Advice on which domain to use?

Mark M

Mark M

Mark M

Soldato
Joined
6 Jan 2006
Posts
3,423
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne
I own the domains conceptaccountancy.co.uk and concept-accountancy.co.uk but wondering which one should be used as my main domain and which one parked up?

Would either of them benefit me from an SEO point of view, or a marketing perspective perhaps? Or is there any benefit of using a hyphen in a domain?

Many thanks, Mark
 
I would definitely use the non-hyphenated version, much better.

No benefit to using the hyphen really, and it will be annoying when you have to tell people your e-mail.

Rgds
 
radderfire said:
I would definitely use the non-hyphenated version, much better.

No benefit to using the hyphen really, and it will be annoying when you have to tell people your e-mail.

Rgds
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This.

Non hyphen for the win.
Keep the second one on a redirect to the other one incase anyone types the address wrongly :p
 
Protection I'd say, or for when you want to go global :o. I think Google weigh UK searches slightly more towards .co.uk addresses so using the .co.uk is probably better for now.

Also as mentioned, 301 redirect requests to the domains you don't use to the one you do (so you don't lose visitors who type the address wrong and don't get penalised by Google for having duplicated content) and I'd also forward all emails from the unused domains to your working one too.
 
Mark M said:
Is there any benefit to using the .com domain over the .co.uk one? Or is it worth buying just to protect?
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It's worth the £10 a year or so to have the .com, but only to make sure no one else can ever use it.

As you're a UK business, I would use the .co.uk personally, but the .com would be fine too.

Rgds
 
Thanks for the advice, purchased the .com domain but will use the non hyphen .co.uk one.
 
I'd use the .com over the .co.uk.

1) it sounds better overall
2) easier to remember
3) virtually no difference in seo value at all.
 
Any further thoughts on the .com over the .co.uk domain? I really need to get things going so going to have to make a final choice come the morning.
 
Mark M said:
Any further thoughts on the .com over the .co.uk domain? I really need to get things going so going to have to make a final choice come the morning.
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Here are relative merits:

.com
- The premier worldwide domain, so more prestige
- Looks better in printed advertising
- Easier to tell people / easier to tell people your e-mail address
- If people had to guess your domain extension, they'd probably try the .com first

.co.uk
- Shows people you are are UK accountancy firm
- May be a slight advantage in Google.co.uk listings

When choosing your domain extension, just consider which factors are most important to your business. You can't really go wrong though, as either is fine.

Rgds
 
Mark M said:
Any further thoughts on the .com over the .co.uk domain? I really need to get things going so going to have to make a final choice come the morning.
Click to expand...

What radderfire said. But what it basically comes down to, is only use a .co.uk over a .com if there is a specific need to declare yourself as being UK based.
 
I thought the differences between .com and .co.uk these days are purely down to politics, the .com domain falls under the jurisdiction of america whereas the .co.uk is still governed by UK laws?
 
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