Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. International SEO
    4. Domain length

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Domain length

    International SEO
    5
    13
    4022
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • SEODinosaur
      SEODinosaur last edited by

      Does Domain length matter for SEO?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Dr-Pete
        Dr-Pete Staff @SEODinosaur last edited by

        I think there may be an important distinction here - are you talking about potentially registering dozens of domains to rank for long-tail phrases? I think we're all assuming that you mean your primary domain choice.

        Registering dozens of exact-match domains to rank for long-tail phrases is a lot less effective than it used to be (and will probably get even less effecting over the next 1-3 years). People abused that tactic, for starters, but it also splits your link-juice, social signals, and typically creates either doorway pages or large-scale duplicate content. The negatives outweigh the positives in most cases.

        If you're only talking about one domain, and it really is a very long-tail phrase you want to target, then that's a bit different. In the example you give, most of the keywords are very common and a bit ambiguous, so you're right - a short version might not make much sense. On the other hand, the long version is going to target one very specific phrase that probably gets a small amount of traffic. You could target that phrase through on-page cues, inbound anchor text, etc. (the domain name is just one small piece of the puzzle).

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • SEODinosaur
          SEODinosaur @SEODinosaur last edited by

          Ooops I read this after posting below... Sorry about that

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • SEODinosaur
            SEODinosaur @Dr-Pete last edited by

            "the more words in your domain, the less SEO impact each word is going to have. At some point, it may start to look a bit spammy." I think I missed a good article on this can you please provide a source?

            I would not use this for over the phone lol... Only to tap into search engine traffic, lets say I found a term that is highly competitive. However, the rankers are not optimizing for that specific query. Its only highly competitive because these sites are authoritative for other relavent keywords.

            Example.

            I want to rank for the keywords "how can i be sure this is true"

            When I type this in a search engine, lets say I get youtube/ebay/etsy/etc... for the SERP (highly authoritative according to SEOmoz but they are not targeting the long tail question)

            Would I be better off buying a domain canthisbe.com? I dont see how this makes sense....

            Dr-Pete 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Dr-Pete
              Dr-Pete Staff @SEODinosaur last edited by

              It's confusing, but best practice is generally no hyphen in the root domain, but hyphens in the sub-folders (so, "www.mydomain.com/my-domain"). Google is good about separating words in root domains, but not always in folder and page names (and they recommend the hyphen as the preferred separator). Traditionally, hyphens in the root domain are also a (small) negative trust signal - people tend to think you couldn't get the non-hyphenated domain.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • SEODinosaur
                SEODinosaur @coremediadesign last edited by

                I am not 100% about hyphens. However, I noticed that most sites use hyphens in all their sub pages. (Just look at the URL of this thread http://www.seomoz.org/q/domain**-**length) I think that Hyphens are bad on a root domain.

                "The reason behind it is that words such as: what, is, right etc. do not really give you any keyword value. Your main keyword would be France and then something to indicate that you want to relate to the current time - like 'now'."

                Are you sure about this?

                I never heard of this... Can you please provide a source?

                From my understanding exact domain helps (no telling how much). By exact I am implying [iwanttogetonthefirstpageofgoogle] for the term "I want to get on the first page of google"

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • Dr-Pete
                  Dr-Pete Staff last edited by

                  I think the comments here cover the bases - I'm not aware of any kind of outright penalty, but it's always a balancing act - the more words in your domain, the less SEO impact each word is going to have. At some point, it may start to look a bit spammy.

                  Of course, there's the practical side, which includes the usability aspects, too. Imagine you want to give someone this URL over the phone, print it on a business card, use email addresses at it, or even post it on social media (without a shortener) - at some point, a long URL just isn't practical. It's also a negative trust signal - people aren't going to take an overly long URL seriously, IMO.

                  SEODinosaur 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • coremediadesign
                    coremediadesign last edited by

                    Domain length extends your urls, and long urls are seeing as a negative factor. My recommendation would be to forget about hyphens - as these are also additional characters and are more difficult to type together with the rest of the alphanumerical characters on the keyboard.

                    As to the length - keep it short and do not try to put all of the words from your phrase in the domain - try to use the most important ones and no more than 3 combined together. For instance I would convert your domain : whatisgoingoninfrancerightnow.com to something like : francerightnow.com or even francenow.com

                    The reason behind it is that words such as: what, is, right etc. do not really give you any keyword value. Your main keyword would be France and then something to indicate that you want to relate to the current time - like 'now'.

                    The rest of the keywords could be easily included in the page names and that should give you a perfect structure to drive your SEO.

                    SEODinosaur 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ResslerMotors
                      ResslerMotors @SEODinosaur last edited by

                      There are some minor negative correlations when it comes to length of domains.  If it's a competitive search, then it may not be worth the minor interference.  However, if it's a low competitive vertical, then go right ahead.

