How to use domain names for marketing

You can use domain names for marketing in five main ways: short campaign domains for ads and offline promotion, separate domains for products or brands, extra domains that catch typos and protect your name, country-code domains that show which market a site serves, and a branded email address that builds trust and lets you authenticate your mail. Each one only pays off if the domain leads somewhere useful and you can measure the result.

Use campaign domains for targeted promotions

A separate, easy-to-remember domain works well when you promote one campaign to an audience that differs from your usual one, or when people will see the address but cannot click it. Think of a trade fair stand, a podcast ad, a radio spot, a billboard or a printed mailer. A short domain is easier to remember and type than a long URL on your main site.

Typical uses:

• a product launch or limited-time offer
• an event or webinar series
• a customer loyalty or referral program
• a trade fair or conference campaign

You have two options:

• A stand-alone landing page on the campaign domain, which lets you test a different message, design or offer without changing your main site. It also works as a microsite.
• A redirect to a page on your main site. This is often the better choice for content you want to rank in search, because the page builds authority on your main domain instead of a new one.

Make the campaign measurable

If the domain redirects, add UTM parameters to the destination URL. Google Analytics recommends always setting utm_source, utm_medium and utm_campaign, and points to its Campaign URL Builder to create the link. A billboard domain could redirect to your landing page with utm_source=billboard, utm_medium=offline and the campaign name, so every visit from that domain shows up as that campaign. More on reading this data in how to gain insights from your website traffic.

Give products, brands or listings their own domain

Some companies register a domain per product or brand. Coca-Cola, for example, owns minutemaid.com, dasani.com and dietcoke.com. Today those domains redirect to the matching brand pages on coca-cola.com. The company keeps the memorable addresses as entry points while running one main website. That is a useful model: own the domains people might type, and decide separately where the content lives.

Separate sites make sense when a brand serves a clearly different audience, for example when a company known for commercial projects launches a residential line. They cost more to maintain, since each site needs its own content, updates and SEO.

Protect your brand with typo and short domains

If your name is hard to spell, people will mistype it. Registering the most likely misspellings and redirecting them to your main site catches those visitors and stops others from using the names. A few well-known examples:

• gogle.com redirects to google.com
• bn.com redirects to barnesandnoble.com

Use permanent (301 or 308) server-side redirects for this. Google says it treats a permanent redirect as a signal that the target should be the canonical URL, so the main site is the one that appears in search results.

If someone registers a domain that copies your trademark in bad faith, ICANN's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) offers a dispute process for abusive registrations such as cybersquatting. Registering the obvious variants yourself means you rarely need one.

Choose the right domain extension

The extension after the dot is the top-level domain (TLD).

• Generic TLDs such as .com, .org, .net, .info and .xyz are open to anyone. Google has said it treats newer generic TLDs like .com and .org, and that keywords in a TLD give no advantage or disadvantage in search. Pick an extension for memorability and trust, not rankings.
• Country-code TLDs such as .de for Germany, .uk for the United Kingdom and .br for Brazil tell Google and visitors that a site is meant for that country. Google calls this a strong signal. The trade-offs: each ccTLD targets one country, some countries restrict who can register, and running several sites takes more work. Subdirectories (example.com/de/) or subdomains (de.example.com) on one domain are easier to manage. Google treats some ccTLDs that are used as vanity extensions, such as .tv and .me, as generic.
• Restricted TLDs are open only to eligible organisations. Only verified US government organisations can register .gov, and .edu is limited to accredited US post-secondary institutions.

For tips on picking the main name, see how to pick the right domain name for your website.

Use your domain for business email

An address like name@yourcompany.com looks more professional than a free webmail address, and it shows your brand in every inbox you reach.

It also matters for delivery. Gmail's sender guidelines require everyone who sends to Gmail to authenticate their mail with SPF or DKIM. Bulk senders, those sending more than 5,000 messages a day to Gmail accounts, must set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC, with the From domain aligned to the authenticated domain, and must offer one-click unsubscribe in marketing mail. Gmail also warns senders not to impersonate gmail.com in the From header. You can only set up these records on a domain you control, which makes a branded domain a requirement for serious email marketing. Read more about email deliverability.

Checklist

• Register your main domain plus the obvious typos and short versions.
• Redirect extra domains with permanent redirects.
• Use short campaign domains for offline and audio promotion, and tag the destination with UTM parameters.
• Pick a ccTLD only if you want a site for one specific country.
• Send email from your own domain and set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC.
• Renew every domain you rely on, so a lapsed registration does not break links or email.