Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

Choosing A Url That's Similar To A Competitors

Posted by scott on 8/30/2017 at 4:38 PM ET 250 Points
This question follows one I posed here last month about whether to change a URL to aid search. We have pretty much decided on a URL change along with a slight change to the company name. Overall, the reasons for change are greater clarity of the client's business and improvements around search/search experiences. Now the question is, does it matter whether the proposed new URL is very similar to a competitor's?

For example, the client name is Smith Johnson. The new name: Smith Johnson Lawn Tools. A proposed new URL: www.sjlawntools.com.

The competitor name is Super Lawn Tools. Its URL is www.slawntools.com.

So: www.sjlawntools.com compared with www.slawntools.com.

What are the risks of choosing a URL that's so close to a competitor's other than our clients might inadvertently type in the competitor's URL? My guess is that prospects probably won't even consider typing the URL into their browsers. Their first visits to our site probably will come through different channels.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/30/2017 at 4:57 PM Member
    If you believe people won't type in the URL, then why not choose a less confusing URL to start with (SmithJohnsonLawnTools.com, for example)?
  • Posted by scott on 8/30/2017 at 5:12 PM Author
    Jay - the only reason is length. The resulting URL would be 28 characters. Should I even care? I tend to think I shouldn't. URLs will fill on subsequent visits anyway. I posed this question because the immediate client reaction was "too long," and I didn't have a great answer on the spot.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 8/30/2017 at 5:54 PM Accepted
    My suggestion: get both the short & long URL, with the short URL forwarding to the long URL. Client's happy. SEO is happy.
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