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analysis Data Analytics from SquadHelp for Brandable Domain Names

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Darpan Munjal of SquadHelp has been sharing great data insights on brandable domain names. I reached out to him for permission to summarize the data, and to get additional information.

As Darpan wrote in 2021,
Data and analytics can play a huge role in maximizing the sell-through rates for domains.
So let’s have a look at a selection of data from SquadHelp. Keep in mind that these refer to brandable names.

Power Words

Great brands often contain power words. Here are sell-through rates (STR) for a selection of power words based on more than 100,000 premium domain name listings at SquadHelp.
Image01-PowerWords.png

While the differences between many of these are slight, possibly not statistically significant, the set does offer ideas for those seeking to broaden and refine the lists they use in searching expiring and expired names.

I wondered whether they started with a set of word choices, and Darpan clarified the process:
We analyzed the entire pool of keywords which had a minimum number of sales in order to ensure that the data we are looking at is not influenced by too much noise. We then picked the most popular terms or words which generated the highest level of sales, and included the top 15-25 in our analysis. So in summary, the data in these charts should represent the most popular words for their respective categories.

Sell-Through Rates for Different TLDs

While the majority of SquadHelp premium names are .com, SquadHelp do offer premium domains in a variety of TLDs. Somewhat surprisingly .io has a higher STR than .com, and .co is almost the same as .com.
Image02-TLD.png

I wondered if the results might be explained by differences in selection criterion for the premium marketplace for different TLDs, so I asked Darpan about that.
We typically only accept one-word .io names or some very strong two-word .io names. As a result, the total pool of listed domains in .io extension is much smaller than .com. Similarly, the number of sales as an absolute number is much smaller in comparison to .com. However, given the more stringent acceptance criteria, the STR for .io names is much higher than what we see in .com. In general, though, we are seeing a significant increase in interest for strong one-word tech-focused .io domains.

SquadHelp accept some .xyz domain names for their premium marketplace, and I wondered if there was sufficient sales to conclude anything about that TLD.
The pool of data available for .xyz names is much smaller, which is why it was not included in STR calculation. We did see a significant increase in demand for one-word .xyz domains in the web3 and crypto space, but the demand is a bit lower than before, given the recent uncertainty in the crypto and NFT space.

Is .IO Just For Tech?

There is a widespread view that .io is just for technology-related businesses. While there is no doubt that the early traction in .io was predominantly in tech, how true is that currently? SquadHelp looked at the question, finding that while 60% of .io sales were for crypto, gaming or web3, there were sales in many other sectors as shown.

Image03-IOsectors.png

Popular Beginnings

If we look at words that are effective first words in two-word names, we have the results shown below, based on 50,000 premium names added to SquadHelp prior to June 2000.
Image04-PopularBeginnings.png


While some of these results are expected, I was surprised to see terms like bold and bright were not more popular.

Terms Tech Startups Like

SquadHelp looked at STR for different terms just among those who selected the category technology in their name search. The results indicate that blue was the top term for tech startups, with a much higher STR than terms like labs or smart.
Image05-TechStartupTerms.png

Better Left or Right?

Certain words, such as colors, meta and you are far more effective as the starting term, while other terms, such as health, money, verse and legal, are favoured as the second term.

Image06-LeftRight.png

Colors

Colors are frequently used in brands. The NamePros Blog considered colors as brands earlier this year. Part 1 looked at NameBio-recorded sales, listings at BrandBucket, and how frequently colors appear in company names, for some of the more important colours. In Part 2 I looked at the psychological aspects of colors as brands, and data for some additional colors suggested by NamePros readers.
Image07-Colors.png

It turns out we missed the color with the highest STR, at least as measured by SquadHelp STR, aqua. Note also that coral did very well in the rankings.

