Domain Handbook

Domain Handbook: understanding, choosing and changing domain names

Everything about domain names in five parts: what a domain is made of, which name suits you, what it means for your Google ranking, how to secure it and when a switch pays off. With original data, free and continuously expanded.

By Bernard Zitzer · As of October 2026

// how a domain is built   shop.example.com/products  │    │        │ │  │    │       │  └─ Path  │    │       └─ Extension  │    └─ Name  └─ Subdomain YOU BUY  ✓ Name  ✓ Extension▍

What you should know

  • You only buy two parts of an address: the name and the extension.
  • A keyword in the name barely helps ranking, unless the domain names the whole category, like sofa.de.
  • The industry decides whether a descriptive name or a brand fits better.
  • In Germany, 77% of top-10 positions go to .de domains (own study).
  • You can still move to a better domain later if the move is planned properly.

The five parts

Read the handbook from the start or jump straight to the part on your mind. Chapters you’ve read get a tick.

Part 1

Understand domains

What a domain is made of, which extension suits you and what’s up with special characters.

  1. 01What is a domain? in progress
  2. 02Domain extensions explained in progress
  3. 03.de or .com? in progress
  4. 04.ai domain: costs and rules in progress
  5. 05Domains with umlauts in progress
  6. 06Domain glossary in progress

Part 2

Name and brand

Your own name, a category term or an invented word: which name type fits your project.

  1. 07Person or brand? in progress
  2. 08Finding a company name in progress
  3. 09The name spectrum in progress
  4. 10What makes a good domain name in progress
  5. 11Finding names with AI: domain generator

Part 3

Domain and SEO

What the name means for your ranking, backed by original data from Google and 6,220 startups.

  1. 12Does the domain name affect ranking? in progress
  2. 13Keyword domain or brand? in progress
  3. 14How startups choose their domain in progress

Part 4

Buy and secure

Register, win back dream domains and spot trademark conflicts early.

  1. 15Registering a domain in progress
  2. 16Dream domain taken: backorder and purchase in progress
  3. 17Checking trademark conflicts in advance in progress

Part 5

Switch and grow

When a better domain pays off and how to move without losing rankings.

  1. 18Domain upgrade: when switching pays off in progress
  2. 19Brands with a domain upgrade in progress
  3. 20Selling a domain in progress
  4. 21Domain move without ranking loss in progress

Find the name with a system?

The Naming course takes you from brainstorming to a registered domain: with a 15-criteria checklist and prompts for every phase.

To the Naming courseTry the domain generator