We all know that choosing a domain name for a blog is a very important decision. But what are some of the things we should consider when deciding on a domain name to buy? I analyzed the domain names of the Technorati Top 100 blogs to find out what these top ranking sites can teach us about choosing domain names.
Top Level Domains (TLDs)
The number of blogs using these top level domains are:
- .com – 92
- .gov – 1 (whitehouse.gov)
- .org – 5
- .tv – 1
- .com.au – 1
The majority of the blogs use the .com TLD. Also all of the top 10 blogs use .com domain names.
Length of Domain Name
I measured the domain name length in both number of characters and number of words. In each case I excluded the TLD from the count.
- Average Length (in characters) – 14.12
- Average Length of top 10 (in characters) – 10
- Longest URL (in characters) – 32 (for voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein, ranked 29th overall)
- Shorted URL (in characters) – 3 (for tmz.com, ranked 10th overall)
The top 10 blogs have shorter domain names on average. However the shortest URL of tmz.com is not the highest ranking sitting in 10th position. Also the longest URL for Ezra Klein’s blog at the Washington Post still ranks well at 29th overall.
Looking at the overall pattern there is no consistent trend of shorter names ranking better.
Now lets look at word count for the domain names.
- Average Length (in words) – 2.68
- Average Length of top 10 (in words) – 1.70
- Longest URL (in words) – 7 (for latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow, ranked 22nd overall)
- Shorted URL (in words) – 1 (for tmz.com, ranked 10th overall and the highest ranking of 12 domain names that are 1 word long)
Again the top 10 blogs have shorter domain names on average, but again the longest domain name still ranks well.
Looking at the over all pattern again there is no consistent trend of shorter names ranking better.
Sub-Domains and Sub-Folders
Some of the top 100 blogs are installed in sub-domains (such as latimesblogs.latimes.com) and sub-folders (such as wired.com/gadgetlab) of their main domain.
- Installed in sub-domain – 25
- Installed in sub-folder – 18
- Installed in both a sub-domain and sub-folder – 8
For the top 10 blogs the stats are quite different.
- Top 10 blogs in sub-domains – 0
- Top 10 blogs in sub-folders – 0
Conclusions
Although this is not an exhaustive study of domain names it does reveal some interesting stats that are useful for people who are trying to choose a domain name.
- Shorter is better, in both character count and word count. Aim for 2-3 words max and no more than 15 characters.
- Even a long domain name can rank well if it has a strong brand, eg CNN, Washington Post or LA Times. If you can build a strong brand through great content and marketing then nearly any domain name will work for you.
- The .com TLD is the most recognizable for the average internet user, so it makes sense for sites to prefer to use .com domain names. If you are planning to use a different TLD for your blog it is a good idea to also secure the .com name in case visitors mistype it.
- Sub-domains and sub-folders make website addresses harder for people to remember and recommend to their friends. Take a cue from the top 10 and avoid these if possible.
Do you have good advice for choosing domain names? Share your tips in the comments below.
If you found this post useful please leave a comment below. To receive new blog posts automatically subscribe for free to the mailing list or RSS feed.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Ok. This was cool.
But I also wonder the following:
1.How many names were clear names as opposed to acronyms or made up names?
2. How many blogs were off shoots of known brands or were to total brand themselves.
3. I wonder the age of the blogs.
Finally,
4. I wonder how often the blogs add new posts. 1/day or multiple / day or only a few / week.
Those are my thoughts, but I appreciate your observations.
Thanks,
Arvell Craig.
I like this information you provided here. I think what you say is right on!
This is a good summary.
Additionally the renewal interval should be mentioned here. The longer a domain name is registered in advance, for example for five years, the better.
Search engineers treat domain names which are registered for yearly renewal as spam domains and don’t give them the needed relevance.
So when you register a domain name for a blog, chose a five years minimum registration!
@gebedo – those are good questions and I have a follow up post already in the works which will answer those. Stay tuned.
@Dragan – a yearly renewal on a domain won’t make search engines treat it as a “spam domain”, but a longer renewal interval is taken as a positive sign. I have 1 year renewals on some domains and they rank just fine. It is good advice though to register for longer so I do agree with you on that.
@paulcunningham
A further advantage to register a domain name for a minmum of five years is, you do not nee to take care of the renewal. :-)
Shorter is better. I started a new blog last month with a 2 word domain name after I had done some keyword research. As a result, my analytics report that I am receiving 88% organic traffic from Google, (which is also my largest referrer of traffic). I believe if you keep it simple stupid, you will usually fare a lot better.
In short: KISS!
.
.
.
Not that, Keep It Simple Stupid :)
Yes, the .com domain should be the most popular, and the most important is the content of the website. I do not think Flickr is a good domain, but it is so powerful that you want to remember it.
My domain name is long (everythingishistory), but I often abbreviate it to EiH, which I’ve found has made it more memorable. You could probably use a different TLD or even a subdomain if you were creative with it (such as appulo.us), but it would probably be a good idea to get a .com once your growth has increased. Remember when delicious.com was del.icio.us?
Very interesting insight – it must have taken quite a bit of research – thanks very much!
It’s interesting to know that there are no consistent trends with regards to the length of amount of words in your domain name, and it’s success. I guess that, if people want to get somewhere, they don’t mind typing for an extra few seconds!
This blog’s a great read – will be subscribing!
Nathaniel Rosa
{ 3 trackbacks }