Animals

SquadHelp also looked at brand names that include an animal term. There were definite surprises, with goat, frog and fish leading in STR.
Image08-Animals.png


4-Letter Structure

Those who invest in 4-letter domain names prefer certain patterns of vowels (V) and consonants (C). It turns out that the STR varies a lot, with CVCV, VVCV and CVVV favoured.
Image09-CVPatterns.png

Predicting Success – Number of TLDs

Domain investors often use number of TLDs as a screening mechanism when acquiring names. It turns out SquadHelp data supports this as a useful metric, with a name taken in 5 or more TLDs about 3x as likely to sell, compared to one taken only in a single TLD.
Image10-TLDsTaken.png

How STR Was Calculated

The results presented above all used sell-through rates. It is important to keep in mind that not all data was from same period, so one must be cautious in conclusions based on absolute values. As Darpan explained,
The STR for the analysis uses a simplified calculation (total domains sold in a given period divided by the total domains listed over the same period). Since the data was computed and shared at different times over the last one to two years, I do not recommend using the absolute STR values. However, it can be used as a relative metric to compare the performance of different keywords or search terms.

How Buyers Search

As domain investors, we expect that potential buyers will type the name into an URL, and arrive at our lander. Research at SquadHelp indicated in many cases that is not the case.
Based upon our recent study, when a buyer is interested in a name, they are four times more likely to Google the term, rather than to type in a browser URL box to see what comes up. Therefore, an SEO optimized lander which ranks in Google search results should be an important priority to maximize exposure.

An Analytical Tool

For those with SquadHelp accounts, the Deep Keyword Analytics tool is helpful for evaluating potential acquisitions and wondering if they would be good candidates for the SquadHelp premium marketplace.

The tool is fast and easy to use: simply type in a root word, and it will give you sell-through rates for names based on that term, and also a competition analysis showing how many current listings with that keyword are on the site.

Final Thoughts

There are many other insights in the SquadHelp data. For example, names that get 5 or more loves in a naming contest, but are not chosen, have a much higher sell-through rate, more than 4x when compared to names that received no loves in a naming contest.

Domain investors often wonder whether number inquiries is a meaningful indicator for a sale. After one takes out visits from bots and other sellers, SquadHelp research indicated that:
  • For domains that received 2+ visits from the same user, there was a 45% increase in STR.
  • For domains that received 3+ visits from the same user, the increase in STR was 68%.
  • For domains with 4+ visits from the same user, the STR more than doubled, a 108% increase.
Summarizing, domain names where the same user visits repeatedly are much more likely to sell.

It turns out a scheduled price increase, that shows on the listing for a period prior to the actual increase, is more effective than a discount in converting lookers into buyers. Since you can use either with SquadHelp White Label sites, this is a useful insight.

While some of the results shown here may be unique to SquadHelp, since each brandable marketplace has a certain clientele, the data insights offer much to think about as investors aim to increase the performance of their portfolios.

The following advice and caution from Darpan is important to keep in mind.
It is important to note that while STR data can provide insights into which words or terms are more popular, ultimately the word synergy and the overall brandability of domain name is extremely important in determining the likelihood of a sale. For example, in case of two word domains, the second word must have a strong synergy with the first word to make it a powerful brand name. Combining two random words just because they have a high sell-through rate individually does not necessarily make the combined word attractive to buyers.

Data can help us become more successful as domain sellers. If you want to see future data insights, follow Darpan Munjal on Twitter.

One More Thing – Negotiation Checklist

Presentations at Apple Events by the late Steve Jobs were famous for the “one more thing” reveals near the end of the presentation. For the one more thing, I wanted to mention Darpan Munjal’s Negotiation Checklist. That article offers advice on everything from should you accept the first offer to deadlines, price drops, and much more.



Sincere thanks to Darpan Munjal and SquadHelp for sharing the data and insights with NamePros readers.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Very interesting details, thanks for sharing that!

I would have thought "fox" would be closer to the top for animals, and that red would be higher than aqua. Helps to see the factual side of what sells for premium names.
 
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I would have thought "fox" would be closer to the top for animals, and that red would be higher than aqua. Helps to see the factual side of what sells for premium names.
A number of things surprised me. Had expected blue or green to win color. And yes, fox or panda or a few other animals. These are STR from one marketplace and clearly the words that go with the term matter a lot, but data helps even when it surprises us.

