topic URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea in Content Strategy & SEO

URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea

jasonzimmermann — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 20:10:35 GMT

Hello!

We're currently going through a rebrand and some suggestions were proposed to incorporate the brand into the URL and vice versa. For example, YourBrand.xx where "xx" is something like .co, .llc, .app, etc...

From a branding perspective I don't love the .xx being a part of the brand/logo but I can think about how this could impactful in some cases.

Looking to see if anyone has some similiar experience and/or some pros and cons for doing it or not doing.

For example....

Pro

If brand awareness is strong, typing the brand name into a search will direct you right to the page, improving direct traffic

Con

From a branding perspective, it seems unnecessary, long winded, and potentially confusing.

Would love to hear any and all thoughts and experiences. Thanks!

Betreff: URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea

JessicaH — Tue, 14 Jul 2020 07:55:40 GMT

Hi @jasonzimmermann,

Thanks for reaching out.

I'm going to tag in some subject matter experts to see if they have some suggestions.

Hi @Phil_Vallender @Nynke_HM @Mike_Eastwood @rikkilear @joshua-paul, do you have any thoughts on this?

Thanks!

Jess

Re: URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea

Mike_Eastwood — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 02:12:40 GMT

Hi @jasonzimmermann

Years ago Google recognised people were buying branded domain names (even common mis-spellings) to use the domain for SEO. So, like any other time people try and cheat Google, they reduced the weight of the brand name in the domain name.

However, in my experience, if you follow best practices with SEO and use the brand name in the Page Title, H1, first paragraph, alt tag, etc. it will work in your favour.

Personally I recommend optimising for your Company Name paired with the Brand Name to create the associations. For example:

Your Company Name – Brand Name – Product Name

If you use WordPress it's worth splashing out and getting Yoast Pro (to help you with combinations of Keywords). If your website is in HubSpot then the Keyword Tool will help you out.

Have fun

Mike

p.s. thank you for the mention @JessicaH

Re: URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea

Nynke_HM — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 13:54:25 GMT

Hi @jasonzimmermann ,

Great question! This is what my colleague with more branding expertise has to say about it:

Personally, I feel that including .xx in your brand name, is only a good choice when it refers to the type of product your offer. A good example is Booking.com, where it makes sense to include .com in the brand name, because the service/product is essentialy a website. It gives you an opportunity to turn generic words or phrases into a brand name, just by including .xx.

In other cases I think it would be confusing to deviate from the usual .com. (You would need really really strond branding for people to remember to type in something different then .com. )

Kind regards,

Nynke

Re: URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea

dominikberger — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 10:03:38 GMT

Hi Jason,

I absolutely agree with Mike and Nynke.

I wanted to share with you this great guide on choosing a domain name if you are still in the decision-making process: https://moz.com/learn/seo/domain.

To sum up: Make your domain rememberable and don't think too much about including a brand name or keyword in your domain

Re: URL as the Brand Name? Good or Bad Idea

annefreeman — Tue, 04 Aug 2020 10:12:56 GMT

This picture explains exactly how domains name should be named.