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question SEO: Does Google Prefer Shorter Domains?

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Howdy, quick question about SEO. If you had xxxtaxis.com, xxtaxis.com and xtaxis.com is there anything in Google algorithm that would give preference to the x version, before xx and xxx versions? Thanks
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
The length doesn't matter in seo
 
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The length doesn't matter in seo

Let's say you have L+KEYWORD, or KEYWORD+L, or LL+KEYWORD, or KEYWORD+LL it makes no difference to Google algo?
 
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length of the name means very little if anything with SEO - its all about content and popularity of a site
 
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Google has a simple answer: It does not differentiate based on what domain extension is used. However, Google prefers shorter and relevant web addresses over longer ones.Although search engines have no problem crawling or indexing either variant, for SEO-based reasons it's better to use static URLs rather than dynamic ones. The thing is, static URLs contain your keywords and are more user-friendly since one can figure out what the page is about just by looking at the static URL's name.
 
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Google has a simple answer: It does not differentiate based on what domain extension is used. However, Google prefers shorter and relevant web addresses over longer ones.Although search engines have no problem crawling or indexing either variant, for SEO-based reasons it's better to use static URLs rather than dynamic ones. The thing is, static URLs contain your keywords and are more user-friendly since one can figure out what the page is about just by looking at the static URL's name.

So you're saying Google wouldn't give preference to a .com over a .info? That's hard to believe, since .com vs .info must be 99% .com and since .info is easier to register would be associated a lot more with spam. Also, the example taxis.com is mathematically closer to the keyword "taxis" than xxxtaxis.com, and I would assume (!) that Google would give some preference to the shorter domain, or not?
 
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the real question is do you want to get into seo yourself or do you want to buy domains to resell to seo pros?

in the first case, you have a lot to learn and this is one of the worst places to get advice.
in the second, DON'T. i guarantee you'll not make any money.
 
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Thanks for your comment @comati - I do understand SEO, but it appears that for example shorter .com domains generally rank higher than longer .com domains. That could just be because they're more memorable and therefore more popular. I was just wondering if there's some specific part of Google's search algorithm that looks at domain length and TLD. It appears not.
 
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It doesn't matter but my short names perform.
 
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Here is the thing:

1. Better and more reputable looking names get better ctr on Google, because that is human psychology.

2. Google adjusts ranking based on response rate.

3. Indirectly, Google does reward reputable looking names. And shortness is big part of it.
 
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It doesn't matter but my short names perform.

According to NameBio, number of characters in SLD (stats for 2019, $100+ sales):

1 char = 16 sales; Vol = $34,600; Av. sale = $2,161
2 char = 168 sales; Vol = $3.2m; Av. sale = $18,900
3 char = 1,761 sales; Vol = $4.9m; Av. sale = $2,803
4 char = 5,993 sales; Vol = $7.7m; Av. sale = $1,287
5 char = 9,443 sales; Vol = $41.7m; Av. sale = $4,412
6 char = 7,827 sales; Vol = $8m; Av. sale = $1,026
7 char = 6,746 sales; Vol = $8.4m; Av. sale = $1,247
8 char = 7,703 sales; Vol = $7.1m; Av. sale = $927
9 char = 7,106 sales; Vol = $5.7m; Av. sale = $797
10 char = 6,912 sales; Vol = $8.1m; Av. sale = $1,165
11 char = 6,232 sales; Vol = $4.9m; Av. sale = $789
12 char = 5,429 sales; Vol = $3.3m; Av. sale = $604
13 char = 4,545 sales; Vol = $2.8m; Av. sale = $608
14 char = 3,861 sales; Vol = $2.2m; Av. sale = $573
15 char = 3,057 sales; Vol = $1.7m; Av. sale = $563
16 char = 2,309 sales; Vol = $1.5m; Av. sale = $643
17 char = 1,806 sales; Vol = $831k; Av. sale = $460
18 char = 1,326 sales; Vol = $611k; Av. sale = $461
19 char = 964 sales; Vol = $620k; Av. sale = $643
20 char = 680 sales; Vol = $282k; Av. sale = $415
21 char = 515 sales; Vol = $241k; Av. sale = $469
22 char = 343 sales; Vol = $146k; Av. sale = $428
23 char = 205 sales; Vol = $81k; Av. sale = $398
24 char = 156 sales; Vol = $67k; Av. sale = $429
25 char = 116 sales; Vol = $65k; Av. sale = $560
26 char = 51 sales; Vol = $15k; Av. sale = $309
27 char = 40 sales; Vol = $9k; Av. sale = $238
28 char = 33 sales; Vol = $9k; Av. sale = $272
29 char = 25 sales; Vol = $9k; Av. sale = $375
30 char = 7 sales; Vol = $2k; Av. sale = $303
31 char = 10 sales; Vol = $2k; Av. sale = $254
32 char = 6 sales; Vol = $1k; Av. sale = $254
33 char = 3 sales; Vol = $379; Av. sale = $126

