The main search engines of the Russian-language Internet are Yandex and Google. Traffic from other search engines is insignificant, therefore, we will consider site optimization (in this case, the choice of a domain), focusing on these two search engines, and primarily on Yandex.
Yandex. likes domains in the ".ru" zone.
Sites on the domains of this zone, all other things being equal, are usually indexed faster than sites in other domain zones (.com .net .info and so on ...), since the ".ru" domain by default means belonging to the Russian-speaking the Internet sector (as well as Russia as a region), and Yandex is primarily a Russian search engine.
Preferences Google in this regard, they are less pronounced, but it is still advisable to choose the ".ru" or ".com" domain.
The choice of a regional domain has a positive effect on the site's position in the search results in the target region. For example, a site on the ".ru" domain will have better positions in search results in Russia than in Ukraine with the same query. A site on the ".ua" domain is the opposite.
Both Yandex and Google now recognize transliteration in the domain name and URL of the pages.
Query "gold" in the Google search engine:
Request "gold" in the Yandex search engine:
Previously, Yandex recognized keywords only if they were separated by a hyphen, or if there was one keyword. Now Yandex's algorithm has become in this respect the same as that of Google.
Google search engine identifies well English translation keyword. The same query for "gold" on Google:
Yandex is not working well for translation. For the query "gold", for example, the translation is not highlighted:
However, Yandex does highlight the translation of some words. Most likely, this rule applies to the translation of Russian words that originated from English (for example, the query "paintball"):
The keyword in the domain of the site that is in the second position is not highlighted, since this screenshot was taken quite a long time ago. At that time Yandex did not yet recognize keywords in URL, if they were not separated by a hyphen.
Yandex takes into account the direct match of the keyword in the request and in the domain name (see the second position in the illustration).
Google also takes into account a direct match of the key in the request and in the domain name:
An excellent key in a domain name can be a word that is spelled in the same way both in English and in transliteration from Russian. An example of one such word is marketing.
An interesting point: Yandex takes into account the Russian pronunciation of the English word in the domain name. As an example, consider a query with the word "table" that does not exist in Russian):
It is unclear why Yandex takes such coincidences into account. Google hasn't seen anything like it.
Search engines have a positive attitude towards Cyrillic domains (with the presence of keywords in them, of course), however, when using them, quite a lot of technical difficulties arise. In the future, the use of Cyrillic domains seems to be a promising business, but for now it is better not to use them.
There is a lot of controversy about the degree to which the presence of a keyword in the domain name affects the search engine optimization of a site. Many professionals believe that this influence is not great, but no one has accurate information. It is rather difficult to evaluate empirically the degree of influence of a domain name on search results. Judging by the search results for some queries, this influence is still significant.
In any case, the presence of a keyword in the domain name increases the relevance of all pages on your site in relation to all queries containing this word. This factor must be used, if only there is such an opportunity.
It is desirable to keep the domain name as short as possible. The same goes for URL URLs of pages in general. Links with short URLs are about twice as likely to be clicked on as links with long URLs (Google research).
CTR is important in itself, since clicks are traffic, but there is also one more nuance regarding promotion. Yandex counts the number of clicks on links in search results. If your site is in the top ten, but the number of transitions to it will be significantly less than to other sites in the TOP-10, then, most likely, it will very quickly fly out of the first page only for this reason.
Yandex will consider getting into the TOP of such a site to be erroneous (because of the use of homonymous words or something else, this is no longer so important). Therefore, all the factors that affect the click-through rate on a link in the search results also affect the promotion of the site. Along with the length of the domain name, in this regard, the presence of a favicon and the text content of the title tag also matter (since it coincides with the name of the link in the search results).
If the number of characters in a domain name is about twenty or more, then keywords in such a domain may be perceived as spam. The same applies to the frequent use of hyphens separating keywords in a domain name.
Search engines take into account the domain level. Second-level domains (for example "site.ru") are much preferable to lower-level domains, since search engines believe that secondary information is usually located on low-level domains. Trust directories are also reluctant to accept links to subdomains.
Another very important SEO characteristic of a domain is its age. On sites hosted on young domains (up to 1 year old), search engines can apply filters like "Sandbox". Links from trust sites can be a good protection for a young site from such filters.
