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Can Good Domain Names Help Get More Backlinks?
Something I’ve been wondering lately… Do domain names matter for backlinks?
I was pondering about my days at university and remembered something — I was taught to really look into the sources to make sure they were legitimate enough to use for various papers and essays.
Do reporters, bloggers, and other publishers do this when looking for sources for their articles?
The reason I’m asking is because I run a fairly successful wildlife publication, and frankly, I don’t love the name I chose for it years ago.
It’s a bit kitchy, and doesn’t seem that “serious”. Because of this, I believe my site is looked over when other reporters/writers are looking for sources.
That brings me to this question:
Does picking a good domain name help get more backlinks?
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For example, let’s say I’m a reporter working for Forbes and i’m writing a piece about the tallest mountains in the United States.
I’m looking for sources to link in the Forbes article, and I come across two top ranked sites for a “tallest mountains in the US” Google search.
One domain is: “superdupermountains.com”
And the other is: “USmountains.org”
Both have similarly well thought out content, and could be a great source for my Forbes article.
Do I choose to link to the latter, usmountains.org, simply based on the fact that the URL/sitename looks more legit?
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Going back to my wildlife publication – I’m considering investing in a 1 word, .org domain for around $1,500 and rebranding my site accordingly.
It would be a switch from something like “coolelephants.com” to “elephants.org” (obviously not my niche, URL, or URL I’m looking to buy. Just an example).
Doing so would be minimal work, and would take maybe a few hours.
Is that worth it in the long run, and would a stronger, more reputable looking URL get me more natural backlinks? Or would I be better off investing $1,500 into site speed, more content, other backlink strategies/consultants, etc.?
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6 Replies
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No
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I think that for either case you can find plenty of examples that work. Ultimately it ends up being what you use it for. I can think of a lot of websites that have stupid fucking names but they’ve been around and had such success that they validated themselves.
I think a better brandable domain name, specifically a .com, as always preferable.
One option is to just put “the” in front of the domain that cost $15 00, get your ass to work, and then buy the shorter version when you have $1,500 in profit that you can justify the expense.
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This is not so much an SEO strategy, but could you slowly re-brand the site? Maybe rename it something like “Elephants.org by Cool Elephants” for six months so that your current readers are slowly introduced to the change?
This happens all the time in corporate America. A good example would be HP-Compaq. HP made high end computers and wanted a “low end” brand, so they bought out Compaq. They continued to use the Compaq name for about ten years, closely with HP, before dumping it.
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I will give you my experience with this. I had a longish 2 word domain name but found a single word with an odd extension. The extension is still 3 letters and matches perfectly so I had it changed. My site has been cited as a source frequently and I believe it’s because it’s a single word site as well as the content. I can’t underestimate the benefits I think I’ve had from a single word domain name.
I get emails asking questions and I like to think I’m considered an authority. However, I got an email asking for help recently but the body of the email mentioned my single word domain but with .com! The single word .com would cost tens of thousands but it just goes to show, people always look for the .com!
However, in conclusion, I would always go for the single word especially if you’re considering a .org. I think the single word gives you so much more credibility.
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I’ve had a hunch that moving to a single word domain in my space will have this same effect. Thanks for this— def helps my decision making process. Unfortunately, the .com domain for the one I’m eyeing is like $30k…
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Yes this is still justified and works regarding keyword ranking.
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