Seo Goat

Hyphenated Domain Names Suck
First of all NEVER choose a hyphenated domain. If anyone says otherwise, it is a misconception. They are not worth any money, and I think they look unprofessional. And have you ever attempted to spell out a hyphenated domain name over the telephone? well when people ask: what’s a hyphen, things can start to get awkward, especially if there is more that one hyphen and the person you are talking to is a buffoon. So I recommend you try to avoid them with a barge pole if possible.

How many characters
Two and three letter domain names are ideal, and they are somewhat valuable. But unfortunately the majority, if not all, have been snagged. These are good domain names because they are usually very easy to remember (unless you’re thick), just like the acronym seo (search engine optimisation). But try doing some searches anyway and see if there are any available. You never know, you might get lucky and find one which has recently expired and acquire it for a cheap price. However if you have no luck, maybe include a number or two, like the mobile phone brand o2 have. These can sometimes be fitting and easy to remember, and there are possibly other domains that you can snap up which are of this two to three character format.

Four character domains are still a pretty good choice and worth money. However, the more characters, and number combinations you add, the less they make sense, and the less valuable and memorable they become. But if the letter combination stands for something, (like botw stands for best of the web, or seo stands for search engine optimisation), it can be valuable.

Matching Words In Domains
Single word domain names or domain names which match the phrase you are optimising for are extrememly valuable even if the word is a long one. Search any words and phrases in Google and you’ll notice that these exact match domains rank very well for the phrase or word which they match (to get a bonus the domain must not include hyphens). This is because Google in particular gives a bonus for having an exact match, and this is why these domains are so expensive. However, the more words you add, the more the bonus is diluted, and once you reach five or six words, there is not much of a bonus anymore. I also recently peformed a test to see if there would be an exact match bonus if you use two or three of the same words in the URL, like seoseoseo.com, and my finding were that there is not any benefit at all, so don’t waste your money on these as I did.

Use as Fewer Keys As You Can
Having a domain name which is easily typed is beneficial. Lets look at Google. By the time you have typed “goog” you have only used two keys, and you only have to swap keys to “le” to complete the brand name. So as an example, buying a domain name which required four keys to type eight letters, somewhat simplifies the process for users. The easier you can make it, the better.

Suspicions of Domain Brokers
If you have the money you might have to pay quite a bit for your ideal domain name. This is because dealers and domain brokers knew the name was a good one, so they bought it and parked it, in the hope someone like you will buy it for a nice sum of money. I also think that some registrars monitor domain searches, because I recently discovered several superb .com’s which were only cheap, and literally a minute later they had been purchased. This happened several times, which leaves me suspicious as to whether the domain registrars are auto purchasing good domain names when they are searched for (bastards).

Conclusion
When deciding upon a name I like to remember the simple rule “KISS” which is the acronym for “keep it simple, stupid”. The shorter and simpler you can make the name of your site, the more people will remember and come back to you time and time again. But more importantly, you also need a top quality site for your readers to do that.