By Local SEO Launch, Santa Barbara SEO
Have you ever watched “The Amazing Race” on CBS? The reality show features two-person teams racing around the world, performing a series of cultural tasks before they are given a clue to their next destination. During certain legs of the race, teams are given the option of pursuing a “Fast Forward” that will allow them to skip all tasks and go directly to the check-in station at the end of each leg. The “Fast Forward” doesn’t guarantee that the team will win the leg, but it gives the team who secures it a big advantage over the competition.
In Hyperlocal SEO, owning Geo Domains can give your business a significant leg up over the competition.
What are Geo Domains?
Geo Domains are domain names comprised of two subparts: A Geographic Name and either a Product, Service, or Piece of Content sought by internet users. Examples of Geo Domains include:
- WeddingsInSantaBarbara.com
- SantaBarbaraSEO.net
- Santa Barbara Web Design
- Santa Barbara WordPress Hosting & Maintenance
- Santa Barbara Microblading
- SantaBarbaraPhotographer.me
- SantaBarbaraNews.net
- SantaBarbaraJobs.pro
- SantaBarbaraRemodeling.TV
Why are Geo Domains Important?
Geo Domains are important because of search engines, like Google and Bing, prefer legitimate businesses. Search engines recognize that domains, tied to high search terms, are valuable resources. The more competitive the search term, the more valuable the geo domain. Owning a great Geo Domain implies that your business is legitimate and worthy of strong consideration.
In your market, there could be hundreds of competitors all vying for top placement. If you are a Chiropractor in SantaBarbara, and a user searches for “SantaBarbara chiropractors”, Google must decide which 10 SantaBarbara chiropractor sites to display to the user. To determine which Chiropractor sites are more important than other Chiropractor sites, each search engine uses a proprietary set of rules to filter the results.
One rule common to all search engines is that a well-constructed site, built on top of a geo domain, will rank higher than the same site located at a non-geo domain name. In our example, a site located at SantaBarbaraChiropractors.com will have an excellent chance of displaying at the top of the search results for “SantaBarbara chiropractors”. Why? The answer is that only one chiropractor in SantaBarbara can own SantaBarbaraChiropractors.com. Since you had the foresight or resources to acquire this valuable domain name, then your business is viewed as more legitimate than a competitor who is targeting the same local seo term.
Dot Com domains are not the only domains preferred by the major search engines. While SantaBarbaraChiropractors.com and SantaBarbaraChiropractors.net see the greatest SEO benefit, over time, sites built on alternative extensions like SantaBarbaraChiropractors.pro, SantaBarbaraChiropractors.me, or SantaBarbaraChiropractors.TV can take advantage of Google and Bing’s preference for geo domains.
