Companies usually use one single domain name for their online activities but then, more questions pop up: SEO, Infringement, Future of the company, monitoring online competition… If buying multiple domain names answers some of these questions, there is a way to do it. Here is how:

Generic keywords

Google like generic second level domains for a better indexing. A “second level domain name” is what comes just before the extension. In this example “www.jovenet.gdn”:

1. the “www” is called the third-level domain (or sub-domain);
2. “jovenet” is the second level domain; and
3. “gdn” is the first level domain or “TLD” for Top-Level Domain or again: “the domain name extension”.

Generic keywords are recognizable, easy to remember, descriptive and, for example, it just makes sense for a business related to “water” to use a domain name in which the word “water” appears.

It often happens that the domain name of a company is neither the generic keyword of its core business nor a keyword that necessarily appears attached to its name. The reasons for this are simple:

1. Including a generic keyword next to a Trademark or a business name can be helpful but is not sexy;
2. Good luck if you want to buy a generic keyword as a domain name…

Availability

If I were Spanish and in the photography business, I would be interested in using photography.com or fotografia.com (since Spanish is my language). The problem is that both are already registered and if the former is already in use, I would not even dare asking the latter if he would sell “fotografia.com” to me.

The problem with generic “.com” domain names is that…they are all taken; considering acquiring one requires time and—A LOT—of money. The .GDN new domain name extension means “Global Domain Name” and it is very similar to the use one can have of a “.com” domain name. In our case: “photography.gdn” is available for registration as a Premium domain name and fotografia.gnd is available too. It is free to register and costs less than $1.5 at this Registrar.

“Non English keywords”: the opportunity

It is rather difficult to find generic domain names in English but it is far easier to find some in other languages: many new gTLD Registries have mainly addressed their customers in English and then have secured series of domain names called “Premium domain names”. I just tried “photographie.gdn” (photography in French) and the same happens: it costs less than $3 to register that domain name.

SEO for almost nothing

Whether you choose a “.com” or a “.gdn” domain name for SEO, Google makes no difference; but it makes one according to the number of links which point to your main website: the more links, the better.

When selling online, it begins to make sense to register multiple generic domain names, write one web page to introduce a product for each new name and create a hyperlink which points to your principal website of business (where all products are available for sale). When buying a domain name, many Registrars offer a webpage : in terms of price, it means that it can cost you less than $3 for one year of natural SEO (understand “automatic Search Engine Optimization”) for a little piece of writing.

An investment

Generic domain names are not only a tool to identify a website on Internet or a tool for Search Engine Optimization, they can be an investment too. Walmart recently announced plans to buy e-commerce site Jet.com for $3.3bn. If this example is not about a domain name only, it is important to note that the domain name in the first representation of this business online. On the list of the most expensive domain names ever purchased, almost all of them are generics and prices are up to $36 millions. Buying generic domain names today could become your best investment for the future.

Methodology reminder:

1. Buy a generic domain name;
2. Set-up a simple webpage with the proper content related to your product;
3. Offer a hyperlink pointing to your main business within the page;
4. Add this task to your SEO specialist or just let Google do its job.

When buying a generic domain name, think about “identity”, “SEO”, and as an investment too.