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What's the Difference?

When I tell you that there are lots of different divisions in the domain investing world, you need to believe me. If you have only dipped your toe into this world, it's very possible that you won't have been exposed to certain aspects of the game. There are a lot of different uses for domains that people that sell them don't even consider. 

One aspect that many domain investors have overlooked is the SEO value of some domains. We're talking about the sorts of domains that have an existing and significant backlink profile from authoritative sources. As time has gone on, it's become increasingly difficult for SEO professionals to acquire follow links from top tier publishers. That said, there are many people working within the industry that will pay vast sums to buy domains that already have that authority. 

The quality of the name doesn't matter at all, in many instances. Names that typical domainers would ignore may very well have a decent backlink profile, and it's up to you to determine that value by checking yourself. Thankfully, you can do this for free with Ahrefs without a subscription.

It's not always true, but for the majority of mid-tier end user domain sales ($5k-$20k), you can categorise their value down to either their name or its SEO value. It usually isn't a combination of the two. This being the case, as an investor, should you spend most of your budget/time/energy on SEO domains or high value names? Let's consider both sides. 

Good Names

A good name is one that says what the product/service/website is without any explanation. It's memorable, catchy and passes the radio test. Good names can be brandable, generic, numeric or fall under another definition, but they should always hold up as a brand that someone might want to invest in. 

Strong names sell every single day, as you will see on NameBio. They are easy to acquire and, although you may have to hold onto them for some years before they change hands, the value is often retained for a very long time. 

SEO Domains

SEO domains have evolved over the years. Once upon a time, exact match domains used to hold a lot more weight in search engines than they do these days. If the domain was a phrase with high search volume (eg. carinsurance.com), that alone would hold more weight than its competitors in search engines. Now, the quality and quantity of the backlinks are a more significant factor as to whether these domains have liquid value. 

SEO domains sell frequently too, but the buyer is a different person/agency/company. It's usually someone that wants to put it to immediate use. These people are usually tied up with a lot of other projects, so they have to be selective about which ones they decide to pursue. They would need to have a plan on how to use it, especially if they want to retain as many of the backlinks as possible.

There's a lot less baggage with a good name than an SEO one. 

Which is Best for You?

Without a doubt, the best option for you is the one that you understand most. Investing in good names isn't as easy as just buying ones made up of any two random words. Investing in SEO names isn't as easy as buying the ones that have the most backlinks. You really need to know your stuff to excel at either side. 

Even as someone with nearly a decade of SEO experience, I much prefer investing in strong names than I do SEO ones. In the long term, it's a lot more likely that the tactics which have upheld this market for authoritative domain will become void in the future. 

I certainly buy domains for their SEO value to use for my own projects, but I wouldn't really spend my time trying to grab these kinds of domains to flip. If you understand the game, there are deals out there for you to grab right now. 
 

Chiino
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