How long should be a domain name? For new domainers...

[shahed_sajid]

The length of a domain name has vital importance for a successful business. Shorter is better. Most people can easily memorize a short domain name. A shorter domain name is easier to read and quicker to type. And if you think about a business card, a long name is difficult to fit in, right?

A bigger domain name is comparatively more difficult to read, memorize and type. So, when choosing a domain name for a business, domain length is considered more of the time. Bigger names sometimes restrict the growth of a business.

The question is, how long a domain name should be?

It depends on different things. In my opinion, if the extension is .COM you can choose a bigger name for your business instead of a shorter length other extensions because people are habituated with the .com extension. Many people think their searched name has a .COM at the end.
But the problem for now and the coming years is, short names are not much available in the market. Most of the beautiful short names are already in use. So, the current trend is an appropriate combination of two words domain and even sometimes three words. A common observation is, the name should not be more than three words and 17 characters. And remember, uses of numbers and hyphens are better to ignore.
A table from buycompanyname site shows that a higher percentage of domains have 9L to 12L in domains. 80% of successful websites run on 6-17L domains and only 10.5% have more than 17 letters.
Some recent data from Jamesnames and others shows that, while the average length for all extensions available is between 9-10 characters the average, the .COM has the longest length of domains than other extensions, which is between 10-11 characters. On the other hand, the average length of .CO is 8.6, .IO is 7.9, .AI is 7.7.

You may remember these things when you are new in domaining and trying to catch some names to invest in. Hope this will help you.

 

[Asgard87]

Absolutely, also one needs to ensure that the domain name is unique and has no hyphens or numbers in between. I recommended a domain name provider called BIgRock to one of my clients who purchased a .COM from them at a cut-price deal. They provided various options for domain names. He wanted a domain name that went with his category and luckily this also helped him during SEO. So even in that sense, one can choose a domain name.

 

[Biggie]

Hi

how long should a domain name be?

it can be as long as needed, to describe the content and context of the website, and the products and services provided.

some of our past sales that go against general advice:

illinoisautoinsurance.com
kitchenremodelingcontractor.com
chicagorealestateattorney.com
familyhealthinsuranceplan.com
badcreditvisacard.com
100calorie.com
braided-rugs.com
chicagoautorepair.com
seniorcitizensdiscount.com

the other extensions like .co, .io and .ai are mainly used for branding, so naturally, they have to be short in order to have any appeal.

because nobody really wants to build a biz on a 3 or 4 word name in those extensions.

imo....

 

[shahed_sajid]

some of our past sales that go against general advice

Hi,
You unfold a good point here.
Descriptive domains sale is not rare.

I was surprised to saw a 33L long domain sell for four-figure some days ago. Sometimes it’s very difficult to say what people want.

 

[danielak]

Hi,
You unfold a good point here.
Descriptive domains sale is not rare.

I was surprised to saw a 33L long domain sell for four-figure some days ago. Sometimes it’s very difficult to say what people want.

Exactly, there´s no general rule.. depends on the purpose it will be serving, so don´t g running following rules that might not be of help toy your particular site.

 

[DomainsGENERAL.com]

I was surprised to saw a 33L long domain sell for four-figure some days ago. Sometimes it’s very difficult to say what people want.

Keep in mind that some domains sell for a high price because of backlinks, referring domains, existing traffic, etc. It's about SEO characteristics or traffic, not the domain itself. This may be what's very confusing to people looking at the name through their purely "domainer" lens.

 

[shahed_sajid]

Exactly, there´s no general rule.. depends on the purpose it will be serving, so don´t g running following rules that might not be of help toy your particular site.

Hi,
Yes, don't follow the rules blindly. But, it's better to keep in mind that, in general, shorter is better and it works good.

 

[shahed_sajid]

Keep in mind that some domains sell for a high price because of backlinks, referring domains, existing traffic, etc. It's about SEO characteristics or traffic, not the domain itself. This may be what's very confusing to people looking at the name through their purely "domainer" lens.

Hi,
You are absolutely right.
IMO, this is more appropriate for the domainers who do it only for flipping, sooner or later.