What is SEO best practice when choosing a domain name?

Although a domain name can include any combination of letters and numbers, there are key SEO considerations businesses should take into account ranging from its length to readability, memorability, keywording options and the best extension to use.

A website address can include any combination of letters and numbers, so what is SEO best practice when choosing your business website's domain name?

Short domain names, such as kook.com.au, are best: Not only are they easier to type into a browser, they’re also easier to say and to remember, which is important for when a customer is recommending your business to a friend. They also help to avoid Google algorithm penalties applied to pages with long URLs.
Avoid non-standard characters and unusual spelling: Again, this simply makes it harder for humans … which is probably your target market, right? Using hyphens to separate words is proven to decrease readability and how memorable the domain is, especially if more than one is used, which will typically also have a negative ranking effect as it correlates with spammy behaviour.
Incorporate broad keywords, if sensible to do so: Domain names are often brand-based, however if you can include a keyword that indicates what your business offers then you may gain some SEO benefit. A word of warning, however: don’t keyword-stuff your domain, as this will likely result in algorithm penalties.
Choose your domain extension carefully: If you can’t get the .com.au or .com domain name of your choice (depending on whether you’re targeting an Australian or international market) it pays to carefully consider your options. Changing your domain name may be better than opting for a general or industry-based domain extension as they can appear spammy and are not trusted as much as .com.au or .com domains by people and especially search engines.

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