Questions

If someone misspells my company when Googling, how do I make sure they find my site? Anything besides buying domain names of the misspelled versions?

For example, they search for "helyp" but the company name is "helip", how can I make sure they find helip.com when they search on Google? I know you can buy helyp.com, but are they other things you can do to make sure helip.com shows up when they search helyp?

3answers

Google Search is already smart enough to capture those misspellings and shows recommendations for the correct words. Assuming that your website has been around for a while, Google will show users the branded site first in the results pages so the clicks will go there.

Google figures out possible misspellings and their likely correct spellings by using words it finds while searching the web and processing searchers queries. So, unlike many spelling correctors, Google can suggest common spellings for proper nouns (names and places), and words that may not appear in a dictionary.

I usually use misspellings in my clients Paid Search campaigns to capture all the possible traffic when I see that there's a high number of searches for those variations.

I advise against buying domain names for the purpose of capturing that traffic. It will help, though, for people entering the exact domain name directly into the browser. And if you do so, make sure that they all redirect via a permanent 301 redirect to the original one, but do not use them for tricky SEO purposes.


Answered 9 years ago

As William Alvarez says, Google will provide suggestions to correct typos. But in many cases, that won't happen or won't help.

For example, if your brand name is a creative misspelling of a common word, then the auto-suggestion will actually work AGAINST your brand name, since Google will assume that people searching for you are making a mistake.

If your name is frequently misspelled and the typo variants are available to register as domains, then you really ought to snag them and forward them to your website.

If those variant domains are more expensive or unobtainable, then the decision becomes much more complicated. In those cases, I can help as a broker with domain procurement.

Sometimes (I regret to say) a rebrand really is the best option. There too I can help as a namer. But that doesn't mean I'm going to steer you toward an expensive solution. There is no one-size-fits-all answer.

I will add – for the benefit of eavesdroppers – that this advice applies to many cases apart from typos. Domains often have variants that are spelled correctly. Many websites are leaking traffic to these variants even though they don't realize it. And some of them will pay through the nose for domain acquisitions down the road.

Anybody reading this who doesn't know what I'm talking about really ought to ask. Send me a message with your domain name, and I'll tell you if it is or is not in conflict with other domain variants. If it is, we can set up a call to figure out what to do about that, if anything.


Answered 9 years ago

You really dont need to worry. Google's algorithm has intent of the real search. Dont buy extra domains its just a wast of money and it will only confuse Google.


Answered 9 years ago

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