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Domain Name

Q

I am just in the process of getting a website going. Need to purchase a Domain name. Is it critical to have the exact name of the business as one’s domain name? The reason I ask, is that the exact name is not available. Only versions of it. For example: If my company is called “Happy And Excited Photography”, (exact domain name not available), and the domain names available are “HappyExcitedPhotography.com” (no “and”), or HappyAndExcitedPhotographyStudio.com or any other version of the company words – how does my choice affect my SEO rankings? Is one choice better then the other or does it not really matter? Does the rankings for SEO more have to do with the internal things one does to each page?

Thanks for your time.

A

Hi Mark, Thanks for the question! There's nothing that says you have to have your exact business name reflect your Domain (unless your country has specific rules regarding this. I've heard Australia may have rules like this, but I don't know the specifics. I would encourage you to research that with your business governing organizations). I was fortunate to get FlauntYourSite.com, but would have also been happy to get Flaunt.com. And for my photography company, William Bay Photographic Arts, I just use WilliamBay.com SEO wise, it really won't a difference. Having keywords in your domain may help slightly. But I would rather have a name that is easy for people to remember than the very slight boost in SEO value.