Are you in doubt as to how to make your business name SEO-friendly? If yes, you’ve come to the right place.
It goes without saying that the Internet is the future of commerce. To make your business thrive, you have to move with the times.
Hence, coming up with a business name that will rank well in search engines and will make it easy for customers to locate you is critical.
Here we will be discussing just that. By the end of this article you will be able to:
- Make an SEO-friendly business name
- Understand the basics of SEO
- Learn what makes a business name SEO-friendly
- Know the advantages
With all that said, let’s get started!
10 steps to Create an SEO-Friendly Business Name
1. Make A Shortlist Of Words
Grab a pen and paper and write down all the words you feel describe your business the best. Use words that signify the end goal of your business.
Use specific words but also make sure to keep space for future expansion.
A list of words to choose from will help you in the following steps.
2. Keep It Simple
“Less is more” is a good branding guideline to follow, especially when you have to make your business name SEO-friendly.
Your business name should preferably be 2, 3, or a maximum of 4 syllables long to be readily remembered. The easier it is, the more likely people will remember and recall and type into the search bar.
More importantly, difficulty in using spelling and words will result in misspellings and will not generate the result you desire.
Try to use an easy-to-read font and avoid too many hyphens and punctuation marks.
Also, remember search engines will not understand complicated words and synonyms like humans will. Try to avoid unknown characters which cannot be displayed on the internet.
Some examples are Red Bull, McKinsey, Lynx, and Coca-Cola.
3. Determine Your Target Audience
You should determine which words you are going to use. This depends on the audience you are willing to target.
The most important aspect here is the language, if your business is catering to only a specific city or neighborhood, you must use words from the native language.
This is so that they can understand easily and will be simpler for them to connect with your business.
If your business caters to the international market remember to do your research and translate your desired words which you want as your business name first.
You should do this so that your business name doesn’t come out being hurtful or offensive in some other language.
If you are targeting the younger age group try to use words that are hip and modern, while if you’re targeting the older age group try to use simpler and evergreen words.
4. Try To be Unique or Target A Specific Genre
Whichever sector you might choose to do business in, the internet is filled with competition.
To make your business name SEO-friendly in this highly competitive market, you must try to be unique. You can start by looking for the best products or services you provide and concentrating on those only.
Try to name your business after them. Look for catchy words or synonyms that signify the same. One more method you can try to implement is to look for a niche genre that you feel hasn’t been tapped by others in the market.
For example, you might get to know that there aren’t many gardening products with home delivery services in the city you live in. Try to focus on that niche and use it to your advantage by inculcating it in the business name so that search engines know what your business is about.
5. Conduct Market Research
Market research should be done thoroughly to make your business name SEO-friendly. By market research, we mean analyzing the competition.
Look for names of the businesses in the area of your business and make sure your business name is nowhere similar. This is because when someone looks up search engines for your business name, they might pop up. You don’t want that.
Your business should have its own distinct identity and should be confused with your rivals. Make sure to follow this step to let customers find you easily in search engines and Google Maps.
6. Create A Website Or Blog
The number one way to make your business name SEO-friendly is to create a website or blog. You can think of having a website for your business like having your property on the internet.
Here, people can come and visit and be influenced. Maintaining a blog on your website can help generate even more traffic. With blogs, you can write about topics related to your business. This will help in gaining the confidence of your customers.
A dynamic blog website is also given higher importance by search engines than static websites. The website will also serve as a place where you can showcase your brand logo and slogan along with other offers and promotions.
7. Find a Relevant Domain Name
When you are building your website – look to buy a domain name that matches your business name. Once you have shortlisted a selection of names, you should proceed to look for available domain names that match the business name.
You can conduct this from many online websites. A simple search will bring up many free-to-use options. Having the same domain name as your business name will help to make your business name SEO-friendly.
People looking for your business will be able to identify it from the domain name itself rather than guessing. It also creates a professional outlook in the eyes of your prospective customer.
Suggested Read: How to Check Domain Name Availability
8. Setup All Types Of Social Media Accounts
After you have finalized a catchy business name, it is time to create social media accounts under the same name. Make sure the name isn’t similar to any other businesses in your genre to not confuse your customers.
After the creation of the account, provide all necessary details such as logo, slogan, phone number, address, business bio, etc. Be regular in updating posts and stories.
