Creating a new brand is about being distinctive and memorable. The idea is to build a dynasty and leave a legacy. Nowadays, a website’s domain name is essential to a brand. Brandable domain names are a powerful marketing tool.
In many cases, it is the brand. Here are some tips on choosing brandable domain names.
A strong domain name is crucial for driving organic and direct traffic. The easier your website is to remember and the more relevant to your industry, the more business it will attract.
Today, we’ll look at how you can implement this fact. Let’s start with the basics.
What is a Brandable Domain Name?
A brandable domain name is a web address specifically chosen to represent and strengthen your brand identity. Unlike generic or keyword-stuffed domains, brandable domains are memorable, easy to spell, and create an immediate connection with your target audience.
Brandable domain names typically fall into two categories:
Brand-First Domains: These are built around your business name or brand identity. For example, if you run “Smith Digital Solutions” in Belfast, your branded domain might be smithdigitalsolutions.co.uk.
Domain-First Brands involve creating a brand around a strong, available domain name. This approach is efficient for startups and new ventures seeking a memorable online presence.
What Makes a Domain Brandable?
The most effective brandable domains share several key characteristics:
Short and Memorable: Typically 1-3 words that stick in people’s minds. Think of successful brands like Google, Uber, or Instagram—all easily remembered and pronounced.
Easy to Spell and Type: Avoid complex spellings, hyphens, or numbers that could confuse users when trying to find your website.
Relevant to Your Business: While not always necessary, the best brandable domains hint at what your business does or the value you provide.
Unique and Distinctive: Stand out from competitors with a name unmistakably yours.
Scalable: Choose something that won’t limit your business as it grows and evolves.
Research shows that 74% of consumers consider company.com domains more trustworthy than generic alternatives. Additionally, domains containing brand names can generate over 60% more traffic than generic domains, highlighting the importance of strong branding in your domain choice.
What Makes a Domain Brandable?
A brandable domain name is short, memorable, and evokes the product, service, or company it represents.
Ideal qualities of a brandable domain include:
Short enough to easily remember and type (typically 1-3 words)
Easy to spell and pronounce to improve recall
Relevant meaning that relates to the brand or product
Unique words that stand out from competitors
No negative connotations in other languages
Statistics show brandable domains can boost trust and credibility. One survey found that 74% of consumers feel company.com domains are more trustworthy than generic .com or .net domains. Additionally, domains containing a brand name can result in over 60% higher traffic, indicating increased user recall and engagement.
Strong examples of brandable domains include Google, derived from the term “googol,” Uber, an abbreviation of “UberCab,” and Instagram, combining “instant” with “telegram.” These names effectively communicate the brand identity and are easy to remember.
Tips for Brainstorming and Evaluating Brandable Domains
Choosing a strong, brandable domain is crucial in building an effective online presence. It should be memorable, relevant, and scalable as your business grows. This section provides practical tips for generating and evaluating domain ideas based on brand potential, availability, SEO value, and long-term usability.
When developing a brandable domain, follow these best practices:
Identify keywords and qualities related to your product and target audience. Build names using…
Check trademark databases to avoid conflicts with registered marks. Search for domains already using your name…
Consider misspellings, alternate spellings, and international usage. Does the name work globally?
Use domain suggestion tools like Domainr to discover fresh, available options.
Consult marketing experts on proposed names to identify issues.
Research any negative connotations for foreign languages or audiences.
Choosing a Domain Based on Your Brand
This is the best option if you have an established business with strong brand recognition. The goal is that if someone searches for your business name, your branded website should be the first thing that shows up.
This lets you take advantage of navigational search intent, where people use search engines instead of typing out the URL for your website.
The downside to this approach is that getting organic traffic is hard if users aren’t familiar with your brand. You can’t use branded searches if no one searches for your brand.
The Brandable Domain Selection Process
Follow these steps when researching and choosing your brandable domain:
Brainstorm keyword lists and qualities that express your brand identity.
Use online generators and thesauruses to create domain name ideas.
Research availability, trademarks, and costs for top options.