At the lower end, a lot of these domains are business groups, townships, charities and community associations.
 
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Google ranks a site based on keywords, high-quality content and high-quality backlinks. Short names does not matter to google. They matter to humans to remember the brand and spread word of mouth.
 
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So you're saying Google wouldn't give preference to a .com over a .info? That's hard to believe, since .com vs .info must be 99% .com and since .info is easier to register would be associated a lot more with spam. Also, the example taxis.com is mathematically closer to the keyword "taxis" than xxxtaxis.com, and I would assume (!) that Google would give some preference to the shorter domain, or not?
They don't care about the extension, they do care about keywords and quality of the name. If you have a keyword domain name and then the slugs are extra keywords then you have another SEO strategy on your hands.
 
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Google ranks a site based on keywords, high-quality content and high-quality backlinks. Short names does not matter to google. They matter to humans to remember the brand and spread word of mouth.

Interesting to know if the point @Recons.Com made about click-thru rate and short domains plays a part in Google algorithm?

According to BuiltWith (https://trends.builtwith.com/analytics/Google-Analytics) Google Analytics is used on around 90% of the world's top 10,000 websites. So Google would have detailed data about CTR (from search), then bounce rate, page views, time on site, etc, which I'm sure they use in ranking.

I can only speak from personal experience that I click on shorter DN's more and they tend to have better content. Google's Matt Cutts has stated in the past that long exact-match keyword domains don't have the same power as they used to.

 
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The shorter the better. That's true in every aspects of domain name, including the SEO
 
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Interesting to know if the point @Recons.Com made about click-thru rate and short domains plays a part in Google algorithm?

According to BuiltWith (https://trends.builtwith.com/analytics/Google-Analytics) Google Analytics is used on around 90% of the world's top 10,000 websites. So Google would have detailed data about CTR (from search), then bounce rate, page views, time on site, etc, which I'm sure they use in ranking.

I can only speak from personal experience that I click on shorter DN's more and they tend to have better content. Google's Matt Cutts has stated in the past that long exact-match keyword domains don't have the same power as they used to.




If a user visits a site repeatedly (be it because of a short and easy-to-remember domain name), Google chalks it up as good UX (one factor of good user experience/user interaction).
 
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Howdy, quick question about SEO. If you had xxxtaxis.com, xxtaxis.com and xtaxis.com is there anything in Google algorithm that would give preference to the x version, before xx and xxx versions? Thanks


Hi,


This may help:


google-ranking-factors-infographic.jpg




Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/google-ranking-algorithm-infographic
 
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@Anne L. based on your great infographic (thanks!), Google search considers the following signals in relation to the domain name:
  1. Domain age
  2. Domain registration length
  3. Domain History (drops/many owners)
  4. Keyword(s) in SLD
  5. Keyword as first word in SLD
  6. Exact Match Domain
  7. Public v Private Whois
  8. Country TLD (good for that country)
  9. Penalized whois owner
  10. IP address activity
Nothing about character-length of domain. Interesting...
 