                      My opinion, though, would be to use a shorter search phrase like goingoninfrance.com.  This will give you a broader appeal to consumers by not having the "right now" part, and it is short enough to remember.  This also keeps you safe if the algorithm would change to further impact long urls.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • SEOExecutive20
                        SEOExecutive20 @SEODinosaur last edited by

                        I did an additional case study.

                        I took a longer domain with not just 1 or 2 but 3 hyphens

                        http://www.high-higher-highest-rankings.com/

                        I located one of it's high competitive keywords that it ranks for

                        "increase website ranking"

                        I'm sure if you type this in the Google search PPC ads will fill both top and right side

                        Now we check to see where it's ranking for this key phrase

                        You will notice that it's located number 2 only losing to an article about Google by About.com 🙂

                        So, I guess that statistically we can't necessarily rule out that the length of the domain with hyphens constitutes a ranking factor.  Maybe only on a broader scale with other underlying issues

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • SEOExecutive20
                          SEOExecutive20 @SEODinosaur last edited by

                          There is a lot of mixed opinions on both of these and personally I would rather not use a domain that's long.  I rarely see websites ranking within the top 5 for long domains and I'm sure many people own these long-tail phrases and use them as domains.

                          According to the SEOMOZ's Google's Ranking Factors 2011
                          Long Titles + URLs are Still Likely Bad for SEO

                          You should definitely take a look at this as it breaks down some interesting facts.

                          This is the slide share of it: http://www.slideshare.net/randfish/ranking-factors-data-2011-smx-elite-sydney

                          Google's Ranking Factors

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • SEODinosaur
                            SEODinosaur @SEOExecutive20 last edited by

                            THis is somewhat helpful. However, it explains domain for users...

                            Let me give you an example..

                            If I want to rank for "what is going on in france right now" it is longer then 15 characters and no one will want to type it. If my domain is whatisgoingoninfrancerightnow.com it will help my SEO rankings, or do the search engines look at the length and say nonono?

                            The link you provided led me to another question. It recomends not using hyphens, are they talking about the main domain only www.my-domain.com, or main domain and extension www.mydomain.com/my-domain?

                            SEOExecutive20 ResslerMotors Dr-Pete SEODinosaur 5 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • SEOExecutive20
                              SEOExecutive20 last edited by

                              This is an excellent resource that gives all details in accordance with domains and SEO: http://www.seomoz.org/learn-seo/domain

                              SEODinosaur 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                              • 1 / 1
                              • First post
                                Last post

                              Got a burning SEO question?

                              Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                              Start my free trial


                              Browse Questions

                              Explore more categories

                              • Moz Tools

                                Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                              • SEO Tactics

                                Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                              • Community

                                Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                              • Digital Marketing

                                Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                              • Research & Trends

                                Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                              • Support

                                Connect on product support and feature requests.

                              • See all categories

                              Related Questions

                              • Easigrass

                                Using a top level domain name and directing it to a subfolder

                                Hi, we have a large international network. Our main website sits on .com domain and is used by the UK market. We have an international site in a subdirectory .com/dk/ for Denmark for example. We have also purchased the domain name www.ourcompany.dk/. Should we be forwarding the domain name (www.ourcompany.dk/) to point to the subdirectory www.ourcomany.com.dk/ so in the browser it shows up as www.ourcompany.dk or should we be displaying it as www.ourcompany.com/dk/? Are there any pros and cons to this method? Which one is best and are there any benefits in SEO. Ideally we want the .com domain name to have the best domain authority so would this impact it in any way? Any tips would be great.

                                International SEO | | Easigrass
                                0
                              • Arropa

                                Spanish word as English domain name

                                hi anyine  any issues with using Spanish, and other non English words, as domain names when trying to rank in Google uk. We launched a number of websites a while back but finding it hard to get much traction in Google uk. We are getting a reasonable number of impressions but cannot seem to get very high in the rankings. All the names are foreign words for their service. Our homeware website, for example, uses the basque word for furniture as its name. other than potential branding issues of having domains people might struggle to spell, is there any serp issues we would face with these names. thanks

                                International SEO | | Arropa
                                0
                              • bjs2010

                                E-Commerce - Country Domains versus 1 Domain?

                                Hi, Just wanted to get some feedback and opinions re the idea of segmenting our ecommerce site languages under various domains, like .jp for japanese, .it for italian etc... I do understand the geolocation benefits that this could bring us, but on the flipside, it would mean that we would need to grow our domain authority, link buiding per country domain, which is quite a bit of work. Has anyone ever considered or implemented this and any thoughts? Thanks!

