[ Strategy ]

Domain Name Keyword Research for Founders

How to generate hundreds of viable domain candidates from a short keyword list — before you check a single one.

· · 7 min read

Domain Name Keyword Research for Founders

Most founders start domain hunting the wrong way: they think of one name, search it, find it taken, think of another, repeat. This is slow, demoralising, and misses most of the available space.

The right approach is to generate first and check second — in bulk.

Step 1: Define Your Semantic Field

List words that describe what your product does, who it's for, and how it makes people feel. Aim for 20–30 words across three categories:

Function words (what it does): track, build, launch, automate, ship, sync, manage, analyse, monitor

Domain words (what space you're in): team, workflow, data, content, brand, code, deploy, signal

Quality words (how it feels): fast, clear, sharp, solid, simple, lean, direct, smart

Don't filter at this stage. Volume is the point.

Step 2: Build a Combination Matrix

Pair function × domain, function × quality, or quality × domain. A 10×10 matrix gives 100 combinations:

  • launchteam, buildworkflow, shipbrand
  • trackfast, analysedata, monitorsignal
  • cleardeploy, sharpcode, leanteam

Many will sound awkward. That's fine — you're looking for the 10–15 that sound natural when said aloud.

Step 3: Add Structural Variants

For each promising stem, add variants:

  • Prefix: get-, use-, my-, try- (e.g. gettrackfast → too long; getleanteam → possible)
  • Suffix: -ly, -io, -hq, -app, -base, -hub
  • Truncation: drop a vowel or final letter (analysr, launchr — dated but occasionally available)

This typically expands 15 good stems to 50–80 candidates.

Step 4: Batch Check Everything

Paste all 80 stems into BatchDomain, select your target TLDs (.com, .io, .ai, .dev), run the check. You'll have 320 results in under a minute.

Export the CSV, filter available = true, sort by character length ascending. The shortest available names in that filtered list are your best candidates.

Step 5: The Shortlist Test

Take your top 10 available names and apply these filters:

Test Pass Condition
Spell-aloud test 3/3 people spell it correctly on first try
Google test No established brand or trademark in the first page
Social handle test At least one major platform handle is free
Wayback test Domain has no prior spam/adult content history
Trademark search No live marks on USPTO TESS or EUIPO

Any name that passes all five is a strong candidate. Buy it before you talk yourself out of it.

Common Mistakes

Waiting for perfect — there is no perfect domain. If a name clears the five tests, it is good enough. Ship.

Over-optimising for .com — if your target audience is technical, .io or .dev carries equal trust. Don't let .com availability block you.

Ignoring two-word .ai names — the single-word .ai market is mostly locked up. But [adjective][noun].ai combinations at 12–16 characters still have significant available inventory.