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There's are lot of crap in that infographic. Some quotes date from 2006. C'mon people...

If you're worried about SEO forget about domains and start looking at your content.
 
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There's are lot of crap in that infographic. Some quotes date from 2006. C'mon people...

If you're worried about SEO forget about domains and start looking at your content.

I think it's a legitimate question when buying or selling a domain name to ask how will be ranked in Google. Not all domain names are equal in Google's algorithm. Yes, content is key, but domain factors are important to - both to the registrant/trader and to the end-user.
 
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@Anne L. based on your great infographic (thanks!), Google search considers the following signals in relation to the domain name:
  1. Domain age
  2. Domain registration length
  3. Domain History (drops/many owners)
  4. Keyword(s) in SLD
  5. Keyword as first word in SLD
  6. Exact Match Domain
  7. Public v Private Whois
  8. Country TLD (good for that country)
  9. Penalized whois owner
  10. IP address activity
Nothing about character-length of domain. Interesting...


Please check: Page Level Factors

1. URL length
2. Keyword in URL

In your example:
xxxtaxis.com, xxtaxis.com and xtaxis.com

xxx - may be a 3-letter-word relevant to your business that will have extra search volume when joined with taxis
resulting to:
taxis:search volume (S.V.) + xxx taxis S.V. + xxxtaxis S.V + xxx taxi S.V. + xxxtaxi S.V


as against:

xx - 2-letter-word relevant to your business

resulting to:

taxis search volume + xx taxis search volume + xxtaxis S.V. + xx taxi S.V. + xxtaxi S.V.



as against:

x - 1-letter relevant to your business

resulting to:

taxis search volume + x taxis search volume + xtaxis S.V. + x taxi S.V. + xtaxi S.V.



Compare the three and check which has the highest total search volume and factor this in your decision.



Notwithstanding the additional search volume from the additional letters though, if your business is a taxi fleet (or taxis), the shorter dictionary word: taxi.com is the best choice. Next is taxis.com. That's URL length, keyword in URL and Branding overlapping.



Please also check :

3. User Interaction : Repeat Traffic

If a user visits a site repeatedly (be it because of a short and easy-to-remember domain name), Google chalks it up as good UX (one factor of good user experience/user interaction).
 
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I think it's a legitimate question when buying or selling a domain name to ask how will be ranked in Google. Not all domain names are equal in Google's algorithm. Yes, content is key, but domain factors are important to - both to the registrant/trader and to the end-user.

The question is legitimate but that's no excuse for people to spread decades old info that's outdated.

What @Anne L. Posted above is a fine example of how things work. But even if you're a taxi company you can easily outrank taxi.com without the word taxi in your (longer)domain.

SEO wise it really doesn't matter at all what domain you use.
 
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The question is legitimate but that's no reason for people to spread decades old info that's outdated.

What @Anne L. Posted above is a fine example of how things work. But even if you're a taxi company you can easily outrank taxi.com without the word taxi in your (longer)domain.

SEO wise it really doesn't matter at all what domain you use.

Hi,

If you are exerting the same SEO effort on the two domains(all things being equal except the domain, one with the word taxi and one without), the website with the word taxi in the domain will rank higher since keyword/s in a domain is a ranking factor.




Here's the same infographic being used by a reputable SEO company: https://www.bluecorona.com/blog/google-ranking-factors-2018


and the source: Backlinko
https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
 
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Hi,

If you are exerting the same SEO effort on the two domains(all things being equal except the domain, one with the word taxi and one without), the website with the word taxi in the domain will rank higher since keyword/s in a domain is a ranking factor.

Most probably so. But that's no real world scenario. That's backwards thinking.
 
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SEO wise it really doesn't matter at all what domain you use.

I think Google would rank taxi.com above taxi.biz with two equal sites, for the reasons mentioned above. Otherwise taxi.biz and taxi.com would be worth the same amount - and their obviously not.
 
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