I wasn't surprised that .io had a better STR, given how selective they are accepting non-com, and also other analysis I did showed .io had a better STR in general.

Bob
 
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Thanks @Bob Hawkes

I am really surprised how the .CO STR is alomst like the .COM !!

I had no luck with .co and i still dislike it whatever STR is .

1664398681166.png



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Thank you @Bob Hawkes
Very interesting details, thanks for sharing that!
 
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Thanks for the article @Bob Hawkes (y)

I was able to add some words to my prefix and suffix lists again.

Code:
$ wc -l prefix.txt suffix.txt
     774 prefix.txt
    1081 suffix.txt
 
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Wish we had more articles like this. Very good job, thank you.

I'm curious about one word in the first screenshot though: Avrio. Why is that considered a power word?
 
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I'm curious about one word in the first screenshot though: Avrio. Why is that considered a power word?
Interesting observation. This link gives names currently listed with Avrio at SquadHelp Premium. There are a number, and a number more must have sold for the STR. I have no idea how the seller concluded it would be a good term to try.

https://www.squadhelp.com/premium-domains-for-sale/all/q/Avrio

Perhaps those with more expertise than me can explain it more completely.

Bob
 
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I love the fact that SH shares details and data unlike its competitors. That being said, each market tends to have different taste and different buyer taste so this is a sampling not the whole brandable market landscape .

BrandBucket, Brandpa, Rooted would have different results as would non brandable market sold brandables like DAN, Afternic, GoDaddy.

These results are gold if you only sell brandables at SH and are trying to cater to their buyers many of which are fellow domainers.
 
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This Data Directly coming from the Squadhelp platform is a huge thing. It gives a practical insight into what sells at high and low in Brandable. If updated every six months it could be of immense reference guide for domainers.
Thank you Bob and Thanks a lot Darpan Munjal.
Also Thank you for the Negotiation Checklist.
 
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Thank you very much!

Very valuable information and for free :xf.grin:
 
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It's incredibly easy to misinterpret this data. While it gives you a rough idea of what's popular, it doesn't paint a full picture.

For example:


STR statistics

Without the number of sales and number of domains listed, the STR metrics are misleading. Is 20% STR better than 10% STR? We don't know. 1/5 names sold could be 20% STR. Meanwhile 10% STR could be 100/1000 names sold.

Tip: use NameBio.com or similar sites, to seek out the actual number of sales and calculate the STR when you have all the numbers. Just keep in mind that even NB doesn't give you all the data.

Not the full picture

Additionally, SH has a weird way of counting things and leaving things out for us. Go to completed sales in SH. Try so search any of these terms. You'll find very different results.

Tip: Take the STR given here with a grain of salt. Check the actual names sold for the keywords in their completed sales.

One-hit wonder

Some terms here may have been popular for a very short period of time, but that doesn't reflect the market when an average name takes an average of 2 years to sell. Tech words especially, change very quickly. This data doesn't reflect future trends, which is what you need to be targeting if you are just adding the names now.

Tip: Consider that an average name takes 2 years to sell. Look for future trends that will be popular 2 years from now.

Extension STR

For the extension data, once again it's very easy to misinterpret. Take .co or .io sales. They seem to have a phenomenal STR. But consider the fact that the only names to be approved and sold on the platform are typically SUPER PREMIUM one word names. On the other hand, .coms include tens of thousands of questionable names.

Tip: Currently this is not a useful metric as it doesn't compare the same quality names. Stick to one word premium names for extensions other than .com.

2+ views from the same buyer

There is validity to this, however, the issue lies in determining whether it's an actual buyer. I have 30+ names with 2+ buyer views. Many of these names were actually looked up by myself or another domainer. The stats are not differentiating between what's a valuable view and what isn't just yet.

Tip: Take this stat with a grain of salt. If you are consistently getting 2+ views from multiple buyers, that may be a great indicator of interest.

Number of TLDs

Number of TLDs taken is a good metric. But not always. More important than the number of TLDs is how many of those are developed by different companies. More often than not, you will see all the cheap extensions taken. Sometimes but the same company or person, because they were offered them at a steep discount when checking out. If you simply glance at the number you don't get any actual insight.

