SEO for Domains 101

Its been a long time since I made a post related to SEO. So, I’ll do that today. I’ll talk about all the basic SEO stuff you need to know about domains. Okay lets get started

Register domains for long periods

Google (and other search engines) penalizes sites with domains that are going to expire soon. And you should always buy domains for long periods (like 2-3 years) because search engines look at the domain’s stability and spam sites often buy their domains for short periods.

It won’t cost you a fortune to buy the domain for a few extra years, but it will be worth it.

Does TLD matter?

Nope. It doesn’t matter to Google which TLD you’re using. That’s good, huh? I’ve seen a lot of people say that Google prefers .coms but that’s not the case. And one more thing, Matt Cutts was saying that Google might penalize .infos because they’re mostly used by spam sites.

You get the old PR if you buy the domain

Wrong! Google resets the PR and doesn’t count the old backlinks when you buy the domain (whether it was expired or if you bought it directly from the owner). Well it should be a bit obvious. Why would someone wanna give you credit for something you didn’t do?

BTW, there are ways to keep the old PR. You need to buy the domain directly from the owner. Make sure that it isn’t about to expire. Don’t change the content and design right away. You’ll have to do it slowly or else Google will just reset the PR because its not relevant to the site anymore. And make sure that you don’t change the registrant details right away. Change it one by one (ex: email address, name, phone, etc).

Moving site to a new domain

Don’t worry you can “safely” move your site to a new domain by using a 301 redirect. You’ll have to do it by putting this small code in your .htaccess file.

Redirect 301 / http://www.NEW-SITE.com/

Keyword in the domain

Does Google like domains with keywords in them? Yes it does. So, it would come in handy if you could have an important keyword in the domain. But, don’t make it long and ugly. Take a look at this if you need help choosing a great domain.

Check the domain’s past

Some domains might have a horrible past. You wanna check it before you buy the domain. The domain could’ve been banned by search engines (maybe for spam or adult content). Just go to the Wayback Machine and do a quick search.

Also see if it had some heavy link exchanging (aka link farm). Link farms get banned by search engines. So, you better watch out.

Okay that’s it. This should get you started. Just remember not to go crazy for a high PR or backlinks. Be honest and play safe. Oh and take a look at WebsiteGrader (it scores your SEO).