IT.COM

question GEO domain - Best (affordable) format for the domain name?

Spaceship Spaceship
Watch

Which format is best for a GEO domain name for a locksmith place? (City represents the city's name)

  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.
  • City-Locksmith.com

    votes
    21.1%
  • CityLocksmithInc.com

    votes
    10.5%
  • CityLocksmith.net

    votes
    15.8%
  • CityLocksmith.co

    votes
    15.8%
  • BestCityLocksmith.com (or some other brandable)

    votes
    15.8%
  • Other (please explain in the thread if there's some other option)

    votes
    31.6%
  • This poll is still running and the standings may change.

Hi everybody. GEO domains aren't really something I deal with so I thought maybe some of you experts could help with some advice. A friend of mine wants to open a locksmith place in a city with around 250,000 people.

CityLocksmith.com is taken and offered for sale for around 5K.

That would naturally be the best option, but what would be best besides that and why? (City represents the City's name).

1. City-Locksmith.com
2. CityLocksmithInc.com
3. CityLocksmith.net
4. CityLocksmith.co
5. BestCityLocksmith.com (or some other brandable option)
6. Other

Thanks in advance for your advice and insight.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
I would say after CityLocksmith.com all the options listed are equally average.

I don't think there is any real advantage in any of those over the other options.

Brad
 
7
•••
GEO domains aren't my thing either, but what about LocksmithCity.com
 
0
•••
GEO domains aren't my thing either, but what about LocksmithCity.com

I am not generally a fan of that order, but I would still prefer it over any of the other options above.

Brad
 
5
•••
Thanks, @bmugford. To my understanding with GEO domains, it's mostly about SEO and ranking well. When people see the top results though, I'm sure there's some weight to how the domain looks in order to pick it over others. CityLocksmith.com is naturally the best and is a no brainer, but since it costs 5K I'm thinking maybe .com still has more of an authority than .co or .net out of the other options. Even though I don't like hyphens, it's the closest you can get to the best version without having to add extra stuff like 'inc' etc. But it's just an instinct. Good branding might also be something that can make someone choose you over others (EpicCityLocksmith.com will more likely be clicked than DansCityLocksmith). I also forgot plurals by the way, which might have been a good option but CityLocksmiths.com is also taken, in this case.

@wwwulff Thanks. LocksmithCity.com is taken and is offered for around 2.5K. Not sure if it's worth the investment for him since it's a less natural format.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
If this is a small business with mostly 'side of vehicle' and local press advertising. I would certainly go with your main term in .net. lots of small businesses are very comfortable with using the .net in these kind of instances. I personally wouldn't want to dilute your key reference term with variations. The only real challenge would be if somebody set-up the same business in the SAME city and purchased the .com (unlikely at 5k)

You'll probably even find the .com seller trying to negotiate a lower transfer price if he has had it for sale for a while. If so very easy to change localized advertising.

to my mind your other choices (including the .co) only really come into play if your really being squeezed on choice - Which your not
 
Last edited:
1
•••
LocksmithCity for sure - that specific order (KW first) does get equal or even more searches.

If that was priced out of budget I would consider Locksmiths with city either way.
 
1
•••
GEO domains aren't my thing either, but what about LocksmithCity.com

both the format sales..... citylocksmith.com as well as locksmithcity.com however its difficult to get inbound sale for them.... majority would be sold in $150-499 range and you have to approach end users to have a sale...
 
Last edited:
2
•••
@BaileyUK Thanks for the detailed response. Good (?) old HugeDomains are holding the .com. They do have a payment plan and may lower it somewhat but even then it would still be quite high for a GEO domain for a non major city, so he probably won't buy it, at least not to start with. Perhaps you're right and the .net is a good option.

@UmerK Thanks. LocksmithCity is around 2.5K. Locksmiths as the second word could work but it's taken. As a first word it doesn't sound good, IMO.

@rohitgoyal Thanks. In this instance, I'm just trying to help a friend make a decision. The best option is costly, so I guess this is the sort of situation many companies face when the .com is expensive- trying to decide what the next best available option is.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
@UmerK Thanks. LocksmithCity is around 2.5K. Locksmiths as the second word could work but it's taken. As a first word it doesn't sound good, IMO.

True, Locksmiths as a start is a bit off but not too bad.

In this case here's what I'd suggest. Ask him to name it after his last name or something.