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The main question when choosing is its subject and target audience. It so happened that, focusing on Russia, there is no need to register, no matter how global and solid it may seem. Conversely, a manufacturer of cool 3D printing machines that sells them all over the world is unlikely to want his foreign potential customers to suffer with [rf]. The rest is nuance. Let's talk about them.
Top-level domains are divided into two groups: territorial-linguistic (uk, ru, rf) and thematic (info, biz, mil). This division is very arbitrary, because no one can stop you from writing about animal breeding on your own website mylittlepi.gs (this is, by the way, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands) or about politics on brexit.soccer.
: great and terrible
It is believed that the [ com] gets its name from common. In general, the idea was short for commercial, but everyone loved the zone so much that it began to be used almost everywhere, and commerce went into biz.
Dotcom (or dotcom - transcribed [ com]) is used mainly to indicate that the site is not tied to a specific territory. They are registered by large companies, well-promoted startups, popular services, online stores and others who want to show that their goods are sold to everyone.
Anyway, all thematic top-level domains are easier to transfer between registrars or sell to another person. They are not tied to the legislation of a particular country and such a process does without submitting a pile of papers to the office of the responsible office.
: how to please everyone
About the domain zone [ ru] there is practically nothing to say:
- popular and time-tested - it is in the top 10 of all zones in terms of the number of sites and in the top 5 among geographic ones;
- suitable for any topic - there are no restrictions on the placement of sites, except for those that violate Russian law;
- ideal in Russian Central Asia - [ ru] is known to most Internet users as an identifier for Russian content, and even as an element of the symbol of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi.
There are a number of situations when you still have to use dotcom instead of the established "dotru":
- You do not want to draw up and submit an application, fiddle with passport scans for any need to change the contact information of the domain.
- You want an easy transfer between. Let's say that the person who registered the domain does not answer the phone and SMS, and the renewal period has almost come to an end. Without this person, extend [ ru] will not work, and you will most likely lose the site.
- You are afraid of the judicial system of the Russian Federation and think that your site will be divided at the request of the local court. [ com] is not under the jurisdiction of Russian authorities, so decide for yourself
[рф]: rise and fall
Let's dig deeper into the myths
- Robots love [ com]
Robots love optimization. It will not work to go to the top on a golden chariot with a standard [ com]. Google says there is no difference for their search engine between different top-level domains - all things being equal, they all rank the same.
- You need to be in trend: [ com] - not fashionable and no one needs
Yes, you need to be fashionable, but dotcom as a three-piece suit does not go out of fashion. A huge number of new zones are appearing and the opening of old ones. For example, the recent boom of projects on [ co], which was chosen by 93% of startups from 2013 to 2014. And in 2015, the number of high-tech companies' websites on [ co] was a little more than 450. At the same time, the share of dot-coms is still huge - from 2010 to 2015, it was chosen by more than 20 thousand new companies - 81% of all zones. If that doesn't tell you anything, here is the data from the research company DomainTools:
You don't have to look at the colors of the diagram - it is needed to visually represent the dominance of dot-coms on the Internet.
- [rf] is progressing worse / better than [ ru]
If you follow a few simple rules, then the process of promoting a Cyrillic domain becomes the same as for any other. You can read about these rules.
Afterword
The national domain, indicating the language and geographic origin of the content, attracts the user with its relevance. By going to [ ru] or [ rf], the Russian will know that the information received can be applied to him.
On the other side, [ com] is more solid, and adding subdomains to it creates a kind of “yours / ours” framework, showing that the information is suitable for a person in a particular geographic area.
There is also a third party - legal. You can talk a lot about it: how to choose the right registrar, how the rules of registration in the Russian-language domain zone are interpreted, anonymous registration or the provision of personal data ... But we're talking about SEO.
Which domain zone to choose for website promotion and better indexing by search engines? How do you find and come up with a short, catchy domain that captures the essence of your project? What if the domain with your company name is already taken? These questions are asked by every person who starts their activities in the web environment.
Everyone should know this before buying a domain.
It often happens that novice businessmen leave the issue of domain registration in the hands of a website developer. Conscientious executors register a domain for their customer, securing legal affiliation to him. Unscrupulous performers register a domain on themselves, I understand the technical ignorance of their customer. What does it mean? This means that after several years of development of your resource, the contractor who registered the domain for himself can contact the office of the domain name registrar and simply take away the asset that has been accumulated over the years. Be sure to register domain names for yourself, indicating the correct contact and passport information, in order to avoid similar problems in the future!
