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June 29, 2021Domain Hacking: What is it? Are Domain Hacks SEO Friendly?
Why is domain hacking so important? Well, consider that more than 350 million domains exist today, so it can be hard for you to get the domain name you want. It’s even harder when you’re trying to get a domain that has enough value that people flip it to make money.
A creative way to obtain your unique domain name is to do a domain hack. Now, this doesn’t mean you should do something illegal or unethical to get your desired URL.
When we’re talking about domains, ‘hack’ means an intelligent way to create a domain name by combining certain parts from the right and left of the dot (.).
And that is where you need to get familiar with hand registration and use your imagination to find the domain name you want. You can enlist the help of your SEO agency and web development team in this endeavor or do it yourself.
Table of Contents
Domain Hacking Defined
‘Domain hack’ is a name that brings to mind a word, brand, or phrase bringing together two or more nearby parts of that domain.
Usually, domain hacks are made by bringing in Country Code Top Level Domains. Another way is to use ccTLDs, including .me and ly, to create new domains such as e.xplo.it or moji.to.
Because we have hundreds of innovative domain extensions to choose from, there are new possibilities to hack domain names for domain investors.
How Domain Hacking Got Started
The term ‘domain hack’ was created in 2004 to describe an unusual domain name that uses aspects other than the SLD and third-level domain to create the domain name title.
Some of the domain hacks that have been created since 2004 include:
- et
- us was created to make del.ico.us
- gs
- gl
- be
- pr
- kr
- es
How Can You Find The Best Domain Hack?
So, you know what a domain hack is now, but how do you find the best one for your website? Experiment with the ideas below to come up with the perfect domain hack.
Break Up A Word
ccTLDs have two letters, such as .us, so they can be used to create a one or two-word domain hack, such as prestigio.us.
As you may know, there are URL shortening services that use the domain hack bit.ly for unbranded free links. These are helpful when you post on social media channels, and they look legitimate.
Many companies have used domain hacks to brand their domain names around the Internet;
- ms
- in
- am
Combine Meaningful Words
Generic top-level domains, known as gTLDs, are domain extensions that were started in 2012. Some of them include .tech, .space, and .fun. These are useful to desire odd and fun domain names. You can try some of these newer extensions to develop a meaningful phrase with a word on both sides of the dot, such as bench.press.
What Are The Benefits Of Domain Hacking With New Domain Extensions?
You can use conventional hacking with newer domain extensions to develop cool domain hacks, such as pandaex.press. The great variety of new domain extensions offers almost endless options for exciting domain hacks.
With many of these extensions, domain hacking can be more meaningful for these reasons:
- Splitting words to create two words to the left and right of the dot: Web.site, Net.work, video.games.
- Combining both sides of the URL to come up with a popular search term or word: real.estate, talk.show, auto.loan.
- Domain hacks can be much less expensive for startups. This is not always the case, but most often.
Keep in mind that some of the top domain name sales with new extensions have come from these types of hacks. Some of the names we mention here were recently sold for a combined $400,000. Domain hacking is most often used when traditional .com, .net, .org or .co domains are either unavailable or too expensive to purchase. In such cases, financing a domain purchase is another option that might make sense.
Innovative Ways To Come Up With Domain Hacks For Investing
To create potential domain hacks, you may want to consider the options below based on the possibilities of the keywords:
- club
- tech
- tech
- agent
Below are some tools you can buy for creating domain hacks for investing:
- Keyword Keg: This site can help you with search volume, and it offers cost per click and competition data for various keywords in bulk. You also can get their excellent Chrome extension.
- Spyfu: This site will uncover profitable keywords for your organic and paid search. This tool will help you find keywords that businesses and sites are ranking and bidding on.
To uncover domain name hacks that use the new domain extensions, consider The Free Dictionary Word Finder. This site helps you find words that end with the domain extension you want so you can come up with more hacks.
Why Would You Want To Invest In Domain Hacks?
Domain name hacks can be a worthy investment because their unusual structure can make them more attractive than regular domain names. Think of it this way:
- store stands out better than bookstore.com
- press is better than decompress.com
- host is more memorable than cohost.com
What Are The Downsides Of Domain Hacks?
There are some things to consider before you register one of your domain hacks:
- Some ccTLDs are managed by foreign governments that could shut down the ability to use the domain, leaving you out of luck. For instance, .io had outages in recent years because of political instability in the country’s government.
- Google likes some ccTLDs and seems to treat them preferably as far as local searches. Some of these TLDs can’t be used for geotargeting in Google’s Webmaster Tools because they are localized.
- Even though many domain hacks are clever, people may misunderstand them when they are spoken. When you are coming up with domain hacks, remember how it sounds when you say it. For instance, people will understand sample.com is you talk about it, but they might get the wrong URL if you say samp.le.
Many websites began as domain hacks but reverted to more traditional web addresses as their primary domain name as they grow in popularity.
As we’ve shown, domain hacking can help you devise some exciting and unique domain names. If you do your research, you should be able to think up some URLs that help your company.
Related post: How to Increase the Value of Your Domain Name
Over the years he's written for publications like Forbes, Entrepreneur, Marketing Land, Search Engine Journal, ReadWrite and other highly respected online publications. Connect with Tim on Linkedin & Twitter.
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