NAME HELP

[TXAlba]

Hi guys and gals, i have a question on a website name and value your opinion so thought i would ask here.

a client is an electrician and business cards etc already made up for J.D Blogs and Sons (made up name)

He wants the website named jdbelectricians.co.uk but has now asked if he could have jdblogsandsons.co.uk

from an SEO point of view is 'and' in a domain name bad?

My thoughts were to go with jdbelectricians.co.uk and have jdblogs and sons feature prominently on the page and in body text. But on reflection would it be better to go with jdblogsandsons.co.uk and feature the business type, ie electricians, prominently on the page and in body text?

thanks in advance for you views

[Big Frank]

go with jdbelectricians.co.uk and feature the business type, ie electricians, prominently on the page and in body text
people are searching for electricians not joe bloggs
but by and large your content will determine your pr

[gwpriester]

If possible, separate jb and electricians with a dash, jb-electricians. This will read as two words.

And make sure to pay this off in the website title, JB & Sons - Electricians - Town or County Name

[TXAlba]

hmmm, not too sure about dashes but i see the point, i have to admit i dont like any, i would rather he was called sparky.co.uk and optimise the page for everything else needed. the man is stuck with the name as he has already had his van, work clothes, business cards, flyers made up....... talk about jumping the gun. I suppose i could suggest he go for one of these new fangled domain types, jdb.lighting for example, i just prefer to stick with .co.uk, but of course its not my choice (not sure about these new domain name types)

[Big Frank]

"Based on this research, I would say that my gut feeling is that Google has started using hyphens in domain names as some kind of negative signal/classifier. If somebody asked me today whether to use a hyphen or not for a new venture I would definitely say look for a non-hyphenated domain."

Hyphens In Domains – Negative Signal to Google?

[TXAlba]

If somebody asked me today whether to use a hyphen or not for a new venture I would definitely say look for a non-hyphenated domain.

Interesting read Big Frank, had a feeling this was likely to be the case for some time, this article is much more conclusive than anything else i have read and for me too its out with the hyphenated site names......... for now i will stick to the .co.uk , i am intrigued by such TLD's as .construction, .plumbing and the like but not yet convinced it is the best way to go. For the UK I still see the public in general having more confidence in the .co.uk than any other.

looks like it will be jdbelectricians.co.uk

thanks for the insights as ever, and always appreciated.

[Big Frank]

looks like it will be jdbelectricians.co.uk

good move

[ashtangakasha]

I agree with the "avoid hyphens" advice, in general. It should be easy to teach to a customer, and easy to remember. I find that "all one word" is a simpler instruction for people to remember than "hyphen after the jdb" would be.

As for readability, which is also very important, though less so for SEO, use mixed case. Way Off Broadway uses woBroadway.com and sometimes WOBroadway.com (their logo is WOB), and the Bloggs could display their domain as JDBelectricians.co.uk, or jdbElectricians, etc. I routinely use mulberryKnoll.com, anapurnaPress.com, timbreProductions.com, etc. Many folks don't realize that case is ignored in domain names.

[Gamerprinter]

Historically, I find client's desire for a particular URL name is not based on SEO, even though it should be, but usually based on their real company name or some other reason - which I consider a mistake. And I tell them it would be a mistake to use their choice for their URL, then try to explain to them how both search engines and SEO works.

Not that I disagree with "avoid hyphens" advice, but I have a URL with a "hyphen" included as "gamer-printshop.com" (hence my forum name). Despite the "included hyphen", most of my clients find me from direct links posted at forum sites, FB, G+ or other locations that are not my site. Or they find me on a Google search. Even though I created my gamer-printshop website 7 years ago, and have not really updated it at all in that time, I did build the site with SEO in mind. For my chosen keyword phrases: "gamer printshop", "rpg map printing", "dundjinni battlemaps", and several others, my website is #1, as well as #2 and #3 on most search engines. So I don't really even need to worry about what to include or not include in my URL as people generally don't find me via the URL, rather search engines and direct links - as long as they click on the link or the Google rank position, they don't even need to know the name of the site. Who I am is unimportant, rather what I can do for the customer is the only thing that matters.

For me, I chose Gamer Printshop as my company name, because the words were my primary keyword phrase and for no other reason.

[Egg Bramhill]

I agree with you here GP, I often believe people can become paranoid re SEO & url's. Often a hyphen assists someone looking at the web address to split it apart on a hording or advert etc otherwise it may appear as a mush. Example whywewill.com looks like a name of a Welsh village. why-we-will.com looks far clearer in an advertisement, it say's what it says on the tin so to speak.

However at the same time informing someone that your website is "whywewilldotcom" is far more memorable and easier to say than "why hyphen we hyphen will dot com "

In the case of Joe Bloggs Electricians (if I rember correctly) I prefer Garys suggestion of jb-electricians.com rather than jbelectricians.com

Much depends on the size & geographical coverage of a the clients site. Is it international, National, Regional, Local etc?

I would expect jb electricians may well be a small company, say working in Essex, perhaps even a smaller part of the county, perhaps just a town. So how do folks find us? They type in Electricians Essex (County/region name) or Electricians Harwich (Town name)

Provided you've used the words Electrician & Essex & Harwich tactically within the site then this is sufficient. Also register the site with Google Maps etc. It doesn't really mean much thereafter if you've used hyphens or and in your domain name.

Finally, domain names are cheap, buy "whywewill.com" and "why-we-will.com" and redirect.