For local marketing or ranking he could try something like LocksmithInCity or any other low end fit geo for local marketing and forward that one to main website.

Or he could also go for something like CityLockExpert - these usually do the job well of geo domains as they work as good as any other geo for local ads, these however would have very less type ins and Google stats.
 
2
•••
Thanks, @bmugford. To my understanding with GEO domains, it's mostly about SEO and ranking well. When people see the top results though, I'm sure there's some weight to how the domain looks in order to pick it over others. CityLocksmith.com is naturally the best and is a no brainer, but since it costs 5K I'm thinking maybe .com still has more of an authority than .co or .net out of the other options.

SEO is certainly a factor, but so is authority/credibility. At first glance a domain like DallasLocksmith.com is just more credible than any other inferior option. It also is memorable and looks amazing on any marketing materials.

250,000 population is kind of a solid mid tier city. Realistically $5K is too expensive for that type of location though. Why not just make a lower offer?

Brad
 
2
•••
@bmugford Thanks. Yeah, 5K is too much for a non major city but it does look the most credible. HugeDomains are holding CityLocksmith.com. Not sure if they're into negotiating. Their payment plan makes it kinda accessible even at 5K. But it seems like my friend just wants to start with something cheap to test the waters and then if business is booming- the .com could become more relevant. Personally I think I would have gone with a hyphen or something brandable to stand out. But yeah, these aren't ideal.
 
0
•••
City + LockAndKey could be a good alternative too. Some of the large cities still avail. for hand reg.
 
2
•••
@UmerK Thanks. I checked for domains ending with "LockExpert"" and there are very few of them. @Trent1000 Thanks. There are some businesses using domains ending with "LockAndKey" but not tons. I think sticking to "locksmith", the term people are looking for, would be a safer choice.
 
1
•••
I would only go with a non-hyphenated .com

If you can't get CityLocksmith, put a small word in front like "My" or if it was a product "Get"

MyCityLocksmith.com

"My" might be taken though, you could then try

YourCityLocksmith.com

"Best" before any city + popular service is most likely going to be taken in any medium to major sized city
 
Last edited:
1
•••
Thanks @dncafe. BestCityLocksmith is available in this case. The problem with using Best or Pro or Top is that it can come off as arrogant and/or questionable. 'My' may be a bit weak. It's kinda similar to 'The'. He already registered TheCityLocksmith.com but he isn't sure about it. I didn't like it at first but maybe it could work to demonstrate authority.
 
Last edited:
0
•••
1
•••
I have some experience in trying to sell Geo domains. What I have seen when looking for outbound leads is that hyphenated domains get more top results than .net domains in Google.

This could be because they are used more often, get more attention or just because it is easier to rank them higher, no idea.

If the hyphen and the .net are reg fee, I would suggest to start with those two (try both and see what performs best, maybe even put two separate websites and see what is easier to get to a good Google ranking). Especially since your friend seems to want to test the waters first, I would not go for the expensive domains yet, you can always buy them when the business starts to take off.

Just my thoughts, although I also like ideas like TheCityLocksmith. I am still inclined to say the hyphen domain is good for a start when you aim at SEO ranking.
 
1
•••
Thanks @Mister Funsky. LocksmithCity.com is 2.5K so it's probably not worth it. @tvanrijt, thanks for the detailed suggestion based on your experience. Trying the .net, the hyphenated version and maybe also the version with 'The' at the beginning for a year to see which one is doing best might be a good course of action. I'll discuss it with him.
 
0
•••
city locksmith service/services, > specialist > pros > 247, etc. could be options

for 250k people, how many will likely need the service in a year?
what other services do you offer?
how many other similar businesses in vicinity and what are their domain names if any?

maybe that could help deciding how much to spend a domain name

imo...
 
1
•••
Thanks @biggie. It's not for me. It's for a friend. They don't have domain names yet beside TheCityLocksmith.com. I don't think they know the stats yet. There are a few local competitors. I think around 4-5 main ones.

I wonder, maybe you or someone else can answer this question- if they buy a few domain names and put the same content on them to see which one produces the best results, aren't they at risk that Google and other search engines will recognize it and treat them as spammers?
 
0
•••
if they buy a few domain names and put the same content on them to see which one produces the best results, aren't they at risk that Google and other search engines will recognize it and treat them as spammers?

if they have traffic, then I would just point the other domains to a single site

same content on different domains does seem spammy

imo...
 
1
•••
Back