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
      • MozCon
      • 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.

      Enhance Keyword Discovery with Bulk Analysis
      Moz Pro

      Enhance Keyword Discovery with Bulk Analysis

      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

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing
      Moz API

      Access 20 years of data with flexible pricing

      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. On-Page Optimization
    4. How long is too long for domain URL 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.

    How long is too long for domain URL length?

    On-Page Optimization
    5
    12
    18128
    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.
    • JesseCWalker
      JesseCWalker last edited by

      I noticed one of the negatively correlated ranking factors was length of URL.  I'm building a page from scratch, we are trying to rank for 'Minneapolis Fitness' and 'Minneapolis Massage'.

      Is www.minnnepolismassageandfitness.com  just ridiculously long?  Or does the exact match outweigh the penalty for URL length?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
      • JesseCWalker
        JesseCWalker @JesseCWalker last edited by

        Now its all starting to come together.  I love involving the community in the decision.  Will do!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • RyanKent
          RyanKent @JesseCWalker last edited by

          So with minneapolis massage I'd get great benefit for the keyword "minneapolis massage".   But for every other keyword, the infinity of long-tails, I'm at a disadvantage for

          EXACTLY! This reasoning is why I strongly recommend a short, branded domain name as the primary URL. My preference is to compete with great content and SEO strategies rather then trying to purchase an assortment of keyword domain names. That tactic is primarily for those who lack the proper SEO knowledge, or who have deep pockets to create a solid web page for each domain name and properly redirect it to the main site.

          If you found a very high traffic perfect match phrase, you could consider acquiring the domain name and trying a couple things, but overall your best bet is a solid primary domain.

          You have the disadvantage of a long city name (Minneapolis) along with other variations (Twin Cities) used. I would suggest focusing more on the "Fitness" aspect and allowing your physical location and other factors to establish relevancy for the location.  "WalkerFitness", "SunshineFitness" or whatever brand seems to fit you best.

          When trying to brainstorm names, engage your current clients. Make a poll, take a survey, give out a prize to whomever picks the best name! The process can generate publicity for you "Free 1 hour massage + 1 month fitness membership".

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
          • JesseCWalker
            JesseCWalker @JesseCWalker last edited by

            Definitely more clear for the noob!  Thanks for the reply.  Most helpful!

            It occured to me as I've been thinking about this that the longer URL correlates negatively with every single keyword you target, while the exact match gives you a benefit only to the exact match keyword.

            So with minneapolis massage I'd get great benefit for the keyword "minneapolis massage".   But for every other keyword, the infinity of long-tails, I'm at a disadvantage for:

            Minneapolis Fitness

            St. Paul Fitness

            Twin Cities fitness

            in-home personal trainer in south minneapolis

            etc. etc.

            These long tails have got to out-traffic the simple "minneapolis massage" in the long term.  So now I'm thinking we need something short and branded.   "Minneapolis Massage" is still a possibility but it is a bit long to type and rather boring.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • ShaMenz
              ShaMenz @JesseCWalker last edited by

              Hi Jesse,

              Basically, the only significant search volume is for the shorter two word term "minneapolis massage", so there is no benefit in going for the longer term (which also has a negative correlation for rankings).

              So, since Ryan advised that the .net version of minneapolismassage is available, if you are wanting an exact match domain that might be a better option.

              Since the return you are wanting is quite modest, then the traffic afforded by that term and the little extra you might attract from other terms should work for you if you can get some reasonable rankings.

              I would suggest that you put some good effort into local search optimization if you decide to go with that domain.

              Hope that is clearer,

              Sha

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
              • JesseCWalker
                JesseCWalker @JesseCWalker last edited by

                I'm afraid I'm getting a little lost.  I'm still new to all this.

                As far as I can tell the correlations are in conflict.  +0.22 exact match.  Domain name length -0.07.  So it seems to me that the data says go for exact match even though it makes it long.

                I'm going to guess at what a "breakout" term is.  They must mean keywords like Minneapolis Fitness,  Minneapolis Massage,  etc.

                I'm also going to guess that "single word head terms" mean fitness, massage, and Minneapolis.  If so then it is true that we aren't interested in trying to compete for those.

                The scope of the project is very small.  Basically a personal trainer and a massage therapist who want to bring in a few extra clients.  The site would be very small scale as well, basically a platform for them to interact with their client base, and bring in a new client or two from time to time.

                I'm hoping that the level of traffic for "minneapolis massage" and "minneapolis fitness" or "minneapolis personal trainer" would bring enough traffic to accomplish the goal of bringing in 2 or 3 new regular clients per year for each of the professionals.

                If this is a poor assumption someone please let me know so I can adjust our expectations.

