Ask HN: Is changing domain every year a terrible idea?

1 point·michaelsalim··6 comments

I just had a wild idea: What if I get a domain that's specific to that year. For example: myawesomedomain2022.com

And every year, it'll change. Eg: myawesomedomain2023.com for next year. The old domain would all redirect to the newest one.

This sounds cool to me but what are the downsides? There's obviously the cost factor. And I imagine it wouldn't be the best for SEO? Are there other downsides?

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Your customers won't remember your URL, you have to start from zero with google when it comes to SEO annually, you end up with a steadily increasing number of domains you have to own in order to redirect to your current one, you need to purchase future domains so I don't buy next year's and steal it from you and make it redirect to meatspin or imitate your site and steal information.

Sounds like a big hassle for small novelty.

This is just my opinion, but there are probably studies that agree, the URL doesn't look "attractive" with numerals in it. Then again, several years ago they said "never use a hyphen in your URL" and now they're not uncommon.

Of course there are well-established URLs, e.g. 9to5linux.com, that can get away with it but given a site that I didn't already know about with numerals in it, I wouldn't click the link, personally. But like I said, that's just me. Perhaps your site would be in the Top 20 most visited in the world for all I know.

Seems like a lot of work that could be better spent creating awesome content.

Are you going to pick the future domains now to prevent squatters?

Interested in what you see as the advantages of this approach?

To be honest, I just think it'd be neat/cool!

Give it a go then!

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