Long or Short Domains?
One factor many people forget to consider when register a domain name is how long it is. When it comes to domain names, longer means more complicated to remember and shorter means easier to remember.
Between 2-7 letters are often the most memorable, while domain names over 16 characters usually are considerable harder for people to remember. If they remember your name and web address, you’re likely to benefit from more returning visitors. Let’s begin discussing short domains.
Advantages with short domains
Short domain names between one and seven characters (without extension) have many advantages.
+Better for branding and adverts.
+Memorable: Short domains or often easier to remember.
+Loyal users enjoy short name since it’s quick to type.
+Easier to attract direct traffic or type-in traffic as they also call it.
+Allow longer sub-directories (ex: NN.co.uk/Keyword) to be shown in Adverts and highlighted in search engine results.
+Keep their value or increase because of scarcity and high desire among domain investors to own them.
+Your attention span is often short while browsing the web. Short domains take less time to read.
+Likely to be considered generic letters and not offend any other parties or trademark owners.Disadvantages with short domains
Negative factors for short domain names include the following:
-Usually way more costly, especially one and two characters. Can the money be used for other marketing and branding purpose instead?
Advantages with long domains
+Long domain names might still have a descriptive power if common natural keywords people actually use.
Disadvantages with long domains
-Harder to remember; potential visitors might land on your competitors website.
-Less loyal visitors; many can’t be bothered to type a long domain name.
-Non-existing type-in traffic.
-Cannot use keywords in Google Adwords because of maximum character limits, such as areallyreallylongdomainname.co.uk/k.. (cut off) vs Short.co.uk/Keyword-Fits-Here).
Summary
Domain names can be of any length up to 67 characters. Most domain and SEO experts agree that the length of domain names (within reason) have little or no direct effect on search engine rankings. However, very long domains may indirectly lead to lower click through rate in Google, Bing and Yahoo and can therefore impact site ranking negatively. Short domains are not always the optimal choice, even though there are quicker to type, attracts more loyal users, type-in traffic and are highly suitable to be used in adverts. Instead of investing in a short domain, the money can be used for other marketing purposes. Other factors to consider when getting a premium domain name are which extension to go for and if your choice is trusted or not.