Evaluate alternatives like different word orders or extensions.
Consult marketing experts on the shortlist of names.
Check for prohibitive hidden meanings in other languages.
Register your final domain choice for 1-2 years initially.
Forward the domain to your existing website to establish trust.
Helpful Tools for Picking Brandable Domains
Domain suggestion tools can speed up finding and evaluating possible brandable names:
Domainr – Generates brandable name ideas with definitions. Checks availability.
NameMesh – Searches domains by product type and relevant keywords.
WordLab – Creates domains from related words and suggests alternate TLDs.
LeanDomainSearch – Filters domains by length, vowels, and other criteria.
These tools provide a starting point of available, relevant domain options to research further.
Things to Avoid When Selecting a Brandable Domain
Steer clear of domains that are:
It is overly long, complex, and hard to remember. Stick to 1-3 words.
Generic terms with no connection to the brand.
Hyphenated or capitalised in non-standard ways.
Misspellings of everyday words.
Overly quirky or cutesy names with no meaning.
Using trademarked terms owned by other companies.
Creating a Brand Around a Strong Domain Name
If you’re building a new brand, it’s often better to name your company after your website. This may sound counterintuitive, but it’s based on strong SEO principles.
The idea is to use keyword research to determine the unbranded search terms users use when looking for the kinds of products and services you sell.
Once you’ve got a keyword list in mind, you should base your domain name around these. Your domain is one of the key places where search engines are looking for keywords. You’ll have a strong advantage with this brandable domain name.
Here are five tips for creating effective brandable domain names.
Create a New Word for Brandable Domain Names
Make up a word that does not exist. Search the Internet to see if it is used anywhere else. If all other commerce uses are unrelated, it can still be used for a new brand.
Tech companies have been doing this for years.
Think of all the apps and startups which use complete nonsense for their brand names. Examples include Facebook, Google, YouTube, Skype, Badoo and more. There are three key benefits to this approach to brandable domain names:
This type of brand name is incredibly memorable,
There will be no competition for search engine positions,
These domain names tend to be incredibly cheap.
Of course, building awareness of your brand is still challenging.
Choose Easy-to-Spell Words for Brandable Domain Names and Capture the Typos
Not only should your new brand name be memorable, but it should also be easy to spell. Avoid words that have alternative spellings, especially when heard by someone. Examples of bad choices include words such as right, which can be spelt as write and write.
Choosing words with a single way to spell them for audio is best.
Another thing to watch out for is typos, which can result from hitting the wrong keys or typing letters out of order. An example is gamil.com, which gets tons of web traffic from those who mistyped gmail.com.
If you use a word that could be spelt wrong, then it will be essential to register the possible domain names of the misspellings.
It is better to avoid this trouble for a new brand. If the word you make up can be confused with any other popular brand, it is better to choose another word.
Check Trademark Registration and Apply for a Trademark
Trademark registration only protects a trademark in the jurisdiction where it is registered. This means if you plan to use the trademark in more than one country, it must be registered in all the jurisdictions where it is intended.
Each country and unified trade area, such as the European Union, has different trademark rules and filing expenses.
Other countries have their registration processes, which can be easily found by searching for the country’s name and trademark registration.
For those who do not want to handle the trademark registration themselves, third-party companies and attorneys do this work for a fee. It is costly to have a global trademark.
Registering a trademark internationally costs about 100,000 Euros. This is why most companies register their trademarks in the U.K., the E.U., and the U.S. for under 5,000 Euros.
They may also register if they intend to sell in Japan and Switzerland. Registration in other Asian countries, especially in China, is pointless due to the lack of enforcement of laws regarding intellectual property.
Trademark protection includes the brand name and the logo design. Some trademarks are simple logos without words, such as the Nike “tick.”
Register the Brand Name with Social Media and Directories
Once you decide on your brand name, you will want to register it with as many social media platforms and directories as possible. This will accomplish three things. First, it establishes a commercial use of the brand, which is essential for trademark registration(s).
Second, it prevents others from capturing any of the natural searches of these systems for your brand name, and third, it improves the search engine optimisation (SEO) results to help get your brand name listed at the top of the search engine results page.
