Knowledge Base

Shorter or longer domain?

The question of whether a domain should be shorter or longer cannot be given an unambiguous answer. The maximum allowed length of domains is 63 characters, which of course is a lot and hardly anyone will have the patience to write 63 letters, numbers and dashes to open a site.

Many internet marketers are of the opinion that the domain should be as short as possible and that the shorter it is, the better, as short domain names are easier to remember, write and pronounce. Of course, this is not the case in 100% of cases.

The ideal option for a domain would be a single and short word (3-6 characters), which is key to the area. Of course, this type of domain has been bought for a long time and the chance of someone getting such a domain is close to zero. The purchase of such a domain name from its owner usually costs from several tens of thousands to several million dollars.

It is conventionally considered that the length of the "quality" domain should not exceed 15 characters. Domains under 10 characters are especially preferred. Domains consisting of one to a maximum of two words are also considered to be of the highest quality.

Such "rules" should not be misleading. Two of the most expensive domains in the history of the Internet are made up of 4 words each, with the length of one being 14 characters and the other being 10. The domains are

AsSeenOnTV.com - sold for $ 5 million and
ForSaleByOwner.com - Sold for $ 835,000

In some cases, the length of the domain simply cannot be small because the domain is a well-established expression in the language - as is the case with the above two domains, or because it is made up of two or more words that are interconnected and must be used. together, but they are also quite long.

On the other hand, there are quite short domains that are practically impossible to remember, unlike other, much longer domains. For example, domains like kqfiw.com, rxymj.com, etc. are difficult to remember unlike much longer but mnemonic domains. The mnemonic domain is not made up of chaotic letters, but of semantically related words or popular abbreviations that easily come to mind when the thought is directed in the right direction.

When choosing a domain, it is advisable to avoid short strings of 4-5 letters and numbers, which practically make the domain impossible to remember and play. Even if you find a 3-character domain (there are still some) that does not "fit" your business in any way (eg gw7.com/net/biz, k8q.com / net / biz, etc.) - it is not recommended to dwell on it. It is good to find a name, even consisting of 2 or 3 words, which accurately, clearly and unambiguously indicate the content of your site and the type of your activity. This is also important because of the keywords that will rank your site in the top search engine rankings.

Experts, of course, are right in saying that the domain name should be short and "tight". No one wants to type an onlineaccommodationdirectory.com domain in the browser. There is another problem here - such a domain cannot be "covered in the eye" - it is not immediately clear how many words it consists of and what its meaning is. This brings us to the issue of using dashes in domains - another much-discussed issue. And in this case there is no rule that applies in 100% of cases. If your domain consists of two or three words, its visual perception will be much easier if these words are separated by dashes. On the other hand, when customers decide to visit the site, they may forget that there is a hyphen between the words and write the domain merged - so they will end up on another page and you will have to "share" your traffic with the owner of the same domain, but registered without a hyphen between the words. At the same time, if the words in your domain are separated by a hyphen, this will make it easier for search engines to find your site only on the domain, because search engines search for individual keywords rather than merged keywords. Two merged words are perceived by search engines as one, while dashed words are perceived as separate words with a pause between them.

Especially if the domain is composed of 2 or 3 long words, the hyphen is preferable, as it will make the name clearer in appearance and easier to read. Therefore, it is advisable, if possible, to register both variants of the preferred domain when it is composed of two or more words - with a hyphen and without a hyphen.