You are creating a website and your objective is to get found. The first thing you do is go to the network registrars and get your domain name (URL). From the beginning (NOW) let’s do it right. Let’s get your website’s SEO off to the right start. SEO / Ranking Possibilities Right from Day One

One of the first things the search engines look at is how long the website has been around. It’s the first piece of information in establishing and setting a level of trust. Think of it in terms of job hunting – recruiters look for stable people who have been stable in their job history (funny oxymoron there). The search engines have been programmed the same way; has this website been around a while? This one is tough to control if you are just out of school or a new website.

The next thing they look at is how long you (your URL) plan on being around. Again, like job hunting, planned stability counts; like buying a house or any root planting scenarios. In the case of your website URL, if you bought it for one year versus buying it for 7 years speaks loudly to your plans and confidence. One Year domains are many times just flyers – not a lot of confidence in its existence thus not a lot of trust given by the search engines in return. Buying for 7 years is like saying: “I want to be taken seriously.

Finally, Get the “.com” TLD.

A is TLD (Top Level Domain). It is important for SEO purposes.  If you target the website to general audiences, .com is important.  Others like “.hosting”, “.marketing”, etc. can be used but these are related to a specific target area.

If you think about .hosting, .marketing or any other non-mainstream domain extension, ask yourself a question – Have I (or your targeted audience) heard about any other brand / website that uses this domain extension?  If not – then the other TLD extensions are probably not for you

Don’t disregard the power or the product’s generic names.  With brands, you must describe what your selling – generic names sell themselves.

SEO Tip: Start out on the right foot with your website – for the extra $100 you will spend in registration with the registrar, the search engines will take you a more seriously from the get-go.

Bob Leonard
561-371-4113 (Call My Cell)
512-593-8830 (in Austin)

Old Comments from original blog home:
Liz Bobeck – November 4, 2015, at 1:39 PM
Google, by and large, does not even look at most sites under 1 year. Good advice. That is why blogging does wonders for keywords so that once you get past 1 year, it’s like a tidal wave of power for your brand and your name – Liz

Robert Leonard – November 6, 2015, at 5:25 PM
Liz, – Thank you for your comment. Agree on all. Thank you also for being a faithful Twitter follower.
Bob Leonard