Choosing the right domain name is an essential aspect of setting up a strong online presence. One common question that often arises is, “How many variations of a domain name should I buy for optimal SEO?”
In this article, we’ll explain the pros of having multiple domain variations and highlight the cons of owning too many. The goal is to provide clear insights to assist you in making well-informed decisions based on your specific needs.
What is The Point of Buying Multiple Variations of a Domain?
Buying multiple variations of a domain name is important for optimizing your marketing strategy and strengthening your business’s online presence. Owning domain names that cover common typos guarantees that users can reach your website, preventing potential sales loss from customer spelling errors. It also protects against copycats and cybersquatters, safeguarding your brand from potential damage.
Using multiple domains can expand your business into new geographic locations. This approach allows growth while offering customers a “local” experience worldwide. Using domain names with country-specific TLDs in international markets allows a stronger connection with customers in those regions.
Buying multiple domain names should be made strategically, considering your business’s specific needs and goals.
The Benefits of Buying Multiple Domain Variations
Investing in multiple domain variations brings several advantages that can significantly impact your online presence and business strategy. Here’s a breakdown of the key benefits:
Protect Your Brand Name
Building brand awareness is vital for any business, and one effective way to do this is by owning multiple domain variations. When you secure popular top-level domains (TLDs) for your brand, it significantly reduces the chances of others trying to purchase similar variations. For instance, if you own the .com, .net, and .org domains, you pretty much have a stronghold on your domain name in the market. This not only protects your brand identity but also ensures that your customers can easily find you online.
Improves User Accessibility
Owning multiple domain variations ensures that users can easily access your website even if they accidentally type a different spelling or extension.
Reaching New Markets
Owning multiple domains can help you break into new geographical markets, rebrand, or create more brands. By acquiring domains similar to or related to your domain name, you can stay ahead of domain squatters and prevent them from increasing prices and reselling.
The Drawbacks of Buying Multiple Domain Variations
While having multiple domain variations offers advantages, it’s important to be mindful of potential drawbacks.
Here are some considerations:
- Having and maintaining multiple domains comes with added expenses, including registration fees, renewals, and potential development costs, impacting your budget.
- While intended to protect the brand, owning too many variations might confuse users.
- Juggling numerous domains can become challenging, requiring more time and attention for renewals, updates, and overall administration.
What to Consider When Buying Multiple Domain Variations
The number of domain variations you need depends on your specific goals, budget, and circumstances.
While having multiple domains can be a wise business move, it doesn’t mean you should impulsively buy every domain you like. Instead, approach buying multiple domains with a strategic plan, treating it like any other thoughtful business decision.
There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but here are some factors to consider when deciding how many domain variations to buy:
Your Budget
What budget do you have? Generally, the larger your budget, the more extensions you may consider purchasing.
If you’re a small business with a tight budget, spending a lot of money buying multiple domain names is not the best decision. But for big companies with investments over a million, it’s a good idea to consider protecting the brand by strategically getting some variants of your domain name.
Keep in mind that shorter domains come with a higher price tag. In other words, if your domain is short (3-5 letters), the different versions will generally cost more. So, the number of variations you can afford mainly depends on your budget.
The Purpose Of Your Website
Are you buying this domain for a business or a hobby website? If it’s primarily for a hobby site, you might not be bothered if others purchase extensions related to your domain. However, it’s important to keep in mind that hobbies can often transform into businesses, making this consideration more significant.
Start with one extension if you’re getting a domain for a personal project. As your project grows and becomes more important, you can think about getting other domains and extensions.
Variants of Domain Names
The more variations of your domain you have, the better. It’s good to have all the options someone can use to steal branded traffic.
Variants of domain names that are good to have are:
- Different TLDs (Top-Level Domains): example.com, example.net, example.org
- Country Code TLDs (ccTLDs): example.us, example.co.uk, example.ca
- New gTLDs (Generic Top-Level Domains): example.app, example.blog, example.tech
- Hyphenated Versions: example-site.com, example-website.com
- Plural and Singular Forms: examples.com, example.com
- Common Misspellings: exampl.com, exmple.com
- Reversed Word Order: comexample.com, exampleweb.com
- Keyword Variations: myexample.com, examplehub.com
- Adding Prefix: theexample.com, myexample.com
- Adding Location or Industry-Specific Terms: examplestore.com, exampletech.com
- Adding Numbers: example1.com, 1example.com
- Shortened Versions: exmpl.com, xmpl.com
- Domain Name “Hacks”: exam.pl, examp.le
Availability Check
Checking the availability of a domain name is essential when making your decision. Using domain search tools like name.com and research.domaintools.com can help you quickly determine which names are taken and which ones are available for registration.
Managing Multiple Domains
Be prepared to manage multiple domains, as this can involve setting up redirects and ensuring consistent branding across all domains.
You can use your domain name variants for parking – registering a domain without hosting a website on it. When a domain is parked, the owner has control over it, preventing others from buying and using that specific name.
Ensure you stay on top of renewing each domain, especially if you didn’t register all of them at the same time. Typically, you can purchase a domain name for one year or multiple years. Whether you opt for automatic renewals or set reminders to renew manually, it’s crucial to do so on time to avoid the risk of losing ownership.
Conclusion
Getting more domains can be a smart move for your business, helping with branding, marketing, SEO, and legal issues. However, before you start buying domains, think about how having more than one domain can help your business, choose the types that fit your needs, plan smart ways to use them, and be aware of any challenges that might come up.
