Thinking of changing your domain name?

Thinking of changing your domain name?

As a digital marketing agency, Clear often get asked ‘should I change my domain name?’ This may seem like a simple yes or no answer, but there are a few pros and cons to consider

Your domain name isn’t just a URL, it’s more than that. Domains are often your brand name or a keyword that’s relevant to you, but also have an ‘authority score’ which is very important to Google.

What is domain authority?

Authority is a metric that measures one of the most important factors when it comes to impressing Google – backlinks.
Backlinks are links from other websites to yours. These links reassure Google that your website is of good quality – how? Well, these links are like a vote. You wouldn’t vote for something you didn’t think was good, and Google trusts you not to do the same.

To see what your authority score is, sign up to Moz and use their free Link Explorer tool. It’s important to remember, just because it says your authority score is 30, it doesn’t mean you have 30 links. The score represents number and quality. It’s is out of 100 and on a logarithmic scale. An average score would be about 20 to 25.

Advantages of changing domain name

Switching domain can have several advantages, such as:
Name – changing to a relevant name like Twitter did in 2006, going from twttr.com to twitter.com
Keyword – if you’re rebranding, this might be a good chance to change the URL to include a keyword such as diy.com (see where it goes – you’ll be surprised!)
International – changing your domain from .co.uk to .com to appeal to an international market.

Disadvantages of changing domain name

There’s one reason that can make or break the move:
Authority! – if you’re changing to a domain with a lower authority score you can lose traffic as your website will appear lower down in Google’s search results
Time – if the new domain has a low authority this could take a while to build up and doesn’t happen overnight. There is no quick fix!

Minimising risk

Authority is a massive deciding factor when deciding whether to change your domain name. If your new domain name is higher authority than your existing one, consider changing, but not without asking ‘how do I minimise the risk?’ If you’re unsure whether it’s a good idea to change your domain name or want some advice, speak to the Clear team. 

www.cleardesign.co.uk

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