A descriptive domain is the secret SEO weapon for unlocking business visibility and success

When Fili Wiese and Kaspar Szymanski founded Search Brothers SEO Consulting, the former-Google engineers leaned on their combined decades of experience to build online visibility and adopted a unique strategy to outrank the competition. Their approach? Descriptive domains.

Compared to traditional domains, top-level domains such as .pro, .marketing, and .consulting allow businesses to showcase their services and expertise upfront, improving their visibility and relevance and telling website visitors exactly what to expect.

Rachel Sterling, chief marketing officer of Identity Digital, a leading provider of top-level domains, says descriptive domains are powerful tools that set businesses apart, especially on search engines.

“[Descriptive domains] can help you stand out in a crowded marketplace because they’re personalized,” Sterling said. “You can get one that’s very specific to your business needs.”

The closer the domain name aligns with the value a website provides, the better it’s going to appear in Google search rankings, she added.

Search Brothers isn’t the only business using domain names strategically. Cultural Currents Institute (CCI), a public relations firm based in Austin, Texas, also adopted a descriptive domain to differentiate itself in a media industry where breaking through with compelling messaging can be difficult.

Both companies illustrate how tapping into the power of descriptive domains can boost brand recognition, authority, and credibility at a time when online consumers have more choices than ever.

Building SEO dominance

Wiese and Szymanski spent more than 10 years working together at Google, developing deep knowledge about Google’s webmaster policies, penalties, backlink risks, and link-building techniques.

They eventually left Google and started their consulting firm in Germany in 2013. To help grow their business, Wiese and Szymanski made descriptive domains the centerpiece of Search Brothers’ strategy.

The company’s branding methods involve using domain names like online.marketing, seo.services, and seo.chat purchased through Identity Digital’s registrar partners. Even its website — seo.consulting — is a descriptive domain.

The descriptive domains allow search engines and audiences to quickly understand each website’s purpose. In turn, they helped Search Brothers build its brand, attract more potential customers, and convert them to purchase the company’s proprietary SEO tools.

“Our descriptive domains are the best names available for our niche,” Wiese said. “Each website’s purpose and unique selling proposition is clear to potential visitors who see us in Google search results and across the web. When Google Search users see our domain in the Google search results, there is no question about what we offer.”

According to Wiese, domain relevance is critical to SEO because users decide in seconds whether they’ll click on your link. If a user clicks on a business’ website and it doesn’t meet their expectations, bouncebacks can lower its search ranking, signaling to Google the page isn’t relevant. Sterling says descriptive domains reduce this risk.

People build websites and hope to be discovered through Google search. The closer your website is aligned with what people are searching for, the better chance you’ll rank higher.
Rachel Sterling, Chief Marketing Officer, Identity Digital

Elevating brand visibility and credibility

When Jack Carpenter launched CCI in 2022, he wanted a domain name that matched his unique business name.

CCI is a multidisciplinary agency focused on digital marketing, branding, culture, public opinion, and consumer behavior. It’s anchored on Carpenter’s belief that “if you can adequately understand how information spreads, you can adjust the narrative and change people’s perceptions.”

With his strategic domain choice, Carpenter has shifted people’s perceptions of his business from the very beginning. He purchased the descriptive domain, culturalcurrents.institute, from one of Identity Digital’s registrar partners.

As a new PR firm, CCI’s success rests on its credibility, which is especially critical because the company publishes custom research and insights it distributes to media outlets. Using a .institute descriptive domain allowed CCI to build trust with the media.

“Our name and domain gave us immediate credibility with media outlets and search engines,” Carpenter said.

When information is coming from a PR firm, journalists can be skeptical. But with ‘institute’ in the name, the guard comes down a bit.

Within months, CCI’s research was featured in several major national publications. The boost in media coverage increased backlinks to the culturalcurrents.institute website, improving its SEO score and domain authority. It also led to a higher ranking on search results pages.

“In just one month, we saw our domain authority jump 31 points and site visitors tripled,” Carpenter said.

CCI’s experience demonstrates how making a strategic domain choice can increase a brand’s credibility, Sterling of Identity Digital said.

“You are planting a stake in the ground that you are an expert in this space, and that you’re offering either a best-in-class service or you’re providing best-in-class information that is aligned with the user’s search,” she said.

Delivering proven results with descriptive domains

Both Search Brothers and CCI continue to see value in descriptive domains.

Wiese and Szymanski frequently conduct domain experiments to keep up with SEO changes in the industry. The company has experimented with a webvitals.dev descriptive domain, launching a free service to help web developers easily identify layout changes they can make on mobile and desktop sites to improve SEO.

Search Brothers already experienced success with this strategy.

“Last year, we had 100,000 users testing our debugger tool and providing feedback,” Wiese said.

CCI is leaning on its descriptive domain to advance its credibility, expand its roster of high-profile clients, and enter new markets like political consulting. With a distinct, memorable domain, CCI is well-positioned to grow its business.

“Descriptive domains make every single character count,” Sterling said. “If you’re not already, now is the time to use the right side of the dot to communicate who you are or what you stand for.”