                                International SEO | | bjs2010
                                0
                              • Diana.varbanescu

                                .com versus local domains

                                Hi all, One of my clients has local domain websites in various parts of the world (co.uk etc. etc.) and there has always been a discussion about where a move from local domain (the current set-up) to a targeted .com domain (i.e. .com/uk) would benefit from a SEO perspective. The main reasoning (seo-wise) that keeps coming up is that there'd only be one domain to link to which would help with link juice being passed around. Any thoughts as whether this would actually be the case or if this possible benefit would be outweighed by other cons? Recent moves (local to .com) from a few websites (the Guardian newspaper in the UK being the most recent one off the top of my head) has made me start thinking about it again! Diana

                                International SEO | | Diana.varbanescu
                                0
                              • forex-websites

                                For a website in portuguese what would you use? pt.domain.com, br.domain.com or domain.com.br

                                Hello We are a company with a website in several languages, one of them is portuguese. Our market is 2 times bigger in Brazil than in Portugal, but obviously Brazil has more potential in the future. In domain.com we have our main site in English. What would you use? pt.domain.com, br.domain.com or domain.com.br? In the first case, it means just portuguese, in the second Brazil but it is not geolocalized, and in the third, you are almost ignoring Portugal users... Duplicating content, doesn't seem to make sense... The content is basically international, so it is just the language that matters. Any help will be very much appreciated.

                                International SEO | | forex-websites
                                0
                              • Sudha_Mathew

                                Is .in domain affecting international traffic inflow to my site?

                                My holiday website http://seekandhide.in/ was completed and went live in Feb 2012. Last month I got 83% traffic from India and 3-5% each from USA and UK. The rest is a mixed bag from other countries. This is largely the trend since the last 3-4 months. I want to attract more organic traffic  from UK and rest of Europe. My SEO consultant says that with a .in domain that will be difficult. My website currently features unique holiday properties in India that typically attract European tourists so I don't think it is a product issue. But both website visits and sales enquiries remain primarily Indian even though total number of visitors have increased gradually over the last 6 months.. My queries are 1. Is it only the .in domain that's affecting inflow of international traffic? 2. Is there anything that I can do to offset it? 3. I own seekandhide.co.uk  too. Is there something I can do with that site without building a whole different website there? If I shift completely to .co.uk, I will have the same issue of being geographically limited and end up losing Indian traffic. 4. Is there something else that is not ok on the site that I am missing? 5. Advice that I get from a lot of consultants is to buy seekandhideindia.com but I plan to add international properties in a couple of years so that name would limit my appeal. Thanks in advance! Sudha

                                International SEO | | Sudha_Mathew
                                0
                              • KevinDunne

                                Best domain for spanish language site targeting ALL spanish territories?

                                hi, we're have a strong .com domain and are looking to launch a site for spanish speakers (ie latin america + spain). we already have various subdirectories for some foreign language sites (eg. ourdomain.co.uk, us.ourdomain.com, ca.ourdomain.com, ourdomainchina.com, ourdomainindia.com etc) we already have a B2B site ourdomain.com-es which will remain the same. I'm thinking best practice would be to launch translated copy for the following: ourdomain.com/es ourdomain.com/cl ourdomain.com/mx ourdomain.com/pt etc etc firstly is this the best option? secondly, i'm really interested to hear whether there is a less time/resource intensive route that would give us visibility in ALL spanish speaking territories? Also - if we go with just one of the above (eg ourdomain.com/cl) how likely are we to get traction in other spanish speaking territories? any help much appreciated!

                                International SEO | | KevinDunne
                                0
                              • MarkChambers

                                Domain strategy for UK and USA

                                Hi Everyone, We have example.org.uk with 20K inbound links. We want to target the US as well as the UK. I would be interested to hear what approaches are best for SEO. For example is it better to keep our current domain and have subdirectories for USA for example. Or would it be better to register example.org and then use subdirectories. Or is it better to use different domains for each country? Any help with this much appreciated. Cheers

                                International SEO | | MarkChambers
                                0

                              Get started with Moz Pro!

                              Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                              Start my free trial
                              Products
                              • Moz Pro
                              • Moz Local
                              • Moz API
                              • Moz Data
                              • STAT
                              • Product Updates
                              Moz Solutions
                              • SMB Solutions
                              • Agency Solutions
                              • Enterprise Solutions
                              Free SEO Tools
                              • Domain Authority Checker
                              • Link Explorer
                              • Keyword Explorer
                              • Competitive Research
                              • Brand Authority Checker
                              • Local Citation Checker
                              • MozBar Extension
                              • MozCast
                              Resources
                              • Blog
                              • SEO Learning Center
                              • Help Hub
                              • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                              • How-to Guides
                              • Moz Academy
                              • API Docs
                              About Moz
                              • About
                              • Team
                              • Careers
                              • Contact
                              Why Moz
                              • Case Studies
                              • Testimonials
                              Get Involved
                              • Become an Affiliate
                              • MozCon
                              • Webinars
                              • Practical Marketer Series
                              • MozPod
                              Connect with us

                              Contact the Help team

                              Join our newsletter
                              Moz logo
                              © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                              • Accessibility
                              • Terms of Use
                              • Privacy

                              Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.