Types of domain zones and their pitfalls
Let's get back to the main topic. Domain zones are divided into two main groups: thematic (.biz, .tv, .pro) and territorial-linguistic (.ru, .com, .рф). It is much easier to find a short and memorable domain in thematic zones, however, they are more expensive and are purchased, as a rule, by companies whose domains consonant with trademark names have already been purchased in the territorial-linguistic zone. Or in niches where a thematic domain zone is a standard, for example, a television with a zone.
There are people and even individual companies that buy domains for the purpose of their subsequent resale, or unfair competition. This activity is called cybersquotting (from the English cybersquotting). If you've managed to find a memorable domain that captures the essence of your company, it's best to purchase it in multiple domain zones.
- At first, you will avoid problems with cybersquatters.
- Secondly, you will be able to set up forwarding from all unused domain zones to the main one. Thus, if you decide to choose a domain zone as the main one, all users typing your site address from or [rf] into the browser line will still end up on.
In technical terms, there is no difference between domain zones. A site with content that is useful to users will in any case be included in the index of search engines and will be able to take worthy positions there in the search results. However, there is a psychological moment both on the part of site owners and SEO-optimizers, and on the part of users.
First, in the Russian segment of the Internet, domains have a numerical superiority over all others (6 times more [рф]). It is not surprising that these sites are found more often in the search results, hence the opinion that domains are easier to promote, and search engines prefer them.
Secondly, if in your niche 99% of domains are in the zone, you are unlikely to instill confidence in your site visitors by choosing some [.biz]. There are converse cases in narrow-sale companies that focus on domain memorability. An unusual domain zone helps them stand out from the competition.
Which domain zone to choose: all pros and cons
As we said earlier, thematic domains are extremely unpopular in Runet, we will analyze them in more detail in the following articles. Let's consider the 3 most popular territorial-language domain zones, which are chosen by the overwhelming majority of Russian webmasters for their sites:, and [rf].
There is one general rule when choosing a domain name regardless of its zone: you must understand that for a specific project you are doing this for the first and last time. We will not delve into the intricacies of moving a site from one domain to another, since no serious project that has earned a good reputation and position in search engines will risk its assets. In this case, search engines do not guarantee the preservation of the position of the resource in the search results. This suggests that choosing a domain name should be approached as responsibly as possible, because you do it once for a project.
Let's consider the main advantages and disadvantages of domain zones, and [rf].
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Building on strong and weaknesses domain zones, we will consider the main types of sites in which their use will be most appropriate.
Website and domain: 2 pair of boots
Depending on your Internet project and its goals, you can talk about the advisability of buying one or another domain. Let's consider the most popular options for web resources and figure out which domain is better to choose for each of them using examples.
Landing Page
If you want to create a one-page site, traffic to which will be attracted exclusively from advertising channels, you should not put much effort in choosing a domain. Try to make the domain as easy to remember as possible.
Any of the domain zones is suitable for Landing Page. As a rule, the choice stops on the zones and [рф]. Examples:
- rabidasushka.rf. This domain has a viral name, the project as a whole relies on promotion in social networks, word of mouth and distribution of the application of the same name. The semantic load in combination with the “tasty” name explains the choice of this domain. Agree, in English, the emotional background and the meaning of the project would be much more difficult to convey.
- teach-sing.rf. Domain in the [rf] zone with a simple memorable name that characterizes the essence of the business.
- game2.spasibosb.ru. Domain in the most common runetu zone. An interactive one-page game of the Sberbank project.
The domain zone can be used to increase the confidence of visitors to the page.
Personal business card site or portfolio
One of the few resource formats where the [rf] zone is popular. The site of a photographer, operator, politician or private electrician goes well with this domain zone. Direct indication of the first and last name in the domain is the best positioning and simultaneous advertising of the person behind the web resource.
There is no taboo on the use of domains. As a rule, individuals are used whose projects do not have restrictions on a territorial and linguistic basis.
A domain zone with a memorable domain available is quite a working option.
Information Blog
We do not recommend using the [rf] domain zone for informational web resources. You should not neglect the Russian-speaking audience from abroad, which can be monetized by your project. The best option for a Russian audience would be a domain, for an international audience.
Company website, brand
For the corporate website of the company, we recommend choosing the domain zones or. The territorial tie rule remains the same. If you plan to work only with a Russian-speaking audience, then your option is, if with an international audience, then -.