Tip: Don't look at number of TLDs taken. Look at the number of developed extensions. Discard any extensions that have low renewal fees.

Conclusion

Data is useful when interpreted correctly. The way it's simplified and presented here may mislead most of you into thinking that BlueGoat.io is the next big name. As always, use data as something additional to lean on. But make sure to dissect each bit that's presented to you and make sure that it's truly relevant and accurate. The best indicator of whether a name will sell will always be if the name is good and makes sense.
 
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name taken in 5 or more TLDs about 3x as likely to sell, compared to one taken only in a single TLD

Does it means
Buyers don't care about getting other TLDs for same name?

Buyers look for one extension only?
 
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Does it means
Buyers don't care about getting other TLDs for same name?

Buyers look for one extension only?
No I think it mainly means that if a specific combination has been recognized as valuable by multiple domain investors or users (developed sites), other things equal, it is an indicator of value.

Sometimes investors register many TLDs in a term they really like, and it may not be very meaningful in this case.

When you have a better TLD, like a .com, that is developed in multiple 'lesser' TLDs, it may mean an upgrade sale (assuming no TM issue).

Thanks for question,

Bob
 
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Thanks for many valuable reflections, @william

I don't agree entirely with your views on STR being not the relevant metric, however. I think STR is the most relevant measure from the point of view of a domainer. I really want to know my odds of selling a certain type of name. I don't so much care if 1000 donkey names sold, if there were 1 million donkey names listed, my odds are better if 10 pooka names sold from only 20 listed (no these are not real numbers:xf.laugh:).

In your comment re visits, I think you overlooked that the article says Darpan confirmed that visits from both the seller and other sellers were taken out in these statistics.
After one takes out visits from bots and other sellers, SquadHelp research
The stats are not differentiating between what's a valuable view and what isn't just yet.

I agree entirely with your comment about some trends are short term, and that you must not oversimplify the meaning of the statistics.

There is no doubt a very different acceptance criterion for different TLDs, which makes interpretation difficult. I highlighted that point in the article, and Darpan confirmed in the quotation included in the article.

Re developed TLDs the most important metric, I agree. When evaluating a name one with 3 meaningfully developed TLDs means more to me than 30 undeveloped registered ones. By the way SH have started informing sellers of developed TLDs in their terms.

Your point is good that the statistics change with time and searching recent sales and comparing (although one needs to also search what listings were during period in those terms, but one can only search current listings). Darpan does caution in one of the quotes that these analyses were done at different times over the past year and a half or so, so important not to compare absolute numbers from one graph to another.

Thanks again for a detailed and clearly expressed critique. I agree 100% with your central point that it is easy to over simplify from the data and make conclusions which are not solidly based.

I like your BlueGoat example (but the way currently in pending delete I see!:xf.cool:) as one must not just blindly pick and combine words that rate well. I like a lot what Darpan had to say on this, so wanted to highlight that part of the article:
It is important to note that while STR data can provide insights into which words or terms are more popular, ultimately the word synergy and the overall brandability of domain name is extremely important in determining the likelihood of a sale. For example, in case of two word domains, the second word must have a strong synergy with the first word to make it a powerful brand name. Combining two random words just because they have a high sell-through rate individually does not necessarily make the combined word attractive to buyers.

All data have limitations. But conclusions in the presence of data is usually better than conclusions made in the absence of any data. I appreciate SH sharing so much analytics, and would love to have corresponding data from some of the other marketplaces.

Thanks again for one for sharing the valuable points, which helps add balance.

Bob
 
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Thanks for your comments @karmaco.
That being said, each market tends to have different taste and different buyer taste so this is a sampling not the whole brandable market landscape .
Agree. The article does briefly mention this, but glad you highlighted it.
love the fact that SH shares details and data unlike its competitors.
Me too. I would be happy to similarly collate analytical data from other brandable or general purpose marketplaces if they share sufficient detailed data.
These results are gold if you only sell brandables at SH and are trying to cater to their buyers many of which are fellow domainers.
I wouldn't go quite this far, but agree most relevant to SH. By the way, I am pretty sure that sales on their wholesale marketplace are not included in this data. While a few may acquire names from their premium, as I know anecdotally of the add domainer acquisition from HD and BD, I am pretty sure this data is dominated by retail sales to end users.

