The internet has millions of blogs and websites, all trying to get the attention of online users. Choosing the right domain name is one of the best ways to stand out and attract the right audience. But before deciding on a name, you may ask yourself: how long should a domain name be? 📐
Should you try to be as brief as possible, or is there room for longer, more descriptive domain names?
To help you answer these questions, we’ve prepared an article that looks into the ideal length of a domain name. By the end of this guide, you should be clear on how best to choose the right domain name for you and your needs. 😎
Let’s begin.
📚 Table of contents:
Before we can answer how long should a domain name be, let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of choosing between different length domain names.
Pros and cons of shorter domain names
Pros 👍
1. Simplicity
One of the biggest advantages of choosing a short domain name is the simplicity they offer. They are often concise and can be easily communicated through your marketing material.
2. Easy to spell and remember
According to psychologist George Miller, the average adult has the capacity to store around five to nine items in their short-term memory [1]. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Humans are busy with work, home, school, relationships, and everything else in between.
With this bit of information in mind, to help your audience remember your domain, it’s better to choose a shorter domain name that’s easier to spell and remember, as opposed to a longer, more complicated one.
3. Brandable
One of the most important aspects of creating a successful online business is being brandable, and a short domain name can help make life a little easier.
Your logo, social media profiles, business cards, and any other promotional material are easier to brand when you have a short domain name.
4. Mobile-friendly
Studies show that 92.3% of internet users access the internet through their mobile devices [2]. Considering this, shorter domain names can be very advantageous. Typing a short domain name into a mobile device is quick and easy, compared to a longer one.
5. Easy to share
Let’s consider the above stat of how many people access the internet through their mobile devices for a second. Now, let’s say someone wants to share your domain with friends or family.
They will have an easier time typing or copying and pasting a shorter domain name than a longer one. So, shorter domain names can help your site be more shareable and, as a result, get more traffic.
While these advantages all look really good, it’s important to also consider the cons when thinking about how long should a domain name be.
Cons 👎
1. Limiting
With a shorter domain name, it’s more challenging to describe the nature of your business, products, or services. This means that you will have to have strong branding in order to let your target audience know who you are and what you do.
2. More competition
Short domain names are highly sought after. You may find that the domain you want is already taken, and buying it from someone is often more expensive than buying from a registrar.
3. Trademark issues
Sometimes short names that are straight from the dictionary or are popular acronyms, can already be trademarked. This is why it’s important to do thorough research beforehand, so you can avoid trademark or copyright infringements.
Pros and cons of longer domain names
Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of shorter domain names, it’s time to have a closer look at longer domain names before we finally answer the question: how long should a domain name be?
Pros 👍
1. Brand differentiation
With a longer domain name, you’re able to choose a unique name that helps you stand out. For example, let’s say you want to start a candle-making business and choose a name like “maryandhersoycandles.com.” You have a better chance of standing out from the market, where many of your peers might be going for shorter names.
2. Keyword opportunities
As an online entrepreneur or marketer, you know the importance of keywords and SEO. This is what helps your market find you. With a longer domain name, you have the opportunity to include a target keyword in your domain name, and as a result, this can have a positive effect on your SEO.
3. Easier to secure
Unlike short domain names that most people are after, you’ll likely find a longer domain name with the extension you want without much hassle.
4. Clarity
With a longer domain name, you have the opportunity to provide more clarity on what your business is all about. Using the example above of “maryandhersoycandles.com,” if anyone comes across this, they will be clear on what your business is all about.
Before answering how long should a domain name be, we have to look at the disadvantages of long domain names.
Cons 👎
1. Difficult to remember
The longer and more complicated a domain name is, the more challenging it will be for users to remember it. When you’re just starting out, the last thing you want is for new website visitors to forget about you.
2. Possibility for typing errors
When a domain name has multiple words, syllables, and maybe even other characters, it’s easy for users to misspell it. This, unfortunately, may lead to them landing on error pages, or if you have a similar name to another business, they might end up on an incorrect website. This can be frustrating to users.
3. Social media limits and email challenges
Longer domain names may not do well with the character limits that social media platforms impose. With emails, 81% of people prefer to access their emails from their mobile devices, where fewer letters are displayed in the email address and email title areas [3].
4. Difficult to share
It’s easier to share a short, simple domain name, than a long, complicated one. This is true both online where there are literal character limits and offline, where it’s simply easier to say and remember a shorter domain name.
How long should a domain name be?
So, considering everything we’ve discussed, how long should a domain name be?
🔎 To answer this question, let’s first consider some research:
Back in 2009, Gaebler conducted a study examining the domain names of the top one million websites, as determined by Alexa, an online metrics company [4].
The study found that among the top 50 websites, the average domain name length was around six characters. When considering the entire dataset of one million websites, the average domain name length came out to be an average of ten characters.
Research shows us that shorter domain names tend to perform better than longer ones, and this is why many online experts may prefer them.
So, considering the studies and the pros and cons of each option, we would have to say that shorter domain names (eight characters or less) are the better option.
As highlighted above, there are, however, sometimes advantages to choosing a longer domain name. If you do decide to go the long route, it’s important to offset at least some of the downsides. Ensuring that the domain is easy to type and remember is one way to do it. This way, despite the length, your website visitors won’t have trouble sharing your site with others and revisiting it themselves.
So, now that you know how long a domain name should be, it’s time to choose one. However, there are a whole host of other considerations you should be aware of besides domain length, which we covered here.
For the full breakdown, check out our ultimate guide on how to choose a domain name. It goes over everything you need to know when choosing your domain name.
References
[1] https://study.com/academy/lesson/george-miller-psychologist-theories-on-short-term-memory-lesson-quiz.html
[2] https://explodingtopics.com/blog/mobile-internet-traffic
[3] https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-trends/#:~:text=47%25%20of%20all%20people%20across,open%20emails%20on%20their%20tablets.
[4] https://www.gaebler.com/Domain-Length-Research.htm