SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is about all the ways you can improve your website to…
Will This Pet Sitting Website Domain Name Hurt My SEO Rankings?
I love receiving email from pet sitters.
And I received a great question recently from pet sitter Laura Milholland who is just starting up her business.
She writes: Hello, I recently purchased your “Start a petsitting business in 45 days” program. I have had a really hard time finding a domain name that ends in .com. I currently own the domain “DoggonePurrfectPets.net“. Is that going to really hurt my SEO? Should I scrap that name and try to find something else? Any advice would be very much appreciated!
Great question. And plenty of info to discuss on this topic.
So, I fired up the ol’ Web cam and gave my thoughts on the matter.
Here are some tips directly from the video:
No domain name, in and of itself, will alone hurt your SEO. Any domain name for the most part will put you on a fine track to begin building your SEO. You do want to consider what web building tool you are using to create your website (WordPress is always a good option and my preferred choice) and you want to consider adding plenty of good, valuable, unique and original content.
When choosing a domain name to use, consider the following points. Google used to give more value to domain names that contained certain keywords. For example, if I wanted to rank for the keyword “dog walking new york” and bought the domain name dogwalkingnewyork.com, in the past, Google would have ‘counted’ that towards my SEO placement and ranking.
They have since come out and said “scratch that – we no longer give weight to keywords found in domain names.”
So, what do you want to consider when choosing a good domain name for you pet sitting business?
Well, in my case, and perhaps in your case, the vast majority of visitors are doing a Google search and clicking through from there. They are not typing in your web address.
However, if your goal is to give out plenty of business cards, do plenty of in-person events and networking, print up t-shirts, or create a car wrap with your web address, then at this point your literal domain name becomes that much more important – since people will be expected to see it and type it in to their web browser.
So what makes a good domain name?
A good domain name should be easy to say, easy to read, and easy to spell.
Want to see how to easily and quickly change your current pet sitting website domain name?
Watch this Youtube video on the topic (it’s just 5 minutes long) and consider subscribing to the Youtube Channel so you don’t miss a video.
Now It’s Your Turn
Tell us in the comments below how you feel about your current domain name? Do you use more than one domain name for your website? Do you own others that you are not using? Do you have any ideas on what you want to do with other names?
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I took your advice from a previous blog and bought a new domain name. I used 1&1.com and bought a great, shorter one (my first one way too long).
Simple to connect to my website.
🙂
Awesome! What’s your old and new domain? Are you forwarding the new one over to the old?
Great advice My domain name is “ourpetsitter.net” & I now, silly as it sounds, own 15 associated “”ourpetsitter(s).whatever”. Has purchasing anything related to my domain assisted in better exposure, I’m not exactly sure. I do know since I purchased all domain’s at one time, the total cost was a measly $85. With the internet such an important part of most everyone’s lives, today, it was a savvy business move that I’ve not regretted. Furthermore, my e-mail address is: anna@ourpetsitter.net.
Hey Anna, Great reply! I completely agree with your decision to snatch up 15 variations on the “ourpetsitter(s)” domain name. Are they mostly .com? Or did you grab other extensions too? While it’s great to grab generic sounding domains like you did (opposed to grabbing 15 variations of, let’s say, JoshuasPetSitting, they won’t have a positive impact on SEO unless each domain name is developed with its own unique content. You can though find creative ways to use the various names for marketing!
Hello Joshua: Thanks! No, they vary, i.e., dogsitter.—, petsitter.info;; ourpetsitter.biz & “.us” etc. The “.us” was the most coveted. The domain names is generic for a purpose – easy to remember. Doesn’t take any thought at all – unique spellings are horrible, hard to remember. Never do I want to loose a client because of my unique name or spelling, I felt.
After 21 years in business, I’ve worked too hard & long to fall behind w/inexpensive marketing techniques, And, for the dollars spent, it was one of the smarter marketing moves. No they won’t have a direct impact, but I felt over the long run, the way Google changes it’s search requirements, every little bit helps!
The last two statements of your reply – explain, please. As much as I attempt to stay on top of marketing, the more I learn, the more I still fall way short. Thanks.
Sure, the last two sentences mean this… If you forward a domain name to your current website, there is no SEO value in that forwarded domain. You would need to have the domain name as it’s own unique website with its own pages for it to have SEO value. However, like you pointed out, you could use one of these great, easy to remember domain names in marketing, say on a t-shirt, or on a banner, or on your car. Since it’s easy to remember, it would have that kind of marketing value.