From time to time, small business startups may ask, when setting up their first website, if their domain name needs to be an exact match to their business name and/or legal entity name.
The short answer is that your domain name does not need to match your business name and/or legal entity name, although in many cases, it does.
Domain Name vs. Business Name Examples
For instance, let’s assume that you are a Scottsdale, Arizona based DUI attorney, and business name for marketing purposes is Law Offices of John Doe, while your law firm’s legal entity name is Law Offices of John Doe PLLC. You could register a domain name such as scottsdaleduilawfirm.com which presumably might be better for search engine ranking purposes.
Or, let’s say that your business name that you are marketing is Energy Maximum Windows while your company’s legal entity name is EMW Contracting, LLC. In this case, you could register a domain such as energymaxwindows.com rather than emwcontractingllc.com because the latter would be harder to remember, is not keyword relevant and might be confusing to customers as it does not match your “brand” or marketing business name, Energy Maximum Windows.
Under What Circumstances Should Your Business Name and Domain Name Not be the Same?
Here is a list of some considerations that may dictate the circumstances under which your business name and domain name should not be the same.
- Your business name is too long or difficult to remember or spell.
- Your business name is similar to that of other (different) companies such that it can be confusing.
- Your business name is not search engine keyword relevant.
For example, in the above screenshot of our own website, you will see that the domain name is prominentweb.com while the business name is Prominent Web Design. By the way, you can read here whether you should register your domain name and get your hosting from the same company.
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