Does [Website Name] affect SEO?
Updated: Feb 2
Does Website Name affect SEO?:
Website name or domain name do not greatly affect SEO or influence SEO outcomes especially when a website is new or unbranded, or when it has a name that is not very well known in the market.
“Our ranking systems consider the words in domain names as one of many factors to determine if content is relevant to a search. However, our exact match domain system works to ensure [we don't give too much credit for content hosted under domains designed to exactly match particular queries]” - Google Search Central [Exact Match Domain Ranking System]
Website Name and SEO:
Having keywords in the domain name can be marginally helpful for SEO, but it's not as important as other factors such as the quality and relevance of the website's content, the number and quality of backlinks pointing to the site, and the website's overall structure and design.
Whereas, if a customer or prospect hears about your website from a friend or by any means consistently from several ways, they are more likely to remember it if it has an easy-to-remember name and start searching about your website and explore to take the benefits.
In other words, a website name with a good reputation and history can positively affect SEO, because search engines prefer websites that have higher brand recognition.
So, if you are just thinking or are already planning for a new website name, make sure it is unique, concise, and commonly recognized. Also, pay close attention to the following:
“While there's no limit to how long a site name can be, on some devices long site names may be truncated” - Google Search Central [Site Name Content Guidelines]
All in all, having a well-thought-out website name can help your SEO efforts, but make sure it is easy to spell and remember so that over time, you can give your website a boost in the search engine rankings by building a brand reputation.
Pro-Tip: It is important to understand that SEO is a long-term game and requires ongoing effort to stay ahead of the competition. To maintain a positive reputation with search engines, avoid using black-hat SEO techniques at all costs.
Here's related information that might be useful to you – Google’s Various Systems For Search Engine Ranking [18 Major Findings from New Google Guide]
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