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • ShaMenz
                  ShaMenz @JesseCWalker last edited by

                  First, the correlation data is something I would pay attention to.

                  Second, since the longtail exact match and the majority of the other breakout terms from that very long URL appear to bring little or no traffic to the table - why would you bother to go against the data? (OK, the single word head terms have what looks like great traffic, but going after those is not a "new site" proposition in my view).

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • JesseCWalker
                    JesseCWalker @ShaMenz last edited by

                    yep, 3 n's is a mistake.  So you think the exactmatch.com is overkill for these keywords?  Might be better to go with something shorter and more branded?

                    ShaMenz JesseCWalker RyanKent 6 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • ShaMenz
                      ShaMenz last edited by

                      Hi Jesse,

                      First, I'm going to assume that the three n's in the URL you posted was a mistake?

                      So, having made that assumption, I think the philosophical debate is largely a moot point.

                      Generally, the intent of developing an exact match domain is to rank for the term or terms that carry exact match traffic volume.

                      The image below pretty much tells the story I think.

                      If you haven't yet found it, the tool is the SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty Tool

                      keyword-difficulty.gif

                      JesseCWalker 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • KeriMorgret
                        KeriMorgret @HarrisonHill last edited by

                        Hi George, that's an interesting take on things. Can you give us any more background information on this or resources? Thanks!

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • HarrisonHill
                          HarrisonHill last edited by

                          I have to disagree with Ryan. 2 terms isn't max length URL can have. Always use as many characters in URL as it's necessary. There is no anything like "very long domain".

                          For example: minnnepolismassageandfitness.com will give you more domain SEO juice than minnnepolismassage.com

                          If you are concerned on search engine visits, use whole keyword in your domain. It will be easier to rank for keyword. But if you wish to receive direct visits (which I doubt), use user-friendly domains, keep it short and nice looking.

                          KeriMorgret 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                          • RyanKent
                            RyanKent last edited by

                            You want to stick to a maximum of 2 terms in your URL. Three is pushing it. Four words is too much.

                            Doing a google search for "minneapolis fitness" shows most of the top results do not have minneapolis nor fitness in the URL. You can freely try names such as "Sunshine Fitness" or whatever your business name is in an effort to brand the URL rather then attempt keyword matches.

                            If you really want a URL match then minneapolisfitness.net is available. While I strongly prefer a .com, I would prefer this particular .net over the URL you suggested.

                            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

                            • viatrading1

                              URL Structure on Category Pages

                              Hi, Currently, we having the following URL Structure o our product pages: All Products Pages: www.viatrading.com/wholesale/283/All_Products.html Category Page: www.viatrading.com/wholesale/4/Clothing.html Product Page: www.viatrading.com/wholesale/product/LOAD-HE-WOM/Assorted-High-End-Women-Clothing-Lots.html?cid=4 Since we are going to use another frontend system, we are thinking about re-working on this URL Structure, using something like this: All Products Pages: www.viatrading.com/wholesale-products/ Category Page: www.viatrading.com/wholesale-products/category/ Product Page: www.viatrading.com/wholesale-products/category/product-title/ I understand this is better for SEO and user experience. However, we already have good traffic on the current URL Structure. Should we use same left-side filters on Category Pages as in All Products Page? Since we are using Faceted Navigation, when users filter the Category (e.g. Clothing) they will see same page as Clothing Category Page. Is that an issue for Duplicate Content? Since we are a wholesale company - I understand is using "/wholesale/products/" in URL for all product pages a good idea? If so, should we avoid word "wholesale" in product-title to avoid repeated word in URL? For us, SKU in URL helps the company employees and maybe some clients identify the link. However, what do you think of using the SEO-friendly product-title, and 301 redirect it to www.viatrading.com/BRTA-LN-DISHRACKS/, so 1st link is only used by company members and Canonicalized 2nd is the only one seen by general public? Thank you,

                              On-Page Optimization | | viatrading1
                              0
                            • doctecs

                              Link flow for multiple links to same URL

                              Hi there,
                              my question is as follows: How does Google handle link flow if two links in a given page point to the same URL? (do they flow link individually or not?) This seems to be a newbie question, but actually it seems that there is little evidence and even also little consensus in the SEO community about this detail. Answers should include source Information about the current state of art at Google is preferable The question is not about anchor text, general best practises for linking, "PageRank is dead" etc. We do know that the "historical" PageRank was implemented (a long time ago) without special handling for multiple links, as e.g. last stated by Matt Cutts in this video: http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-one-page-two-links-page-counted-first-link-192718 On the other hand, many people from the SEO community say that only the first link counts. But so far I could not find any data to back this up, which is quite surprising.

