Names and Websites

moonpenny

Don't laugh!!!!
I am trying to come up with a name for a website but am getting bogged down with feeling I have to start at begining of the Alphabet to come up quickly in searches etc. (Like when you list in Telephone Directories - abc)

As you can guess, I know nothing of the "techi" stuff related to this and know I am probably way off beam.

Can someone please tell me, does it make any difference what letter the name begins with?

forgotmyname

? Searches are not alphabetically linked.

Its scored on how closely your site matches the search and i think how many sites link to yours.

There are sites than can get you higher up the google searches but they usually cost.

Plenty of free information on err google

Jaymo

When a website is built, meta tags are embedded within the coding of the site. Meta tags are used to help people find you site when they are using a search engine.

For example; if you had a website about fishing you would have meta tags like "fishing", "rod", "catch of the day", "fish" - and I was a potential customer using google and I type in new fishing rods then the search engine will recognise specific words to the tags from your site.

The better the match, the higher up the search engine list you will be displayed. So to answer you original point, it wouldn't matter what letter your website started with as it wouldn't affect anything.

Owain_Moneysaver

alphabetical order isn't important. But a short, memorable, relevant and descriptive domain name is better. So if you are selling gold plated widgets then https://www.goldplatedwidgets.com is better than https://www.j-bloggs-and-sons-east-cheam-limited.com

wnoktnwbr

For search engines you can consider your domain name relatively unimportant. Although a good short memorable domain name is helpful for advertising and building a brand, having "moonpennygiftcards.com" is no real disadvantage over "giftcards.com"... for example, the content of the site is what matters most.

Jaymo wrote: »

When a website is built, meta tags are embedded within the coding of the site. Meta tags are used to help people find you site when they are using a search engine.

For example; if you had a website about fishing you would have meta tags like "fishing", "rod", "catch of the day", "fish" - and I was a potential customer using google and I type in new fishing rods then the search engine will recognise specific words to the tags from your site.

The better the match, the higher up the search engine list you will be displayed. So to answer you original point, it wouldn't matter what letter your website started with as it wouldn't affect anything.

Not true, google at least does not match against meta tags, they are a great way to provide information about your website but are worthless to search engines. The content of your website is what Google uses.

Source: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

downhillfast

There are a few things to consider when picking a domain name...

Firstly, is you website/business targeting a particular geographical area? If so then having that are in your name will help. ie https://www.hathertondogwalkers.com

Next, what words will people be typing into search engines to find list of websites that offer the services that you offer? ie "dog walking services hatherton" this would lead you to what is called an 'exact match domain' ie https://www.dogwalkingserviceshatherton.com

Unless you intend to spend a lot of money on SEO (search engine optimistation) trying to get a non-descriptive domain name to rank highly for something widely available (ie no particularly unique) will be a massive ask.

BUT as has already been pointed out Google is very clever and ranks mostly on content nowadays so you need to be aware of writing articles with SEO in mind and getting your targeted keywords in as much as possible without compromising the quality.

Maybe if you give us an idea of your website we could throw a few suggestions in..?

googler

ItsJuicy wrote: »

Don't forget that you can still get good traffic from Yahoo and Bing as well. So all your focus does not have to be on Google, although it will provide the most traffic if you rank high enough.

Why care about Yahoo and Bing when Google has over 90% of the search traffic, and Yahoo, Bing and the others share the remaining 10% or less ...?

Quote from Softpedia;

"Google may be dominating the search space globally, but 'dominate' can mean quite a different thing from country to country. In the US, Google has about 65 percent of the market. In the UK, its share is at over 90 percent."

moonpenny

downhillfast, the website would be for Baby Nappy Cakes and gifts.

Thank you! everyone, your comments have been really useful and I understand a bit more now how it all works.

downhillfast

https://www.nappycakebaker.co.uk
https://www.nappycakebaker.com
https://www.nappycakestoyou.co.uk
https://www.nappycakestoyou.com
https://www.nappycakes-and-gifts.co.uk
https://www.nappycakes-and-gifts.com

^^^ all of these are available btw! ^^^

https://www.nappycakesbyinsertyournamehere.co.uk etc

I don't know anything about your business but if you're only looking for local business then i'd seriously consider something with your location in the name... if you're looking more to nationwide then it's obviously not important!


Also, I personally would only choose a .co.uk or a .com as others are generally seen as less reputable and Google doesn't seem to rank them well. .co.uk is the best if you only really want uk exposure.

macman

Alpha order used to matter of course. Reputedly, one of the reasons that Steve jobs chose 'Apple' for his new company name was that it would be in front of 'Atari' in the local phone directory.