Corporate mail, correct display of the domain (brand) on all platforms - this is the minimum that the [rf] zone cannot provide.
Online store
If you are creating an online store, you are unlikely to immediately enter the international markets, so this is your main option. There are examples when the [rf] zone does an excellent job, solving the problem of easy memorability of the domain name and instant disclosure of the meaning of the product, for example, the site pirozhenka.rf (handmade confectionery). It is a niche site that is promoted through recommendation, content marketing and social media. If you cannot draw an analogy in the strategy of promoting this project with your company, stop your attention on the zone.
Portal, service
Portals and services, as a rule, have a universal principle of their work and do not strongly depend on the territorial and geographical factor. In this case, a zone would be a good choice. Even if in the near future you are planning to develop only in the Russian market, consider in advance the promising multilingualism of your resource. Job search portal, center of foreign languages, seo-tool - all of them hypothetically can function on the international market. Regional binding can be implemented on subdomains according to Yandex recommendations.
Here useful services to help you check:
- www.whoishistory.ru
- archive.org/web
- Choose a domain based on associations with your niche.
A useful service for the selection of associations: wordassociations.net/ru - Try to select a domain for which there are already requests for the name, but there is no web resource. For example, the site Poudre.ru appeared much later than the Vkontakte group "Pudra Women's Magazine" and receives traffic thanks to people who are looking for the Vkontakte group in search engines.
The Yandex service will help you in the selection of requests: wordstat.yandex.ru - Browse domain stores and online auctions. Even today, they can pick up a 3.4 and 5-character domain in the zone for very little money (up to 1000 rubles).
Several domain stores and online auctions:
- www.reg.ru/domain/shop/
- www.nic.ru/info/services/domain-shop/
- ru.auctions.godaddy.com
- www.hugedomains.com/index.cfm
- domainnamesales.com
- Try to choose a unique domain that is not similar to your competitors. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to generate your own branded traffic.
- After buying a domain, try to immediately book CNC addresses on social networks, before scammers do it, who will demand money for transferring an address similar to your domain.
Many users ask this question, and we have tried to systematize the most common questions. Also, our full recommendations are set out in the article on choosing a domain.
Hyphenated domain vs. solid?
Example magazin-sobak.ru or magazinsobak.ru
Neither one nor the other. It is better to come up with a shorter word, for example magazdog.ru, because if you transfer the name of the site orally, then anyone will say - "go to the site of the dog store dot ru", and it will not be clear how to type it in the browser, with or without a hyphen. Remember, all other things being equal, the best name will be the one that is better remembered by the user.
Which domains index faster?
Indexing speed does not depend on the domain name. To speed it up - add your site to Yandex-Webmaster and Google Webmaster Tools.
Free domains vs. paid
Which domain is better: Ru or Рф?
- often in the browser you can see a link like xn - 80arbjktj.xn - p1ai, which is identical to my site.рф. This is due to the mandatory Punicode encoding, which was introduced so that browsers can understand any alphabet (even Arabic) as a set of Latin letters;
- users have a problem with writing the site address in the browser, because not everyone knows that you can enter the Cyrillic alphabet. By the way, the speed and quality of indexing of the Russian domain is the same as that of everyone else.
Country domain vs. international
Example Ru or (Com, Net, Info)
If your site does not aim to capture the global market, then, all other things being equal, it is better to choose Ru. Many people say that in Yandex-Webmaster and Google Webmaster Tools, you can specify a region for any domain, yes it is. But Google itself, in its recommendations, says that it is better to register in the zone of the country in which most of the site's users live.
Domain with history vs. new
If you are going to create a site from scratch, or change the content of the old site to a new one, it makes no difference whether the old or the new domain. Domain age only matters if you are using an old site that has authority with search engines, and its content (or theme) does not change, but only added! If you decide to buy an old domain, then carefully look at its history, since if he was previously in the bath of search engines, then there will be little benefit from him.
Regional domains vs. National
Example Msk.ru or Ru?
If you are making a website only for residents of Moscow, then Msk is better. All other things being equal, for Muscovites, cats.msk.ru will be higher in the search than cats.ru.
Still have questions?
If you have not found the answer to your question, then feel free to ask it in the comments field (under the article), we will try to answer your email, and we will also post popular questions in this article.
