When trying to find a good domain name for your website or blog, the often question arises as to whether you should choose a domain that has the keywords you are wanting to rank for in the search engines – or a domain that can be branded.

Ideally, you would like a domain name that incorporates both an element that you can brand as well as a keyword or two that you want to rank for.  When choosing the name “BigManta” it was a conscious choice for me to abandon choosing a keyword-based domain as neither “Big” nor “Manta” have anything to do with internet marketing, business, or making money online.  I decided that it was more important to brand myself as opposed to trying to find a domain name with a keyword.

Keyword-based domain names

No doubt there is some weight given to domain names that have a specific word that you would like to rank for – however, it will have little impact if you’re trying to build a flagship site or blog.  Often, sound SEO methods and strategies will do just as much good for a domain that is rich in keywords as those that incorporate no keywords and are “brandable.”

Brandable domain names

My preferred route when building a site or blog brand, is to use a name that can be easily distinguished and branded.  Not only will your name stick in the heads of the visitors to your site – often they are easier to remember than domains that contain several keywords.

This preference holds true for the biggest blogs on the internet as well.  Taking a quick look at the Top 10 Most Popular Blogs according to Technorati gives us the following results:

• Huffington Post - Brandable domain
• TechCrunch - Brandable/Keyword
• Mashable - Brandable
• Engadget - Brandable
• Gizmodo - Brandable
• Boing Boing – Brandable
• The Official Google Blog – N/A
• Lifehacker - Brandable/Keyword
• Ars Technica – Brandable
• TMZ.com – Brandable

As you can see from the results above, out of the Top 10 Most Popular blogs – 70% of them are using a brandable domain name vs. a keyword-rich domain.

Wrapping up

I’ll let you decide which works best for your site, however, keep in mind that whether you choose a keyword-rich or a brandable domain name – you want your visitors to easily remember your name and site.  By building a brand, you are able to benefit by the name association and start down the road to building your empire.