                              On-Page Optimization | | doctecs
                              0
                            • Substance-create

                              Will changing a URL negatively affect ranking?

                              Hello Mozzers, We would like to change the URL for a page on our website which ranks well for some our keyphrases/words. We are hoping the change of URL, through the addition of an additional keyword would help boost the rank of that URL further. At the moment out page gets 2 x A and 2 x B 1xF on the MOZ page rank tool using 5 keyphrase/word variations . One phrase ranks 4, one ranks 3 and the other 3 are 'not in the top 50' Our plan was to change the URL, using SHF404, and use 'Fetch' in the Google search console to re-submit the page to Google. Appreciate you can't give any guarantees how Google will behave, just wondered what your thoughts were on the wisdom of changing the URL in the first place? Thanks Ian

                              On-Page Optimization | | Substance-create
                              0
                            • uBreakiFix

                              How to Structure URL's for Multiple Locations

                              We are currently undergoing a site redesign and are trying to figure out the best way to structure the URL's and breadcrumbs for our many locations. We currently have 60 locations nationwide and our URL structure is as follows: www.mydomain.com/locations/{location} Where {location} is the specific street the location is on or the neighborhood the location is in. (i.e. www.mydomain.com/locations/waterford-lakes) The issue is, {location} is usually too specific and is not a broad enough keyword. The location "Waterford-Lakes" is in Orlando and "Orlando" is the important keyword, not " Waterford Lakes". To address this, we want to introduce state and city pages. Each state and city page would link to each location within that state or city (i.e. an Orlando page with links to "Waterford Lakes", "Lake Nona", "South Orlando", etc.). The question is how to structure this. Option 1 Use the our existing URL and breadcrumb structure (www.mydomain.com/locations/{location}) and add state and city pages outside the URL path: www.mydomain.com/{area} www.mydomain.com/{state} Option 2 Build the city and state pages into the URL and breadcrumb path: www.mydomain.com/locations/{state}/{area}/{location} (i.e www.mydomain.com/locations/fl/orlando/waterford-lakes) Any insight is much appreciated. Thanks!

                              On-Page Optimization | | uBreakiFix
                              0
                            • toxicpls

                              Post url not matching with post title ( wordpress)

                              I have this site called searchoflife.com on which I have noticed the post urls are not matching with the post title. For Example:Post Title - A Dialogue With NaturePost URL - http://searchoflife.com/dialogue-nature-2013-09-12 Words like 'A' and 'with' are not present in the post URL. This has been the trend since a few days. After investigating I found out that it was due to my plugin SEO ultimate which is actually creating post slugs automatically for the post urls. So my question is whether it is advisable to use post slugs instead of the full post url. Does it affect the SERPS for my site?

                              On-Page Optimization | | toxicpls
                              0
                            • homebizsmart

                              Landing Pages: New Domain or Sub Folder?

                              I use premise for landing pages. I have some extra domain names that are fantastic in my industry. I'm wondering if I should use those domains for these landing pages? The header, nav, footer, would be the same as my main site,  the body and content would be totally different. will google penalize me if I have the same header and footer on a landing page?

                              On-Page Optimization | | homebizsmart
                              0
                            • BobGW

                              301 redirect and then keywords in URL

                              Hi, Matt Cutts says that 301 redirects, including the ones on internal pages, causes the loss of a little bit of link juice. But also, I know that keywords in the URL are very important. On our site, we've got unoptimized URLs (few keywords) in the internal pages. Is it worth doing a 301 redirect in order to optimize the URLs for each main page. 301 redirects are the only way we can do it on our premade cart For example (just an example) say our main (1 of the 4) keywords for the page is "brown shoes". I'm wondering if I should redirect something like shoes.com/shoecolors.html to shoes.com/brown-shoes.html In other words, with the loss of juice would we come out ahead? In what instances would we come out ahead?

                              On-Page Optimization | | BobGW
                              0
                            • qlkasdjfw

                              How long should anchor text be? Best practice for anchor text length?

                              site: http://www.cerritosnissan.com/index.htm On the bottom of this homepage there is an seo content area, basically right under where it says "orange county nissan" welcomes you. The internal links in this area are very long and I'm wondering why they would do this - is there any benefit to making anchor text longer? The longer the anchor text, the less each part of that anchor text passes link juice. For example, for a page about their reviews, the anchor text of the link is "See what Cerritos Nissan customers have to say about their experience at this great Orange County Nissan Dealership.". If I would have done this the anchor text would be "Cerritos Nissan Reviews" or just plain "reviews" as the anchor text. Why would they be using such long keywords as anchor text?

                              On-Page Optimization | | qlkasdjfw
                              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
                            • Digital Marketers
                            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.