Advantages of Using .STORE Domain for Ecommerce

The first step to develop an eCommerce website is to find a catchy and memorable domain name. Now, domain extension is an integral part of it. Today, we will take a deep look at the .STORE domain extension. According to the industry experts, it is a great choice from both branding and SEO perspective.

.STORE Domain – Explained

Before getting to the specific .store domain, let’s quickly take a look at what a domain name is.

A domain name is the web address of an e-store. Just as your physical storefront plays a significant role in impressing people and influencing them to visit your shop, a domain name can drive more traffic or repel them away.

Not sure how a domain name can drive people away? Check out the below-mentioned domain names:

www.jounalism.com
www.the-journalist-latest-news-izz-here.com

Which one of these appeals the most to you? We bet it’s the first one. Why? Because it is clean, easily readable and seems to be authentic & professional.

That’s what domain name does for a business.

Now let’s come to the domain extensions. The .net and .com extensions were launched back in the year 1985. These days, a domain name with such highly popular extensions has become really expensive. Many often, catchy names with such extensions remain unavailable. On the other hand, random or less popular extensions such as .land, .business, .gallery etc. don’t evoke a sense of professionalism or trust among the web traffic.

The struggle to find meaningful, short, and relevant domain name is real and it’s getting harder with time.

Industry-specific domains are in-use these days. For instance, .tech for technological website, .academy for educational website, etc. And as you know, eCommerce witnessed a massive boom in 2020. Finding a relevant domain extension is crucial for the businesses that are bringing their store online.

And the .store domain is ideal for that!

It is easily readable, reflects the exact service/industry, and semantically identical to .com extension with a domain name that has store in it.

Not sure what we are talking about? We’ll explain in the following section. Read on.

A Semantic Analysis of .STORE Domain

This is the most important part while selecting a domain name and extension. Make sure not to skip it even it looks complicated at first.

Before diving deeper, bear in mind that human eyes / brain and Google crawlers work differently. For instance, human eyes may comprehend “0” to be similar to “o”. For instance, you may understand that st0re indicates store. But if you apply this logic and name your website as st0re because store is not available, it may produce an adverse impact on your brand visibility on the search engine.

Here are a few examples of how Google crawler and human eyes analyse characters differently.

www.grocerystore.com
www.grocery-store.com
www.gr0ceryst0re.com

To a human eye, all of these are just the same. However, Google comprehends these differently. And the last two examples are really weak from an SEO perspective.

However, if you name the store as www.grocery.store, Google identifies it as www.grocerystore.com and it also looks professional.

Therefore, www.grocery.store. is semantically identical to www.grocerystore.com.

Analysing the Potential of .STORE Domain from SEO Perspective

Here are the reasons why a .STORE domain is awesome for SEO.

Backlinking

Link building is a crucial practice by the experts of SEO services India and abroad. Acquiring hyperlinks from other sites back to your own reassures Google of your credibility. When a well-ranking site links to your site, Google considers you to be an authoritative and trustworthy site.

However, there’s more to it than just that.

A crucial aspect of backlinks includes the anchor text of your site URL. The closer is the anchor text to the focus keyword or the domain name of the page, the stronger the backlink.

For instance, if your site name is www.sportsequipment.store and your anchor text reads Sports equipment store, it just matches your site name and boosts ranking over time. This is an ideal extension for all types of eCommerce websites.

Improved Ranking

A relevant domain extension helps to drive more organic traffic to your site. Let us continue the earlier example to explain it. People looking for sports equipment store may come across your site while typing the URL name into Google search bar. They are more likely to click www.sportsequipment.store as that’s what they are looking for.

Also, as we discussed earlier, your domain (.store) is semantically identically to the .com alternative. Therefore, even if someone casually searches for a .com domain while looking for sports equipment store, Google can feature your site that doesn’t have a .com extension.

Readability

By now you must have understood that a .store domain is easy for the readers to understand. It is clear and the name of the brand is easily readable. Also, .store extension looks fresh and modern. So, if you are revamping your site, a leading eCommerce website development company suggests adding .store as your domain extension and produce a modern appeal.

Memorability

The above-mentioned pointer also results in a better memorability. Domain extensions like .org or .land may not trigger enough memorability even if it has a catchy name. A short and easily pronounceable .store can help you achieve the same.

Budget-friendly

Since .com and .net are highly popular domains, these are highly expensive. On the other hand, .store is relatively less pricey. Go to godaddy.com and check any domain name once with .com and then with .store. You will understand.

No geographical limitation

Several extensions like .in or .au has geographical limitation. These are country-specific. The extension .in refers to India while .au refers to Australia. If you have a global presence or if you offer a digital service, it’s better to own a domain that doesn’t limit within a specific country. .STORE domain is ideal for that.

A Few Things to Note

So far we have discussed the advantages of using a .store domain. However, before picking a domain name, we want you to bear the following things in mind:

Conduct a Competitive Analysis

A .store domain allows you to easily compete with a website with .com domain. While conducting a competitive analysis, bear the following things in mind:

1. Which keywords are they targeting and ranking for?
2. What are the domain names of your close competitors?
3. Which keywords can help you win organic traffic?

Dig Deeper into Customers’ Psyche

Search intent plays a crucial role while selecting a domain name. Make sure that the domain name is not rich with technical jargon and gives an overview of your store.

Keep is Short, Relevant & Meaningful

Make sure that your domain name is easy to read and pronounce. Don’t clutter it with too many characters like digits, dashes, underscores, etc. Give a clear idea about what people can expect from your store. For instance, www.bakingsupplies.store is a good domain name.

Look for Similar Name

While searching for a domain name in Go Daddy, you may find that the name you are targeting is not available. You can find similar domains just below the first search result. If none of them appeals to you, search with similar terms that give an overview of your business.

Make sure not to pick a domain with a different extension but same name of a popular website. For instance, amazon.store cannot be the right choice for your store. It will only evoke suspicion among the audience since amazon.com is highly popular in the market.

Closing Thoughts

If you want to stand out in today’s overly crowded web, it’s crucial to have a stunning domain name. A .store domain allows you to have that without spending much bucks. It also allows the search engine crawlers to crawl and index your site.

Therefore, if you are engaging an ecommerce website design company to bring your store online, make sure to pay equal attention in picking the right domain extension that drives visibility and ranking.