Many domain investors are familiar with the
For example, it can be a useful indicator of how much use, at least as measured by web pages, for that extension.
But the
How Well Used Is That Extension?
There are various ways to measure ‘real world’ use of an extension. One is a simple count of how many Google page results that use the extension. For example, a Google search on
The plot below compares number of results using site:.TLD search for the main generic country code extensions. It is not surprising that .co was highest, but I had not expected that .me, .tv and .cc all somewhat outpaced .io in site: results, even though .io has significantly more aftermarket sales volume.
Keep in mind that this is a simplified way to approach web use. The specific number will depend on the day you search, and the region you search from, I believe. Also, it may be true that modern design websites tend to generate fewer results, with more content on each.
It is a good idea to manually go through the first few pages of results to get a feel for authenticity. For example, .vc does not have a large number compared to the others, but the sites that come up all appear to be authentic. Also, I am sure that .ai is growing rapidly, so will have many more results in just months from now.
I also used the site: command to look at the ten most registered new extensions. The results are plotted below.
The number of results for .club was surprising, easily top among this group. That may have to do with the social use of the extension, tending to result in more results.
After .club, it was not surprising that .xyz, .online and .app took the next three spots.
There may be other new gTLDs that would place higher, as I only checked the top 10 extensions by registration. You can readily check any extension of interest to you.
To put the above values in perspective, the site: search yields 24.96 billion results for .com, 4.17 billion for .net and 9.26 billion for .org. Even .info, at 779 million site: results, outpaced most country code and all new extensions.
How Popular Is That Name On Facebook?
If you invest in first or last name domains, it is useful to have a measure of popularity of different names. While there are websites that do just that, another indicator is how often a name appears on a Facebook page.
You can readily use the search command
You can do similar site searches with LinkedIn, but it seems to me that the internal LinkedIn search by company, people, etc. is more useful.
Search On NamePros
NamePros has its own advanced search, but sometimes it is helpful to use Google search instead. For example, if you wanted to find all posts at NamePros that mentioned MLS, you could use the following Google search
You can restrict your search to some sections of NamePros. Let’s say I recall an article in the NamePros Blog from a few years ago about the sale of hippo, and want to find the article. If I put the word in quotation marks, search will include only pages with that exact word, and if I use the site: command including blog, it will restrict search to the NamePros Blog section of the site. That is, search using
Search ICANN
ICANN regulations and procedures are important to us all, but sometimes it can be hard to find a specific document, unless you are familiar with the sections and organization of the site. You may find Google search with the site: directive helpful. For example, if searching for information on registry agreements, use a Google search with
Search Inventory At Brandable Marketplaces
If you are considering submitting names to BrandBucket, it is helpful to see what they currently have in similar names, and how they are priced. While BrandBucket have a great search facility, you might find it helpful to use Google site: search instead.
Let’s say I am interested in names with the term ‘purple’. I would search using
Google search by default is intentional, so in addition to names that include the word ‘purple’, the search also returns names involving similar colours, like mauve or violet, and some other names that are less clearly related to purple. You can restrict your search to only names that include the specific term purple by using quotation marks in the search
You can do similar searches at SquadHelp and BrandPa.
Find Thematic Results At SquadHelp
When I was doing a site: search on a few terms at SquadHelp, the search yielded thematic lists of names within a certain niche. For example, I tried the search
Find Information At A Registrar Site
The site command can sometimes be more useful than website search to find specific information at a registrar. For example, let’s say I want to learn more about the discount club at GoDaddy, a search using
This type of search can be helpful if searching for specific provisions in the terms of service at a registrar.
Search Your SquadHelp White Label Site
Standard listings at SquadHelp can be placed at a white label site that operates on your own domain name. It is a simple and free way to create your own domain marketplace. With SquadHelp white label sites you use a redirection DNS record at the registrar to make it work.
Given the redirection, I was not sure if the site: command would work, but it does. This is an easy way to search for all domain names you have related to some topic. It searches both the names and the descriptions, and seemed effective in my testing.
If you have a white label site, use the search command
This could be an easy way to generate topical links for your portfolio. You may prefer to simply use the links SquadHelp white label sites have on the left side, however.
Search At Big Sellers
In many ways, our main competition as domain sellers comes from the big sellers, HugeDomains, NameFind, BuyDomains, NameMarket and a few others. As a domain investor, it is helpful to know how many similar names the big sellers have, and how they are priced.
While to varying degrees the big sellers have strong search on their sites, it can sometimes be useful to do a search using the site: command. For example, if interested in names related to term landscape for sale at HugeDomains, use the search
You can use a similar approach to search inventory at DomainMarket, but at BuyDomains it did not seem to produce a comprehensive set of results.
I tried the site: command with Afternic, and it did list some domain names, but clearly not all that were on Afternic. The same was true for Sedo. So it does not seem a way to comprehensively search at these marketplaces, unfortunately.
If want a refresher on how to optimize your searches with or without the site: parameter, Ahrefs published a useful summary of all the Google search operators.
Please share in comments other ways you use the site: operator in your domain investing activities.
site:TLD Google search command. This allows you to restrict search results to either an individual website or to a certain extension.For example, it can be a useful indicator of how much use, at least as measured by web pages, for that extension.
But the
site: command can do much more than that, since it allows you to specify any website as the target, and use any Google commands to the left in the search, such as quotation marks if looking for occurrence of a specific term or phrase. Here are some possibilities.How Well Used Is That Extension?
There are various ways to measure ‘real world’ use of an extension. One is a simple count of how many Google page results that use the extension. For example, a Google search on
site:.io yielded 324 million results.The plot below compares number of results using site:.TLD search for the main generic country code extensions. It is not surprising that .co was highest, but I had not expected that .me, .tv and .cc all somewhat outpaced .io in site: results, even though .io has significantly more aftermarket sales volume.
