Domain Names, Variations & Redirects: Protecting Your Brand Online

A domain name strategy is the plan for which web addresses your business owns, how they are configured, and how they protect your brand online. It goes beyond choosing a name — it covers extensions, variations, redirects, and the security of your digital identity. Domain strategy is a core part of your website tech stack that most business owners overlook.

Every domain variation you do not own is traffic you cannot control. If a customer types .com instead of .co.uk, misspells your business name, or tries a variation with a hyphen, they land somewhere that is not your website. That somewhere might be a parked page showing adverts, a competitor's site, or a domain squatter waiting to sell it back to you at a premium.

Why Domain Strategy Affects Revenue

Consider a business called Smith Plumbing. They register smithplumbing.co.uk and build their website. But they do not register smithplumbing.com. A competitor — or an opportunistic domain investor — registers the .com version. Now every visitor who types .com instead of .co.uk lands on a page the business does not control.

According to Verisign, there are over 350 million registered domain names worldwide. Domain speculation is a multi-billion pound industry. If your business name is available as a .com, someone will eventually register it — and it will cost you significantly more to buy it back than it would have cost to register it yourself.

The financial impact goes beyond direct traffic loss. Uncontrolled domain variations can dilute your brand, confuse customers, and even be used for phishing attacks that damage your reputation.

.co.uk vs .com: Which Should Be Primary?

If your business primarily serves UK customers, .co.uk is the stronger choice for your primary domain. UK consumers instinctively trust .co.uk domains, and Google treats country-code domains as a locality signal for search results.

However, you should also own the .com version. Here is why:

• Customer habit — Many people default to typing .com regardless of your marketing materials
• International credibility — If you ever trade internationally, .com carries more weight
• Brand protection — If you do not own it, someone else will

The cost of registering both is typically under £25 per year combined. That is the cost of a single lunch, protecting against traffic leakage that could cost you thousands.

Other extensions to consider:

• .org — Prevents brand confusion with non-profit organisations
• Common misspellings — If your business name is frequently misspelled, register those too
• Hyphenated versions — smithplumbing.co.uk vs smith-plumbing.co.uk

Setting Up 301 Redirects

Owning multiple domains is only half the strategy. You need every variation to redirect to your primary domain. This is done with 301 redirects — permanent redirects that tell both browsers and search engines "this address has permanently moved to here."

Without redirects, your alternative domains just sit there doing nothing. With redirects, every variation funnels visitors to your main website and consolidates your SEO authority on a single domain.

How to set up redirects:

1. At your registrar — Most domain registrars (GoDaddy, Namecheap, 123 Reg) offer simple URL forwarding. Point each variation to your primary domain with a 301 redirect.

2. Via DNS — If you use Cloudflare or similar, you can configure redirect rules at the DNS level.

3. On your server — Your web developer can add redirect rules in your server configuration (htaccess for Apache, nginx.conf for Nginx).

The important thing is that the redirect is a 301 (permanent), not a 302 (temporary). A 301 tells Google to transfer the SEO value to your primary domain. A 302 does not.

For more on how redirects affect your search rankings, see our guide on canonical tags and our article on fixing broken links and redirects.

Protecting Your Brand From Expired Domains

Domain names require annual renewal. If you forget to renew — or if your payment method expires — your domain enters a grace period, after which it becomes available for anyone to register.

This is a genuine risk. Expired domains with existing traffic, backlinks, and brand recognition are valuable to domain speculators. They use automated tools to monitor expiring domains and snap them up the moment they become available.

What happens if your primary domain expires:

• Your website goes offline
• Your email stops working (if you use your domain for email)
• Someone else can register your domain
• Buying it back at auction can cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds
• You lose accumulated SEO authority

How to prevent this:

• Enable auto-renewal on every domain you own
• Use a dedicated email address for domain registration — one that you actively monitor
• Set calendar reminders for renewal dates
• Keep payment methods current with your registrar
• Use domain lock — most registrars offer this to prevent unauthorised transfers

If you are on Shopify, our guide to connecting a custom domain to Shopify covers the specific configuration required to point your domain at your store.

Subdomains vs Subdirectories

When adding sections to your website (like a blog or shop), you have two options:

• Subdomain: blog.yoursite.co.uk
• Subdirectory: yoursite.co.uk/blog

For SEO purposes, subdirectories are almost always better. Google treats subdomains as somewhat separate entities, which means your blog's authority does not fully benefit your main domain. Subdirectories keep everything under one roof, consolidating your domain authority.

The exception is if the subdomain serves a genuinely different function — like a separate web application (app.yoursite.co.uk) that runs on different technology.

Domain Name Selection Tips

If you are choosing a domain name for a new business, keep these principles in mind:

• Short and memorable — The shorter your domain, the less likely people are to mistype it
• Easy to spell — Avoid unusual spellings, double letters, or words that are commonly misspelled
• Avoid hyphens — People forget to include them when typing
• Include location if local — smithplumbingleeds.co.uk tells both customers and Google where you operate
• Check social media availability — Ideally, your business name should be available across domains and social platforms

What to Do Right Now

1. Audit your domain registrations — Log in to your registrar and check which domains you own. Are the key variations covered?

2. Register missing variations — At minimum, ensure you own both .co.uk and .com for your primary business name.

3. Set up 301 redirects — Every domain variation you own should redirect to your primary domain.

4. Enable auto-renewal — On every domain, with a payment method that will not expire.

5. Check for squatters — Search for your business name across common extensions. If someone else owns a variation, assess whether it is worth attempting to purchase.

For help reviewing your domain strategy as part of a broader technical SEO audit, get in touch. We identify gaps in your brand protection and set up the redirects and configurations that keep your traffic flowing to the right place.