No matter the size of your business, it’s nearly impossible to grow without paying attention to your search engine results and online presence. After all, you need customers to find you! SEO.co knows all about that—they’ve made technical search engine optimization services their specialty.

Repositioning & rebranding

The digital marketing agency, based out of Seattle, has been around since 2010, a lifetime in internet years. The company was originally called AudienceBloom and focused on clients in the Pacific Northwest region.

Through national growth and a refocus on its core offerings, the company expanded to international projects and launched ancillary sites. Eventually, it became clear that a new name and brand would be helpful to better reflect the agency’s capabilities.

But when the agency went to register its new domain name, there was a problem, said CEO Nate Nead. “The .com was not available, but we still wanted something very valuable and brandable for the rebranding of our SEO agency.” That’s when they turned to a .co extension—and SEO.co was born.

Standing out in a crowded marketplace

Nate was honest about what it took to gain exposure and clients in a highly competitive, saturated market. “Work will win when wishy washing wishing won't. Whenever you have startup fear, get back to work.”

Rebranding didn’t come without its challenges, so not only was SEO.co working on their clients’ digital needs, but their own as well. Instead of chasing fast, fleeting wins, they played the long game when it came to boosting their own SEO results.

“After a couple of years of in-the-trenches optimization for our own site, we started to see some big gains in our traffic and leads.” One of those strategies was purchasing various domain names.

Using multiple domain names to boost SEO results

This is a tactic that many companies and entrepreneurs use to improve their search engine results. The idea is simple: if you have multiple websites that cover similar topics and several show up in search results, there’s a higher chance that at least one of those results will lead back to a site you own.

Multi-domain strategies aren’t a quick fix for SEO: they involve a lot of work! After choosing a domain name, you’ll still have to create website content, establish separate brands, and then ensure that you’re still performing basic SEO tactics. But if you’re focused on longevity, it can be a great way for smaller brands to level the playing field a bit and have multiple domain names ranking highly in search engine results.

When you’re shopping around for domain names, don’t discount using a .co or other top-level domain extensions (TLDs) other than .com. “The TLD extension matters less than your brand, especially as it relates to optimizing your site for SEO,” said Nate. “We also run and operate dev.co, search.co, ppc.co, and recruiters.co and have seen similar impacts on those sites as well.”

What’s next?

For now, the company remains focused on its mission to be one of the best digital marketing agencies on the internet, and it looks like they’re well on the way, having worked with some of the world’s most well-known brands, including Expedia, Shopify, Qualtrics, and Carmax. From a Seattle startup to an agency taking on the world—it’s the power of .co!