This is especially important for local SEO.
NAP citations are a key ranking metric for local SEO. Here, NAP stands for:
Name,
Address,
Phone number.
In other words, the more your contact details are cited on credible directories. However, there are a few formal requirements here. The key is that all NAP citations must be the same.
For instance, if you list a different phone number on some directories, search engines will be unsure which is correct, making you less likely to appear in Google My Business.
Localise Your Brand Name Using Long-Tail URLs
There is a technique to use with long-tail URLs to get web traffic to your website if you offer products or services targeted towards a local area. Long-tail URLs use keyword phrases as the domain name if it is available.
You can use a keyword generator tool or the Google Keyword Planner to find long-tail keyword phrases.
Here are a few examples:
Auto body repair {insert local town here},
Auto-dimming mirror repair {local insert town here},
Auto glass repair in {insert local town here},
Auto glass repair{insert local town here}.
For example, if you offer auto repair services in Birmingham, you would want to register as many URLs as possible in this format, such as carrepairservicebirmingham.co.uk.
Each of these local websites has a landing page boldly featuring your brand name and with a bit of content, around 800-1,000 words.
Each landing web page should be completely different to avoid being penalised by the search engines for having duplicate content.
This approach to brandable domain names has pros and cons. It isn’t a good approach if your target keywords are competitive—search engines base rankings on the authority of your domain.
This is hard to achieve if you have many different domains. You’ll also suffer from poor opportunities for internal linking to build page authority and a low overall content volume on your site.
You’ll also struggle with key marketing strategies, like content marketing or optimising your Google My Business correctly.
Choosing your highest-priority geographical branded domain name and using Google My Business tags to rank highly for other keywords you’d like to target locally is better for competitive local keywords.
How to Use Brandable Domain Names
Choosing a new brand name is fun. Choosing one wisely that has no competition for its use is a valuable effort. However, the importance of your brand can’t be overstated. Regarding your domain name, this has a concrete impact on your ability to drive traffic.
Do not worry if it sounds like a made-up word nobody has ever heard of, because that is precisely what you want. When Nike started, no one knew about it except a handful of people and the woman who created the logo for about 35 Euros.
Working with ProfileTree: Complete Digital Transformation
Our systematic approach combines domain strategy with comprehensive digital services for maximum business impact.
Stay ahead by understanding how domain strategies evolve with new technologies and user behaviours.
Emerging Extensions
New domain extensions continue to launch, providing fresh opportunities for creative branding. Extensions like .tech, .digital, and .agency are gaining acceptance in the business community.
Voice Search Impact
As voice search becomes more prevalent, easily pronounceable and naturally spoken domains become increasingly valuable.
International Expansion
Brexit has created new considerations for UK businesses expanding internationally. Domain strategy must now account for effectively serving the EU and UK markets.
Taking Action: Your Next Steps
Transform your domain strategy from concept to reality with this practical implementation roadmap.
Develop a comprehensive web design that reflects your brand
Implement an SEO strategy around your brand name
Create a content marketing plan to build brand authority
Integrate the domain across all marketing channels
AI and Future-Proofing Your Domain Strategy
Your domain strategy must adapt to new marketing channels and user behaviours as technology evolves.
AI-Powered Marketing Tools
Your domain name will interact with AI marketing tools, chatbots, and voice search technologies. Choose names that:
Works well with voice search queries
Are easily understood by AI systems
Support conversational marketing approaches
“AI is transforming how businesses connect with customers, and your domain name needs to work in this new landscape,” notes Ciaran Connolly. “We’re already seeing clients benefit from domains that work seamlessly with voice search and AI-powered marketing tools. The businesses preparing for this shift now will have a significant advantage.”
Future Digital Channels
Consider how your brandable domain will work with emerging marketing channels and technologies that have yet to be invented. Strong, flexible brand names adapt to new platforms and marketing methods.
Measuring the Success of Your Brandable Domain
Track the right metrics to understand your domain’s impact on business growth and marketing effectiveness.
