Creating a new website is like building a home. There are many building blocks you must follow to ensure you build the perfect place for you and your guests. One of the main elements to building your website is similar to that of building a home – you have to choose the perfect address!
Your web address, or domain name, is made up of various properties including the subdomain (www), the domain name (your business name or something similar) and the extension (e.g. .com). And whilst your web address may seem like a more insignificant element of your overall website, it actually plays an important role in your branding and SEO campaign.
With this in mind, it’s important that you not only choose the perfect domain name, but also an extension that reflects your brand and what kind of content can be found within the web address.
Let’s take a look at the whys, hows and restrictions on domain extensions:
Why are extensions important?
When it comes to domain name registration you simply need a web address that reflects your brand. Your business title is obviously the most important aspect of your web address, but the kind of extension you choose can also have a significant impact on your branding and SEO.
This is for two major reasons:
- You don’t want to mislead your customers with an extension that doesn’t reflect your brand. Let’s say you own a financial consultancy firm. You will certainly want to choose an extension that reflects your business e.g. .finance or .money. This shows potential clients that yes, you are operating within finances and, yes, you can be approached to help them with growing their income.
Now, imagine if you ran the same business and had a .gallery extension. Potential clients wouldn’t be sure what kind of business you operate and they would be immediately apprehensive about visiting your site.
So, first thing’s first: you want your extension to reflect your business so that clients who first interact with your brand through your web address know what you’re about and will visit your site. - Search engines like Google and Bing have a much easier time indexing websites with extensions that pertain to their operation. For example, you run a car sales company, and so you use the extension .cars so that people know what you’re about. Thankfully, search engines will see that you have the .cars extension and plenty of car-related content on your website. They will therefore be likely to rank you much higher than if you had a random or incongruent extension attached to your web address.
So, how to choose the perfect extension?
It’s simple, really: go for one that reflects your business! Of course, you can go with the classics like .com or .com.au, but these are often taken given how long they have existed. You might have an easier time choosing an extension that reflects your brand in the ways mentioned above.
Restrictions on extensions
Restrictions exist on certain extensions that can make it impossible for you to enlist them. These are extensions like .gov and .edu that are, of course, reserved for governmental departments and educational institutions. Furthermore, country extensions like .au are typically restricted to businesses operating within those countries.
If you would like to find the perfect web address for your brand without coming across those restrictions or pre-taken extensions then it’s always a great idea to contact expert web developers!
