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How important is a domain name?

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I'm having a radical rethink about domain names and the way end users should use them. Ultimately this affects our profitability, and the value of our investments. I tried 3 searches - " car insurance ", " bank loans", " watering cans ". In all cases the sub-directory of the search result was significant, and the domain name had little relevance. With omni-boxes being used for both direct navigation and search entries, and Google "correcting" spelling and deciding what the surfer should see, rather than what he has asked for, I think it may be worth our while to start to educate surfers in better ways to navigate the web. I can see a time when a name may be irrelevant, and companies will use a numbered directory in a Google cloud for their sites. Especially if this gives them priority in the SERPs.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Try looking at this the other way - how bad is a bad domain?

A bad domain can really hurt you.

People can't remember it, or don't trust it, or don't connect it well with the site content, or confuse it with a similar one, or can't spell it, or just don't like it.
 
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Companies use all kinds of advertising medium to promote their products and services - billboard ads, magazine and newspaper inserts, 15-30 second tv and radio spots, ads before movies, ads plastered along the side of buses or their own leased vehicles, billboard ads pulled through town by rented trucks, ads pulled behind planes when there is a big event below, booths at trade shows or major holiday events, etc. If you are driving along the road you may not even pay attention to a billboard ad. When that tv spot comes on you may flip the channel, go to the restroom or grab a drink from the fridge. I recall one assignment I was on where the division of a company was spending five figures monthly on Google Adwords campaigns and I really questioned whether that ad spend converted into incremental business to the company. Website development and SEO can cost five to six figures depending on the nature of the project. Yet the budget for a domain often ends up being $XX. But when these other mediums promote the business they often will refer to the company's website or social media name. If the name is not memorable, will the customer find it or just forget about it.

I had a company inquire about a .COM domain of mine twice. Initially they were using some weird extension I had never heard - not even a new TLD just some odd CCTLD where the keyword they wanted was available. Later they came back and offered high $XXX and I noticed they were operating on the equivalent .CO of my domain. Their site references the phrase of my domain as well as their app. They mention having done over $100 million in business. Yet they cannot fathom spending $XXXX for a domain. Such is the business world we still face even twenty years after the internet became mainstream.


and if you re patient enough
one day they will
be forced to understand it
sooner or later
depending on doom and inteligence

and cachching....
 
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Google itself has a very different objective: serving answers, info and knowledge to its users of the utmost relevance, context and authority at the point of the search. This includes divining a searcher's true intent across misspellings or contextual cues (e.g. When you search for 'apple' it has to disambiguate if you mean the fruit, or growing the fruit, or the tech company, or its stock price, or its many products for example; and displaying the most likely items you are actually looking for). .

and for the search the OP has performed
the results are based on the quality that is brought by the companies
behind a website
and not by the domain of that company

you (OP) are confusing things
based on googles results

a domain no longer serves well to be better placed in google
for -well- about half a century
 
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But the real question for me is if the bots are taking over how will this affect the human evolution?

just give the bots a bot-net and the humans and human -net
both will be fine ;)
 
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Amazing how the traffic gate is opened as long as your wallet is open. :xf.grin: Google quite putting serp on keyword domains long ago .


all the money of the world won't get you google traffic if
you didn't qualify your website in the eyes of google...
 
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That has never been true. In the beginning you could use IP addresses, and you still can.

I guess the answer was referring to a professional website ..
 
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If a bad domain can hurt or even kill your online business, a good domain is still worth the price.

A easy to remember, relevant name will perform better with consumers. You can make up the difference with marketing but that is an ongoing expense.

What would any of you prefer,

{product}.com - cars.com
{product}sales.com carsales.com, carmax.com,
{adjective}{product}{noun}.com smartcarguide.com ?

Nuff said.
 
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Try looking at this the other way - how bad is a bad domain?
A bad domain can really hurt you.
People can't remember it, or don't trust it, or don't connect it well with the site content, or confuse it with a similar one, or can't spell it, or just don't like it.

Lets take a real life situation. BandQ is a major chain of home improvement superstores.. They own BandQ.com of course, and probably the co.uk as well ( I haven't bothered to check). They also own DIY.com which must be a fairly valuable name, and it is the primary one for their main website. I don't know of one person who uses DIY or even DIY.com if they want to visit their website. They all use BandQ which re-directs, or they will look for "wooden shelves" or whatever the product is. To my mind the DIY name, whilst it is prestigious, it doesn't really provide a good freturn on the capital tied up in the name.

