Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#1

Post by koots » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 7:07 AM UTC

advancedlearningschool.com Or alschool.com Or al-school.com

I will also have an email on a business card, so john.smith@advancedlearningschool.com would be too long. Or is it ok?

What do you guys think?

Re: Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#2

Post by throwaway123xxx » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 7:23 AM UTC

Third option: Change the name. Domain names with common words are not good for SEO and don't stick in the mind.

Otherwise, when it comes to domain names, always get both if you can afford it.

Re: Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#3

Post by meowster » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 2:00 PM UTC

I agree with the third option: Choose a different name.

Re: Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#4

Post by hairofadog » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 2:13 PM UTC

advancedlearning.school is available.

In my opinion, long is better than abbreviated. Nobody is going to type it - they’ll either click or it’ll be auto-filled - but you’ll have to say it pretty frequently, and “alschool” will have to be spelled out carefully so it won’t be heard as “ale school” or similar (that’s “a” as in “alpha”, “l” as in “lima”, school dot com).

If you’re willing to drop “school” from the domain name, advancedlearning.us and advancedlearning.club are available.

Re: Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#5

Post by LinuxBender » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 3:12 PM UTC

Based on previous experience of registering domains for marketing groups, I would suggest that unless you are advertising on the radio and/or television, long name is fine. Short easy to type / remember domains are important if the person only ever hears the domain. Even using short names, one can redirect to the long name domain. Redirects can be useful if you are building a map of discount/promotion codes in URL's. My personal preference is to keep those redirects on the purpose-made short domain, keeping that clutter off the primary domain and out of the marketing groups CMS.

Re: Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#6

Post by pelagicAustral » Sat, Jul 24, 2021, 5:19 PM UTC

hairofadog wrote: post #4

advancedlearning.school is available. In my opinion, long is better than abbreviated. Nobody is going to type it - they’ll either click or it’ll be auto-filled - but you’ll have to say it pretty frequently, and “alschool” will have to be spelled out carefully so it won’t be heard as “ale school” or similar (that’s “a” as in “alpha”, “l” as in “lima”, school dot com). If you’re willing to drop “school” from the domain…

al.school (120 bucks) als.page (300) if uk als.uk

I would probably keep the name but use a shorter domain name no matter if its .com but keeping the .com anyway

Re: Ask HN: Long or Abbreviated Domain Name?

#7

Post by bradknowles » Sun, Jul 25, 2021, 5:55 AM UTC

Why not both?

The long name could be the official one that will get good SEO, the short name(s) can redirect to the longer one.