Bob
 
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Thanks for many valuable reflections, @william

I don't agree entirely with your views on STR being not the relevant metric, however. I think STR is the most relevant measure from the point of view of a domainer. I really want to know my odds of selling a certain type of name. I don't so much care if 1000 donkey names sold, if there were 1 million donkey names listed, my odds are better if 10 pooka names sold from only 20 listed (no these are not real numbers:xf.laugh:).

In your comment re visits, I think you overlooked that the article says Darpan confirmed that visits from both the seller and other sellers were taken out in these statistics.



I agree entirely with your comment about some trends are short term, and that you must not oversimplify the meaning of the statistics.

There is no doubt a very different acceptance criterion for different TLDs, which makes interpretation difficult. I highlighted that point in the article, and Darpan confirmed in the quotation included in the article.

Re developed TLDs the most important metric, I agree. When evaluating a name one with 3 meaningfully developed TLDs means more to me than 30 undeveloped registered ones. By the way SH have started informing sellers of developed TLDs in their terms.

Your point is good that the statistics change with time and searching recent sales and comparing (although one needs to also search what listings were during period in those terms, but one can only search current listings). Darpan does caution in one of the quotes that these analyses were done at different times over the past year and a half or so, so important not to compare absolute numbers from one graph to another.

Thanks again for a detailed and clearly expressed critique. I agree 100% with your central point that it is easy to over simplify from the data and make conclusions which are not solidly based.

I like your BlueGoat example (but the way currently in pending delete I see!:xf.cool:) as one must not just blindly pick and combine words that rate well. I like a lot what Darpan had to say on this, so wanted to highlight that part of the article:


All data have limitations. But conclusions in the presence of data is usually better than conclusions made in the absence of any data. I appreciate SH sharing so much analytics, and would love to have corresponding data from some of the other marketplaces.

Thanks again for one for sharing the valuable points, which helps add balance.

Bob
Thanks for sharing the data, Bob. As always it's insightful and typically, I wouldn't even bring up the other side of statistics. But I think it's important for beginners to not get hung up on them as if it was their bible. I definitely don't want to say that STR % is not relevant, my point is that it's relative. A higher STR % doesn't imply a keyword is better or worse. We have to consider that not all sales occur on SH, that one buyer could have bought up a keyword, that a small number of sales could result in a high STR, and other things.

And I definitely agree that with "conclusions in the presence of data is usually better than conclusions made in the absence of any data". We should use as many tools as possible. But it's important to get a balanced overview and most importantly to trust your gut.
 
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Darpan continues to share data insights. For example today he shared average price for different sectors, based on SquadHelp sales. The average price in crypt was about $6k compared to just under $2k in supplements/vitamins.
"Based upon our data, industries such as Tech, Crypto and Medical achieved much higher average selling prices in comparison to Beauty, Cannabis, Pets and Vitamins"
 
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Darpan continues to share data insights. For example today he shared average price for different sectors, based on SquadHelp sales. The average price in crypt was about $6k compared to just under $2k in supplements/vitamins.
Hey Bob, Can you Suggest Best Sites to find Keywords of any Industry which use mostly in Domain Name?
 
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Wonderful article!
Thank you, many points adopted
 
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No I think it mainly means that if a specific combination has been recognized as valuable by multiple domain investors or users (developed sites), other things equal, it is an indicator of value.

Sometimes investors register many TLDs in a term they really like, and it may not be very meaningful in this case.

Does there exist a tool online that will not only show you the TLDs in use, but "how" they are used. If I see several other TLD's used by end users, then it increases the value of the name for me. But generally, I see other names simply registered or registered and for sale. Even a tool that simply shows the thumbnails for other taken TLD's wold be helpful. If I were a dev, I'd create this tool.
 
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