Choosing the ideal domain name to suit your startup online business is one of the trickier decisions to make. Before you dive into a speedy decision, think foremost what your online marketing plan is going to be. This can have a huge impact on your overall decision.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has quickly become insane, throwing together a range of complicated ideologies that make up this busy industry, so you’ll need to get it right the first time of asking. Choosing the right domain name can have an improved impact depending on your chosen search engine marketing plan.

There are three types of domain names that we within the SEM industry refer to, and they are:

• Exact Match Domains – Otherwise known as EMD’s, or keyword domains, which are simply website addresses that are keywords of a product or service.
• Partial Match Domains – Half brand, half keyword domain names, now referred to as PMD’s.
• Branded Domains – Your company name with no keywords present.

The below statistics I am using if all websites were at number 1 spot for the same keyword.

Exact Match Domain Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

Exact match domains are particularly effective when it comes to click through rate percentage (CTR%). If you work within the search engine marketing industry then you will know that not everybody that searches for a keyword will click on your advert. An exact match domain increases the CTR% of its chosen keyword, therefore you will receive more clicks per 1000 impressions. Exact match domains also still rank really well if there is very good content on the website that props it up. Therefore, if you are a small niche and promoting a single service, then a keyword domain could benefit you more than branding.

Weaknesses

Back in 2012 Google released into its algorithm what is referred to as the ‘EMD update’. More and more ‘Internet marketers’ (cough… spammers) were buying up exact match domains and throwing up worthless 30 minute WordPress websites, generally containing thin pages of content, and a link to an affiliate product. There was tonnes of them, Google was literally plagued with an EMD everytime you typed in a search query. How they did it is beyond me, but they managed it, and these EMD thin content websites are no more after one single update wiped a good majority of them out.

Partial Match Domain Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

As with an EMD, if the query is related to the keyword in the partial match domain, then you will receive a slightly higher CTR% than a branded domain in search engine marketing. Also, a partial match domain is much safer than an EMD in terms of getting removed from the index. Personally, a partial match domain is my favourite type of domain name to purchase when it comes to SEM, simply because even though it is a PMD, you can still get them to sound like a good brand. A good example of this would be ‘My Supermarket’, which is a supermarket comparison website that often posts the best deals from a number of high profile supermarkets.

Weaknesses

They are still not 100% safe from the search engine algorithms, and there still has to be good content to support the domain going forward. As well as the EMD update, Google did release a PMD update, but their focus was aimed more towards EMD’s.

Branded Domain Strengths & Weaknesses

Strengths

Brand is still the best way to go when it comes to broader marketing techniques, unless you think up a good PMD that rolls off the tongue and sounds like a brand. This is because they are memorable. If you are a business that relies of repeat custom then you need to use a branded domain. A brand is also good if you are planning on more aggressive outbound marketing techniques that use online outreach strategies, such as social media or email marketing.

Weaknesses

Lower CTR% than the above two, therefore you will receive less clicks per impression. This can always be improved slightly with a well written snippet (description) for your listings; however you will still fall below the CTR% that an EMD will get.

So there you have it, the three types of domain names that will benefit you more depending on the type of online marketing approach you choose. Personally, I like to use a partial match domain but with the added twist of getting it to sound like a proper brand.