Key Performance Indicators
Track these metrics to measure your brandable domain’s effectiveness:
Direct Traffic Growth: Measure how often people type your domain directly.
Branded Search Volume: Track searches for your business name.
Social Media Mention Growth: Monitor brand recognition across platforms
Customer Recall: Survey customers about brand memorability
ROI of Professional Domain Strategy
A professional approach to domain selection and branding typically delivers:
Learning from others’ mistakes can save you time, money, and missed opportunities in your domain strategy.
Domain Selection Pitfalls
Overly Complex Names: Avoid difficult domains to spell, pronounce, or remember.
Generic Terms: Don’t rely on generic industry terms without differentiation.
Trademark Conflicts: Always research existing trademarks before committing to a domain.
Platform Inconsistency: Failing to secure matching social media handles can dilute your brand.
Geographic Limitations: Avoid overly specific geographic terms if you plan to expand.
Technical Mistakes
Poor Extension Choice: Choosing unusual extensions that customers don’t trust or remember.
Hyphen Usage: Hyphens in domains are difficult to communicate verbally and often forgotten.
Number Confusion: Mixing numbers and letters creates confusion and typing errors.
Tools and Resources for Domain Research
Using the right tools streamlines the domain selection process and helps you make informed decisions.
Domain Availability and Suggestion Tools
Domainr: Excellent for finding creative domain alternatives and checking availability across extensions.
NameMesh: Generates suggestions based on keywords and checks availability.
Lean Domain Search: Specifically designed to find .com domains using your keywords.
Brand and Trademark Research
UK IPO Search: Official trademark database for the United Kingdom.
EUIPO: European Union trademark database.
WIPO Global Brand Database: International trademark search.
Conclusion
Your brandable domain name is more than just a web address—it’s the foundation of your digital identity and a critical component of your marketing success. The businesses that thrive online approach domain selection strategically, considering not just immediate needs but long-term growth and digital marketing goals.
“After 15 years in digital marketing, I’ve seen how the right domain choice can accelerate business growth exponentially,” reflects Ciaran Connolly. “But it’s not just about the domain itself—it’s about how it integrates with your entire digital ecosystem. When we work with clients on their comprehensive digital strategy—from custom web design and video production to AI implementation and team training—we plan their digital transformation. That’s where the real competitive advantage lies.”
Whether launching a new business, rebranding an existing company, or expanding into digital markets, the right brandable domain name can accelerate your success. With professional web design, comprehensive SEO strategy, and integrated digital marketing, a well-chosen domain becomes a valuable business asset that appreciates over time.
At ProfileTree, we’re here to help you make the right choice and build the comprehensive digital presence your business deserves. From domain strategy and custom web design to professional video production, AI implementation, and digital training, we provide the complete range of services that turn your brandable domain into a powerful business growth engine.
FAQ
Can I trademark my brandable domain name?
Yes, you can apply for trademark protection on brandable names after registration. This provides legal security and strengthens your brand ownership.
How do brandable domains affect SEO?
While exact-match keyword domains have less direct SEO impact than previously, brandable domains support SEO by becoming branded keywords as your business grows and gains recognition.
What’s the difference between a brandable domain and a keyword domain?
Brandable domains focus on memorability and brand building, while keyword domains target specific search terms. Brandable domains typically provide better long-term value for business growth.
How much should I budget for a comprehensive domain strategy?
Basic domain registration costs £10-50 annually, but a comprehensive strategy including trademark research, multiple extensions, and professional guidance typically ranges from £500-2,000 initially, with ongoing annual costs of £200-500.
Ready to Dominate Your Market?
Discover how the right domain strategy transforms businesses like yours:
✅ Uncover hidden revenue opportunities ✅ Identify competitor weaknesses to exploit ✅ See your growth potential with integrated services ✅ Get actionable steps for immediate results
Online marketing depends on many things, whether you are a small business, a large business or somewhere in between. One is creative strategy. Everyone is trying...
What is Digital Marketing? Simply: methods that will help refine your image and help you attract and reach more prospects. Digital marketing is a comprehensive approach...
