Changing domain = Increase CTR + Trust – anyone have experience to share?

I've struggled for 5 years with a particular domain. I really like the name. It's short and brandable. But, I've struggled with it since 2020. I've thought I've had it figured out each month, only to find something else I think is holding it back.

It's now 2025 and I'm finally realizing, maybe it is the domain. It just doesn't incite click. Niche = Personal finance comparison. Name = Something violently offtopic. Think "Expendit" and you compare financial services.

If you Google, you get a bunch of results like LendingTree, MoneySavingsExpert, Moneyo or whatever and then you reach Expendit. Sure, the name is catchy, but maybe I'm losing out on CTR? The name doesn't convey trust or give away what the site has to offer. I've tried relying on content, SEO, meta titles and so forth for the clicks, but maybe the domain name really has a big impact?

The website currently has a CTR of 0,6%. It used to be at 1,3% when the ranks were higher. So that has me doubt this. I also have websites with lower CTR that rank higher.

Question: Does anyone know of any examples where affiliates faced similar issues and fixed them with domain changes?

Edit: For context, the website ranks very well on low competition keywords and barely ranks for high competition keywords. I'm talking not even on position 200 for some keywords, despite it being one of the best websites in the country for its niche and a DA of 60.

use other domain for now

It would require a complete change that I would rather not do unless I know for sure it is the domain. If I can, I would rather save it with this domain, but I just don't know.

Yeah, the name sounds corporate, and could irritate users landing on an affiliate site.

There are ton of weird sound domain names that are doing well organically.

If you are not even ranking top 100 then good chance your website have more fundamental issues.

Peter Ngo said:

There are ton of weird sound domain names that are doing well organically.

If you are not even ranking top 100 then good chance your website have more fundamental issues.

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Yeah, this is what’s so frustrating. My competitors have names like ”SeatedUpright” which has absolutely nothing to do with comparing financial services and yet they are ranking many times better than me. My website is on the cutting edge for UX — I’m inspired by the best in the world and I implement things well. For example, whereas they are affiliate websites, mine offers tools to customize and preview products. My competitors often copy my ideas. Yet my website doesn’t rank.

The frustrating part is the rank decline correlates with the difficulty of the keyword, despite the website being very good. I don’t understand what metric can cause this.