As a global web hosting company, HostGator supports websites numbering in the millions. We recently analyzed a random selection of US-based domains we host to discover trends among the words most commonly used in website titles. The resulting word cloud (thanks WordClouds.com!) may surprise you.
A few notes before you look: These words were taken from the title tags of each domain’s home page. We removed common words like “the,” “and,” and “a,” as well as company designations like “llc” and “ltd.” And, to keep things simple, we looked at domains isolated to the US so the words are all English.
Take a look… what do you see?
These words reveal many things. Here are several we noticed.
We care about location, location, location. Words like “nyc” and “usa” show how popular it is to use your location in a company name, and make it easier for customers to discover your local business.
We like putting our name on things. Many of the smaller words are first names like “dave,” “brian,” or “mary,” reflecting how common it is to personalize your blog or company name.
We have many passions. From “art” and “film” to “crossfit” and “wrestling,” our websites reveal what we’re blogging about and what we’re interested in buying.
We’re obsessed with our appearance. In a culture like ours that values beauty and youth, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it’s still something to see just how many of the words center around achieving a perfect “look”: “hot,” “fat,” “skin,” “face,” “diet,” “spa,” “wax,” “self”
We need a lot of help with our cars. “Auto” and “car” are two of the most used words.
We love our pets, especially the canine variety. “Dog” and “pet” both make a big appearance.
We recognize the power of positive psychology. Many website owners promise “fun,” “joy,” “power” in their website names, along with the sales pitch words like “get,” “deal,” and “sell.”
We’re not all SEO experts. Two words that surprised us with their popularity were “untitled” and “title.” Many of these website owners are missing out on a SEO opportunity by failing to include keywords in the title tags of their page.
Most of all, our websites represent our lives. The most popular word was “life,” making it clear that we really do see our online world as an extension of our physical world.
What else do you see? Share your thoughts in the comments or buy a domain name today.
