A domain is the website address you use to get to a site. And for job searching purposes, you may need your own domain. Google looks at the domain name when calculating a website’s relevance to a particular search.
So if someone is searching your name and you’ve used your name as the domain name of your résumé website, the chances are quite high that your site will show up in the recruiter’s search results.
You need to decide upfront what your domain name is going to be. Choose www.yourname.com, if possible. Another option is to choose the name of the position you want. If you go this route, an even better approach is to make your domain name www.positionlocation.com.
Many recruiters search for job title and location when trying to fill a position. So if you choose a domain name like www.portlandCPA.com, you may start to rank in Google for those terms as well.
If you decide to use your name for your domain, be aware that someone may have already purchased it either to use for themselves, or more nefariously, to try to sell to you for a lot of money.
Generally, domain speculators won’t even consider selling you back your domain name until you start offering thousands of dollars. So here are some ways around burning a hole in your pocket while still taking advantage of Google’s search algorithm:
If .com is taken, consider buying .net or .me. (My own website is www.joshuawaldman.net.)
Use your full name (Samuel) instead of a shortened version (Sam) or vice versa.
Use your middle initial, but do this only if you’re prepared to use your middle initial in every profile and domain you use as well.
Add the word résumé to the domain, as in www.joshuawaldmanresume.com.
