how widely used it is today.\u00a0 This is why .com domains will sell for 90% over other extensions \u2013 like the .net TLD.<\/p>\n

      **Do domain names impact SEO?Yes, domain names impact SEO however not always in the obvious way. Strong brands are easier to promote which helps with your backlink strategy. SEO experts\u00a0that focus on the\u00a0human element of SEO and impact from building a great brand will increase conversion. Your domain name is inseparable from your brand because of the influence of our online world.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Ok, so why are we talking about branding? We are talking this because branding and domains are now inseparable.\u00a0 Great brands own their brand domain online (especially in the .com).<\/p>\n

      The first step for most brands today is to research and determine if the domain and trademark are available and in use for their category.Most of us have the intuitive sense when we come across a great brand.\u00a0 This is because of how the brand interacts at all aspects (product, messaging, mission or 4 P\u2019s\u2026etc\u2026) and touch points.<\/p>\n

      It is kind of like when you hear someone say\u2026ahh what a great brand.\u00a0 It just works.<\/p>\n

      From a domain name point of view, your domain should almost go unnoticed because it should match your brand\u2019s identity.\u00a0 Nobody sits around and say\u2019s wow Amazon has a great domain.\u00a0 That is because Amazon has made their domain selection effortless by owning the exact domain in the (.com).<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Side note, once a domain is connected to brand it becomes much more than just a domain.\u00a0 This is why the domain Cars.com was valued at $837M on their financial statements. When a company\u2019s domain does not match the brand, it creates dissonance in our minds.<\/p>\n

      There are lots of great resources on branding online.\u00a0 I picked these three to sum it up:<\/h3>\n

      Business Insider<\/a><\/p>\n

      \u201cThe best brand names become a part of consumers\u2019 vocabularies and synonymous with the items they represent\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

      \u201cA name is a moniker that a company is going to wear probably the longest of anything we develop,\u201d says Sasha Stack, a partner at the Boston offices of brand-strategy and design firm Lippincott<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Hubpsot<\/a> \u2013 What is brand identity?<\/strong><\/p>\n

      A brand is the \u201cname, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller\u2019s goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers,\u201d according the American Marketing Association. Your brand identity is the representation of your company\u2019s reputation through the conveyance of attributes, values, purpose, strengths, and passions.<\/p>\n

      It includes what your brand says, what its values are, how you communicate its concepts, and which emotions you want your customers to feel when they interact with your business. As Jeff Bezos says, \u201cBranding is what people say about you when you\u2019re not in the room.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Delux.com \u00a0\u2013 Six Reasons why strong brands are important to small businesses.<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Beyond just a memorable logo, good branding increases the value of a company, provides employees with direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier.<\/p>\n

      A brand represents the sum of people\u2019s perception of a company\u2019s customer service, reputation, advertising, and logo.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

      Ways a strong brand impacts your business<\/h4>\n