Why keywords can be part of your domain name

Coming up with the perfect .CA domain name for your business can be a hard thing to do.

Does your name properly represent your brand or business? Is it catchy and memorable enough? Can people spell it? There’s a reason why comprehensive guides have been written about domain naming!

Now, we’re going to throw you a slight curveball and talk about creating a keyword-rich domain name for your business, so you can gain more quality traffic, clicks and search visibility. 

Domain names can play a big role in SEO.

First—a quick primer on keywords.

Canadians perform millions of web searches every day. And all these searches? Yup—they’re made up of keywords, which can be roughly divided into the following three groups:

• Short-tail keywords, like “mechanic,” “dim-sum” or “laptops.”
• Long-tail keywords, which are usually three or four-word phrases, such as “best pizza Canada,” or “top father’s day gifts.”
• Branded keywords, like “Canadian Tire” or “Saje” that refer to a specific brand or business.

Keywords are the driving force behind what search engines like Google decide to serve up to you on a results page.

So, when you’re creating a domain name, you need to think like a customer. By that, we mean, think carefully about the keywords and search queries your target audience might be using to find your brand, product or service.

To help get inspired, you might also consider doing keyword research using tools like Google Trends, which can help reveal keywords with high search volume that are relevant to your website.

By aligning your domain name with your audience’s search intent, you not only have a better chance of being found but you increase the likelihood of folks clicking through on your search result!

Here are three more ways adding keywords to your domain can increase your search engine optimization (SEO):

1. Relevance and improved click-through rate: people are more likely to click on a search result when it contains at least one of the keywords from their search inquiry. For example, if they search, “fresh bagels Guelph,” they might be more motivated to click on a domain name such as “freshbagels.ca” or “guelphbagel.ca.

Also—when a user performs a search in Google, the keywords that they’ve used are bolded in the results. For example, if we do a Google search for “Toronto Plumbing Service,” we can see that each of those keywords are bolded in the domains and meta descriptions in the result.

By bolding these terms, Google is highlighting the relevancy of these results to your search query, which often leads to more clicks in a search result. More clicks can ultimately help your site rank better for those keywords (provided you have a high-quality site with content that delivers on the needs of your visitors).

2. Better search rankings: domains are one of the many factors search engines consider when ranking their results.

Keep in mind, though, Google is all about user experience. So, if the keywords in your domain name don’t match your website’s content—or you don’t have useful content in place—then a keyword-rich domain won’t be of much help.

3. Brand recognition: your brand is your most important keyword, so add it to your .CA domain name. Let’s say your company is called Pete’s Piano Tuning. A good, branded keyword domain name might be, “petepianotune.ca” or “petetuning.ca”

4. Cheap and effective lead generation: registering multiple, keyword-rich domains for your business can help drive more targeted traffic to your website.

More keyword categories to include

Locations: having a .CA domain name already signals to folks that you’re (proudly) based in Canada! But you can refine your location even further—especially if your business is in a particular city, neighbourhood or even street.

Many people looking for a product or service will use location keywords—like, “Mississauga” or “Dufferin St,” as part of their search query (e.g., “dog groomers Mississauga”) to get more relevant results.

Products or services: along with using location keywords, searchers often include the specific type of product or service that they are looking for.

For example, let’s say your old pal Maurice, or “Mo’” owns an auto body shop. For Mo, the domain name “mobodyshop.ca” would be a good choice, because it includes his business name and the service he provides.

Now, if Mo was based in Edmonton, he could also register “mobodyshopyeg.ca” or “mobodyshopedmonton.ca”. This domain name helps him protect his brand, but also helps searchers see that Mo does auto body repair in Edmonton.

How many keywords should you include in your .CA domain name?

Domain name best practices state that shorter, more memorable domain names are typically best.

If you want to take advantage of adding keywords to your domain name, consider including no more than one or two keywords to set yourself apart and make your domain more relevant to the user.

Relying on a longer domain that perfectly matches the same search phrase you’re targeting (BestBagelShopOttawa.ca) won’t help. Why? For starters, these “exact match” domain names are often regarded as spam by Google and other search engines. In most cases, search engines will evaluate whether your website’s content actually satisfies the searcher’s query. 

Ultimately, including keywords in your .CA domain name is about balance. Keep things catchy, memorable and brand-friendly while (tastefully) incorporating keywords you’re trying to target.

Take-home tips for including keywords in your domain name

Here are some quick tips to keep in mind when choosing a domain name with keywords:

• Always try to include your business or brand name in your domain name
• Consider adding one or two additional keywords that you are targeting
• Domain names should be short, catchy and memorable
• Long, exact match domain names are often regarded as spam by search engines like Google.

Final thing: A keyword rich domain alone is not an SEO strategy, but it can be beneficial as a part of your overall, integrated SEO plan.

Now that you know the tips and tricks behind adding keywords to your domain name, let’s get you started with finding your dream .CA today!