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Choosing a domain name needs the same amount of care and consideration you would take with the actual design of your website. One of the key factors that contribute to the success of your website in the rankings is the domain name itself so it makes sense to choose your domain name with search engine optimisation in mind.

So, with that in mind you should try and use keywords in your domain name. These keywords should reflect your business, so for example if you are a financial adviser then the words ‘financial’ and ‘advice’ would perhaps form part of your domain name.

It should be obvious what your business is from your domain name and this, amongst other things, gives it credibility. It is important for search engines to see credibility in a website and domain name. Having a domain that doesn’t say who you are is too generic and lacks credibility.

Another way to add credibility and to add value to your domain name is to create a brand (still using one or two keywords). For example, financialadviceforyou.co.nz isn’t particularly compelling so try to think of a name that is more memorable thus creating a brand.

Linking is such a critical part of optimisation and it is much easier to build links to credible domain names because people take these names more seriously.

Your domain name should be easy to remember, as short as possible and of course, memorable. There is a lot to be said for purchasing an existing domain name as it may have age, relevance, existing links etc. All of these factors are very important for search engine optimisation purposes.

It is generally recommended, for search engine optimisation purposes, that you register a domain name in the top level domain space (the last part of the domain name) of your target market. If your target audience is the UK then register a.co.uk domain name (even if you are based in New Zealand). If you are targeting purely New Zealand clients, then register a.co.nz domain. If you have different geographical markets to target then you can register different domain names but each will need their own geo-targeted website. The design and images of each site can be the same but the content will need to vary. Search engines don’t like duplication of content across sites.

There is divided opinion about the use of hyphenated domain names. It is a way to separate keywords but search engines can actually pick up your keywords in your domain name without the use of hyphens. If you do want to include hyphens then be careful not to include too many as it could be seen as spam. If in doubt, leave them out.

It is important that I say something about changing your domain name to one that you simply just like better or better reflects your current business. By all means, change your domain name but you mustn’t forget to use a.301 permanent redirect, which means redirecting to your new domain name all the great history, number of quality links etc to your new domain name.