Try to gather as many friends and family as possible to follow the account and make the account popular. Once you have the account up and running, you can also create groups and pages on Facebook where you should provide promotions and discounts frequently.
Once search engines see that your business has an active and loyal following in social media accounts, your SEO rankings will also automatically rise.
9. Enroll In Google My Business And Maps
To make your business name SEO-friendly and get the most benefits, you should register your business on Google My Business.
This is a platform made by Google for business owners such as yourself to enroll your business on Google, to help customers find your business with ease.
All you have to do is to search for Google My Business and go to their registration page where you have to fill up details about your business and you’re done!
You will also be provided a dashboard through which you can upload photos, events, discounts, operating hours, business descriptions, etc.
Also, add your business on Google Maps to give people the chance to find your place. After you have been a couple of times the search engine will increase your rankings.
10. Invest In Google and Facebook Ads
A quick and easy method to make your business name SEO-friendly is to advertise in Google and Facebook ads.
This is a great way to increase your online visibility in a short period. Look to invest in the short term at first(1-3 months) to see how it is going.
You might have to hire a person to design the advertisement.
Facebook ads are also a great way to promote your business. These ads do not cost much when compared to the benefits that you will see in the long run.
Social media advertisements will allow viewers to recognize and take notice of your business like no other.
What Is SEO?
SEO is the process of getting your website or whatever it is you are selling, promoting, or talking about to rank as high as possible in search engine results.
The higher you rank, the more prominent your business becomes, and the more traffic and revenue it is likely to produce.
Making your business name SEO-friendly is one of the best ways to succeed.
Otherwise, it is a never-ending struggle to attract more people to visit your business website and persuade search engines to direct searches there.
What Makes A Business Name SEO Friendly
An SEO-friendly business name is a name that is catchy and memorable yet manages to be simple and descriptive.
Since people like simple and easy-to-understand words, search engines are very smart and will mostly show businesses with simple and easy-to-understand words.
The SEO friendliness of the business name will also depend on a few other factors, all of which we have discussed above like creating a website, having the right domain name, quality of social media marketing, advertising, etc.
What are the Advantages Of An SEO-Friendly Name?
An SEO-friendly business name will consistently rank among the top search results. These lead to so many advantages. We are mentioning just a few here:
a) Improves Business Visibility
The more relevant search results you appear at the top of, the more viewers you’ll attract, resulting in increased exposure to your business and the product or service you are offering.
SEO serves to build a constant online buzz surrounding your business, and that helps with brand recognition.
b) Establishes Your Business Trustworthiness
Being included in Google’s search rankings indicates that the search engine views you as a valuable, interesting, and authentic supplier of content and that you are preferred over other websites in the competition.
This helps greatly to the enhancement of your business reputation and trustworthiness.
c) Helps Increase Traffic
One of the most important benefits you gain is lead generation through SEO. Users who search for anything relating to your specialty or domain are actively looking for information.
SEO allows you to target a certain demographic and increase the number of high-quality visitors to your website. It is extremely customer-focused, and it will help you target a certain demographic online.
d) Paid Ads Aren’t Necessary For Long Run
The cheap overall cost of implementing an SEO is one of its most inherent benefits. While most digital marketing experts favor or highly suggest one type of internet marketing over another, SEO can yield long-term effects.
e) Will Help You Attract Local Customers
You as a small and medium-sized business can ensure that you are optimized for the regions in which you operate.
Local customers can be attracted by having a correctly designed Google My Business page and tailoring your site content to answer local search queries, having more favorable local user reviews on Google, and so on.
f) Improves Sale
Because SEO counts for a big portion of a site’s traffic, more conversions are possible. Whether you want your site visitors to buy something or sign up for your newsletter.
Summary
It doesn’t matter if you have the most fantastic product or service to sell if no one knows about it or can’t find it.
Since everything gets discovered and judged online nowadays it is important to be competitive here as well.
You may always begin working on the various issues that are affecting your SEO performance later on but rest assured that your business name is not going to be one of them after you have followed this article.
We hope you have found this article helpful. Here is us wishing you the best of luck with your upcoming business.
Editorial Team at 99BusinessIdeas is a team of experts led by Rupak Chakrabarty with over 25 years of experience in starting and running small businesses. Started in 2010, 99BusinessIdeas is now one of the largest free small business resources in the industry.