Keep in mind that this is a simplified way to approach web use. The specific number will depend on the day you search, and the region you search from, I believe. Also, it may be true that modern design websites tend to generate fewer results, with more content on each.
It is a good idea to manually go through the first few pages of results to get a feel for authenticity. For example, .vc does not have a large number compared to the others, but the sites that come up all appear to be authentic. Also, I am sure that .ai is growing rapidly, so will have many more results in just months from now.
I also used the site: command to look at the ten most registered new extensions. The results are plotted below.
The number of results for .club was surprising, easily top among this group. That may have to do with the social use of the extension, tending to result in more results.
After .club, it was not surprising that .xyz, .online and .app took the next three spots.
There may be other new gTLDs that would place higher, as I only checked the top 10 extensions by registration. You can readily check any extension of interest to you.
To put the above values in perspective, the site: search yields 24.96 billion results for .com, 4.17 billion for .net and 9.26 billion for .org. Even .info, at 779 million site: results, outpaced most country code and all new extensions.
How Popular Is That Name On Facebook?
If you invest in first or last name domains, it is useful to have a measure of popularity of different names. While there are websites that do just that, another indicator is how often a name appears on a Facebook page.
You can readily use the search command
Smith site:facebook.com. At the top of search results will be the number of results. For example ‘Smith’ showed 92.9 million results, while ‘Hawkes’ was much less popular at just 2.1 million results. Note that the Facebook results will include both company and people listings, along with a few other types.You can do similar site searches with LinkedIn, but it seems to me that the internal LinkedIn search by company, people, etc. is more useful.
Search On NamePros
NamePros has its own advanced search, but sometimes it is helpful to use Google search instead. For example, if you wanted to find all posts at NamePros that mentioned MLS, you could use the following Google search
MLS site:namepros.com.You can restrict your search to some sections of NamePros. Let’s say I recall an article in the NamePros Blog from a few years ago about the sale of hippo, and want to find the article. If I put the word in quotation marks, search will include only pages with that exact word, and if I use the site: command including blog, it will restrict search to the NamePros Blog section of the site. That is, search using
"hippo" site:namepros.com/blog/. It came up with the article I was seeking, as well as a few other posts that mentioned the sale.Search ICANN
ICANN regulations and procedures are important to us all, but sometimes it can be hard to find a specific document, unless you are familiar with the sections and organization of the site. You may find Google search with the site: directive helpful. For example, if searching for information on registry agreements, use a Google search with
registry agreement site:ICANN.org.Search Inventory At Brandable Marketplaces
If you are considering submitting names to BrandBucket, it is helpful to see what they currently have in similar names, and how they are priced. While BrandBucket have a great search facility, you might find it helpful to use Google site: search instead.
Let’s say I am interested in names with the term ‘purple’. I would search using
purple site:BrandBucket.com. Google All results option will produce a list, so you can browse the name, description and price. However, the Image tab in Google search results will present the names with their logos in an attractive visual matrix format.Google search by default is intentional, so in addition to names that include the word ‘purple’, the search also returns names involving similar colours, like mauve or violet, and some other names that are less clearly related to purple. You can restrict your search to only names that include the specific term purple by using quotation marks in the search
"purple" site:BrandBucket.com.You can do similar searches at SquadHelp and BrandPa.
Find Thematic Results At SquadHelp
When I was doing a site: search on a few terms at SquadHelp, the search yielded thematic lists of names within a certain niche. For example, I tried the search
biotech site:SquadHelp.com. It did yield domain names including the term, but at the top of the search It suggested the page Biotech Domain Names For Sale. You can from that search for just names related to a series of keywords such as bio, biology, bionic, genetic, biotech, etc. From that box you can enter multiple words and do a search, say DNA sequence. As a seller on SquadHelp, it is important to use the right keywords to appear on appropriate listings.Find Information At A Registrar Site
The site command can sometimes be more useful than website search to find specific information at a registrar. For example, let’s say I want to learn more about the discount club at GoDaddy, a search using
discount club site:GoDaddy.com will quickly find the links.This type of search can be helpful if searching for specific provisions in the terms of service at a registrar.
Search Your SquadHelp White Label Site
Standard listings at SquadHelp can be placed at a white label site that operates on your own domain name. It is a simple and free way to create your own domain marketplace. With SquadHelp white label sites you use a redirection DNS record at the registrar to make it work.
Given the redirection, I was not sure if the site: command would work, but it does. This is an easy way to search for all domain names you have related to some topic. It searches both the names and the descriptions, and seemed effective in my testing.
If you have a white label site, use the search command
term site:example.com where term is replaced with your search term, and example.com is the domain name of your white label site.This could be an easy way to generate topical links for your portfolio. You may prefer to simply use the links SquadHelp white label sites have on the left side, however.
Search At Big Sellers
In many ways, our main competition as domain sellers comes from the big sellers, HugeDomains, NameFind, BuyDomains, NameMarket and a few others. As a domain investor, it is helpful to know how many similar names the big sellers have, and how they are priced.
While to varying degrees the big sellers have strong search on their sites, it can sometimes be useful to do a search using the site: command. For example, if interested in names related to term landscape for sale at HugeDomains, use the search
landscape site:HugeDomains.comYou can use a similar approach to search inventory at DomainMarket, but at BuyDomains it did not seem to produce a comprehensive set of results.
I tried the site: command with Afternic, and it did list some domain names, but clearly not all that were on Afternic. The same was true for Sedo. So it does not seem a way to comprehensively search at these marketplaces, unfortunately.
If want a refresher on how to optimize your searches with or without the site: parameter, Ahrefs published a useful summary of all the Google search operators.
Please share in comments other ways you use the site: operator in your domain investing activities.
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