Domain Selection SEO: How important are domain names & TLDs?

What effect does the domain have on the search engine ranking?

The domain extension plays no significant role for the search engines and therefore also has no influence on the ranking.

However, with a national target audience it can be advantageous to use a country-specific domain. In Germany, domains with a .de extension usually also have a higher click-through rate than, for example, .com domains.

One argument in favor of cross-country domains is that they can work equally well in all countries.

The domain can support positioning as a brand. For a successful public image, the domain name should therefore be memorable and easy to grasp. If you do not want to use your own brand name in the domain, you can opt for a keyword domain.

Since the Google EMD update (2012), an exact keyword in the domain is no longer a ranking advantage — what matters is content quality and brand signals. A pure keyword domain (e.g. guenstige-schuhe.de) also comes across as interchangeable and is hard to build up as a brand. Today, a short, memorable brand domain is advisable for most projects; a keyword in the name is at most a partial-match bonus for recognition, not an SEO lever.

The trend (e.g. Amazon, Booking, Zalando) is clearly toward strong, independent brand domains. Brand signals such as branded search queries and mentions have an indirect positive effect on visibility. In the long term, a concise brand domain pays off more in terms of recognition, direct visits, and backlinks than a generic keyword domain.

Which domain extension is best?

By now there is a wide variety of possible domain extensions, and more are constantly being added. Top-level domains are divided into two different types:

Country-specific domains, for example .de, .ch, .at
Cross-country domains, for example .com, .net, .org

The most commonly used cross-country domain extensions are .net, .org, and .info. These extensions are not limited to a single country and are therefore suitable for companies with an international orientation. Country-specific targeting today is handled via hreflang markup or via country-specific ccTLDs; the manual country assignment in the Search Console's “International Targeting” report was shut down in 2022.

When choosing, you should consider that some top-level domains have long been familiar to users and therefore appear more trustworthy. The extensions .com and .net are the most popular. The extensions .biz and .info, on the other hand, have frequently been misused for spam in the past. Nevertheless, websites with these domain extensions can also achieve good rankings.

For a German target audience, the .de extension remains the first choice.

What is important with industry-specific extensions such as .hotel or .museum is that they should only be used for the corresponding trade as well. Likewise, special forms such as .tv and .to should only be used in exceptional cases.

The following tips are helpful when choosing a domain extension:

The domain must suit the target audience. If the target audience is rather conservative, the domain extension should not be too unusual either.
If several domain extensions are suitable, website operators can also secure the alternative domains so as not to leave them to the competition.
Every domain extension evokes its own associations. Special extensions should therefore be chosen with care.
Certain domain extensions are considered more trustworthy and therefore often achieve a higher click-through rate. This applies, for example, to .de, .net, or .com.

Since 2013, there have also been hundreds of new generic top-level domains. They too are not a direct ranking factor, but they differ in user trust: a topically fitting extension such as .shop can make the domain name more meaningful, while extensions with a high volume of spam (e.g. .xyz) trigger skepticism among some users. Before choosing a new gTLD, it pays to look at the extension's familiarity and reputation.

One of the most common structural decisions is subdomain versus directory (subfolder). Google generally treats blog.beispiel.de and beispiel.de/blog/ as equivalent. In practice, however, it is advisable to bundle related content in the directory of the same domain, because signals and authority thus remain consolidated on one domain. A subdomain is especially suitable for clearly separated areas (e.g. a shop or help center).

And what if the desired domain is no longer available?

Well-known top-level domains are heavily contested, so the desired name is frequently already taken, especially with .de domains.

If no other domain extension is an option, website operators have to fall back on an alternative. With some domains, the spelling can be varied. If the domain consists of several words, these can be separated by a hyphen.

Also numbers are allowed in the domain. With certain numbers, however, caution is advised. For example, the 24 is often associated with cheap providers. Domains such as onlinemarketing24.de are then perceived as less reputable.

If the owner of the desired domain can be identified, you may be able to buy the internet address from them. Popular TLDs are often secured merely as a precaution in order to sell them at a profit when needed.

Anyone who changes domains (e.g. from a keyword domain to a brand domain) should redirect every old URL 1:1 to the new target URL via a permanent 301 redirect — this way Google largely carries over the existing ranking signals. It is important to avoid redirect chains and to use the Change of Address tool in the Google Search Console. A cleanly executed migration with 301 redirects prevents losses in visibility.

How can the domain name be protected?

The domain name can be protected under trademark law. The protection options are laid down in § 4 of the German Trademark Act. However, only the second-level domain can be protected. Components of the top-level domain such as .de or www. are not eligible for protection.

As a first step, it is advisable to register a word mark with the German Patent and Trademark Office. With the entry in the trademark register, the naming rights and trademark protection for the name are secured. This means that no one else can use the brand name as a domain either.

If you do not want to register a word mark, you can also obtain domain protection in another way. For this, the domain name must absolutely have a connection to the product or service and not merely describe a general service (for example: handyreparatur.de).

In addition, the domain must already have attained a demonstrable level of recognition. This is evidenced, for example, by the following metrics:

Page views
Backlinks
Results from surveys
Public image and advertising

Anyone who successfully protects their domain has the option of taking action against imitators.

Conclusion

The domain, and above all the domain extension, are not among the ranking factors in search engine optimization. A website can rank well on Google with any domain extension. Before choosing the top-level domain, however, it is worth taking a look at your own target audience and orientation.

Quellen

Domain Selection and SEO: How important are domain names and TLDs for SEO?

What effect does the domain have on the search engine ranking?

Which domain extension is best?

And what if the desired domain is no longer available?

How can the domain name be protected?

Conclusion

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