Register a Domain: Brand Name VS Product Name
-
Hi All,
Since Google give more priority to brand names and most of the penalized websites by Google's Penguin update are websites which had links with promoted keywords, is it a good idea to register a new domain by the product name (ex: www.leatherbags.com) ?. Or is it good to register the domain by the company or brand name and then build a reputable brand first before targeting product based keywords (ex: leather bags) ?.
-
This is an interesting question because my company just launched a sister-brand a year ago. We had man discussions about whether or not to make the website domain and EMD or a brand name. what came out of those discussions was that we wanted something long-term. We were going to be selling a highly-competitive product. There were already dozens of companies selling the "product." Branding was really about the only thing that was going to set us apart.
I think your question is a great one because it gets to the core of Wil Reynolds' #RCS argument. Real companies have a brand, and that brand means something. It speaks to s specific group of people who, hopefully, are rabidly loyal fans f the brand. These people might be able to get that same product anywhere...but they choose to buy it from you because your brand makes them feel like they want to feel. A product can't do that. A brand can.
I'd go full-tilt towards the brand. Brand everything, top to bottom, sideways and inside out. Live it, speak it, breathe it. Amazon sells products. You can buy diamond earrings on Amazon. But if you want to seriously impress your girlfriend or wife-to-be, nothing will replace walking into Tiffany's and buying a diamond. Maybe it's the same diamond, but in that moment, it's not just about the product. It's about how that brand makes you feel about yourself. That's a way deeper thing.
Dana
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Domain Name Change
Hello fellow Mozzers! Quick question:
Branding | | David-Kley
We have been looking into changing our domain name into something a bit easier to read and recite. I think that we have found one, and it has a very long history. The issue is that the new domain name removes one of our keywords. Example, current domain name:
webdesignandcompany.com
We have built a lot of branding around this name. Example of domain we are considering:
BLANKdesign.com (blank is to protect the domain name we are considering) The new domain is over 20 years old, whereas ours is only around 7 years. I am wondering if we are shooting ourselves in the foot by removing the word "web" since that is a primary focus of our business. The issue is that the current domain and business name are not very catchy, and hard to say in a phone call and remember. Feels keyword heavy and generic, but it ranks well. Really well. We would be doing a 301 redirect if we decide to change it, and we have Yext and Moz to help clean up all the listings. My question is: Is it worth it to switch? Would the removal of the word web make it harder to rank number 1 or two, since people search for web design? Or since we would be leaving all the titles and meta the same, and that the domain is older than ours make that not an issue? THOUGHTS?0 -
Why does our Facebook not show up when searching for our business name?
Our Facebook is titled NJ & PA Personal Injury Attorney Richard P. Console Jr., and the url is Facebook.com/myinjuryattorney, and our website is www.consoleandhollawell.com. Because of the different names, we put social schema on our site which we thought would help Google associate the two. It doesn't seem to be working as we are not showing up in the serp's when searching for "Console & Hollawell Facebook" and even "Richard Console Facebook" Could anyone give any insight as to why? Thank you!
Branding | | marketingdepartment.ch0 -
Facebook name change error
I keep getting "The Page name you entered does not meet our guidelines. Please review our Page name policies." My name change is well within policy. The page has about 400 fans. I am literally changing a minor aspect. Getting rid of a plural word. Any work around since facebook's site is not working for this?
Branding | | Atomicx0 -
Where Does Google Pull the Photo From When You Search For Your Brand?
Hi All, In doing a search for our brand from our corporate HQ (Learning Tree), I came across a large embedded "ad" so to speak on the right hand side front and center of one of our locations (see attached photo). Clearly this is from Google's Knowledge Graph. We aren't pleased with the photo of a computer screen pulling randomly from our website...we are OK with the map listing though. Anyway to change this? As a note, when you search for "Learning Tree International" (our more official name as the entity as a whole - we have many locations around the world, and also one near our corporate HQ, which is the one that's displaying when you search "Learning Tree" alone), much better imagery of our logo is displayed. That's coming from our corporate G+ page. Any suggestions? Thank you. s0C5ZpT&hXaLhE7 s0C5ZpT&hXaLhE7#1
Branding | | CSawatzky0 -
Long Exact Match Domain, or short "Brand" domain?
I've searched and found a lot of discussion regarding the benefits of using Exact Match Domains, however I'm still unsure of what is a "too long" domain to make it not user friendly. I'm working on a new web application that help users design their own <product>. </product> Let's say that the product would be canvas paintings as an example. Would you choose the domain www.designcanvaspaintings.com if it was available? Or would you rather create a "brand" like paintify.com that is shorter and has a more "brand" feeling to it.
Branding | | marcuslind0 -
When a PPC campaign is instituted what happens to non-branded organic search traffic ?
when a PPC campaign is instituted what happens to non-branded organic search traffic ?
Branding | | Archers0 -
What do search engines consider brand signals?
After being hit by the Penguin stick, like good content marketers we are trying to focus on improving brand signals for our site. But I keep coming up against what exactly brand signals are. I can understand that if you are called 'Ziggle' and someone links to you with that in anchor text or mentions that name, that would be a brand signal. But we're on a generic domain (descriptive of the produt type), so what would constitute brand signals in our case?
Branding | | RogerElliott1 -
Using mlm and 'scammy' websites to identify brand/reputation management opportunities
I think this almost warrants a youmoz post, but I was wondering if anyone has used MLM or 'shady' industry companies to see where they place their reputation/brand links to dominate the first 2-3 pages of google for things like 'company name + scam' 'company name + reviews'. On a side note what is your opinion of a company that goes to great lengths to create a very strong push to control those keywords? Would you recommend your clients dominate the first 2-3 pages with 'honest review about company x' and 'the truth about company x' fakeditorials? Do you guys think people see right through them. Take any MLM..for instance legal shield scam (not my company, but an MLM that I am very wary of) as professionals what do you think of their reputation management build out......what do you think consumers would see when they read this? is there such a thing as going to far to refute false claims and building sponsored reviews? I'm personally against doing sponsored reviews and spamming with them, but maybe I am naive.
Branding | | ilyaelbert1