What Are Domains?
A domain name is a website name that serves as the address that people on the internet can use to access your website. They consist of three parts:
A top-level domain, which is sometimes called an extension or domain suffix.
A domain name, also known as IP address.
Optional subdomain. The combination of the domain name and top-level domain is known as the “root domain”.
Top-level Domain
The top-level domain (TLD) comes at the very end of the domain name. The ones you have seen many times are:
- .com
- .net
- .org.
- .edu
There are over 1,000 possible TLDs from which you can choose. This also includes specific TLDs that are known as country-code top-level domains such as .uk or .us.
Domain Name
Domain names have a significant effect on the click-through rates from search and social media results to branding and even offline advertising. There are just a lot of places where your domain name can impact your brand. People tend to use their keywords in domain names, which sometimes can be a problem if Google sees it as keyword stuffed.
The combination of a unique domain name and the top-level domain is called “Root Domains” and together, they make a complete “website address”. Your website’s root domain is probably your homepage because here we’re talking about the highest page in your site hierarchy.
Rood Domains represent whole websites instead of specific web pages, so all the pages on a single website have the same root domain and no two different websites can have the same root domain.
Subdomain
Subdomains are listed before the root domain and separated from the domain name with a period. You can create them under any root domain webmaster controls.
Domain Names That Works for SEO
If you want to maximize search engine traffic, it’s important to keep a couple of things in mind.
Your domain name needs to be memorable. Think of short names that are easy to remember, easy to type, and easy to say. This is important for word-of-mouth advertising. Stay away from domain names that include numbers and non-standard characters. Never forget, the easier a domain is to read for humans, the easier it is for search engines as well.
Use a keyword that helps make it obvious what your business does, a catchy and brand-friendly domain name is always a good idea. On the other hand, stay away from domains that might be considered “keyword-rich”. Like we already mentioned, they have a tendency to be considered low-quality content in the eye of search engines.
Avoid using hyphens whenever you can because they are often linked to spammy behavior. Hyphens also decrease readability and memorability.
Finally, it doesn’t matter for how long a domain has been registered, it does not contribute to ranking in any way. Don’t put a high price on domain age.