How many supermarkets use a generic name for their websites. Asda uses Asda.com, and that name came from the supermarket chain created by Associated Dairies, and that was before the Internet was around. I know of people who check their shopping on Mysupermarket.com, and choose where to go based of the price, and the clickable link on a product page. The website could be called BertsBetterBangerBarAndBigBasketBargains.com for all the difference the domain name would make in that situation.
 
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DIY = "do it yourself" - can be a popular discussion board where you can learn things doing-it-yourself.........

Take example of:
Fixya.com
Instructables.com

They are popular websites on the internet, and I think they are also earning good money.
 
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http://www.diy.com/corporate/about

No mention of DIY on their info page, it's all about home improvements and garden centres.

Their sales would suffer more if they dropped BandQ.com than if they dropped DIY.com imho. They aren't branded as DIY.
 
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DIY.com which must be a fairly valuable name

"fairly valuable". DIY.com is worth over 7 figures on it's own, probably has 20K+ type-ins per month.


, and it is the primary one for their main website. I don't know of one person who uses DIY or even DIY.com if they want to visit their website. They all use BandQ which re-directs, or they will look for "wooden shelves" or whatever the product is. To my mind the DIY name, whilst it is prestigious, it doesn't really provide a good freturn on the capital tied up in the name.

So much wrong here. You're confusing brand names and premium generics. The first only has value because a company spends $$ to promote. The other has intrinsic value and could be easily converted to cash.

DIY.com may not be used properly but that doesn't diminish it's value as an address.
 
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I don't know of one person who uses DIY or even DIY.com if they want to visit their website. They all use BandQ which re-directs

You're generalizing to suit your opinion. Bandq.com redirects to DIY.com b/c DIY doesn't need any branding and BandQ benefits from the association.
 
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I'm not debating the saleability of a domain name, but what I believe is the diminishing importance of the name. How can a name have 20k+ type-ins per month sent to the site, if Google "interprets" the surfers needs, and throws up links to Homebase instead, or maybe it puts up an interstitial. Don't forget that direct navigation doesn't exist any more, traffic is sent at the discretion of Google. If they think a site is politically incorrect, then they will throw up a search page, and do not let you onto the site. They are doing this already in Chrome.
 
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I'm not debating the saleability of a domain name, but what I believe is the diminishing importance of the name. How can a name have 20k+ type-ins per month

I'd say, worldwide, that is a low estimate. Despite Googles best attempt to turn your address bar into a search input, Direct Navigation isn't dead, converts as well as or better then PPC advertising for less money.
 
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Imagine my name as " Isac ibn batuta crap min timda " . Even if i tell you thousand times this name, you might not remember. But not look at this beautiful one word name " Isac " :xf.smile:
 
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You're generalizing to suit your opinion. Bandq.com redirects to DIY.com b/c DIY doesn't need any branding and BandQ benefits from the association.
DIY is not a brand. BandQ is owned by Kingfisher, and it may be that they want to add other companies to the group, but it would be dangerous to brand them as DIY. Hoover was the dominant company in the manufacture of suction cleaners, and many people refer to a suction cleaner as a "Hoover" even when they buy a Dyson. However we digress.

The primary function of a domain name is to provide a memorable address for a website. If somebody is rerouting your traffic based on page content, then the name starts to become less important, maybe even insignificant. What I am saying is that we should be aware of the danger, and take steps to safeguard our investments and our income.
 
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DIY is not a brand. BandQ is owned by Kingfisher

Yet they choose to use DIY.com.

I see Bandq.com and I don't know what the hell it is. Never heard of them. I see Diy.com and I know EXACTLY what that website is about.

The primary function of a domain name is to provide a memorable address for a website. If somebody is rerouting your traffic based on page content, then the name starts to become less important, maybe even insignificant. What I am saying is that we should be aware of the danger, and take steps to safeguard our investments and our income.

Who is rerouting traffic?
 
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Google will block sites that it determines are undesirable by their standards, it is the next stage after their malware warning interstitial. Recently I've been buying traffic domain names, and I've experienced this action by Google. In fact these toxic names can damage others by association.

Also it looks as if they may be disadvantaging people and sites with an association with DuckDuckGo. I've got this on this machine where Chrome is the primary browser, but I also have Firefox that I use. I may have to purchase a third machine for discussing Internet freedom.
 
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Google will block sites that it determines are undesirable by their standards, it is the next stage after their malware warning interstitial. Recently I've been buying traffic domain names, and I've experienced this action by Google. In fact these toxic names can damage others by association.

Also it looks as if they may be disadvantaging people and sites with an association with DuckDuckGo. I've got this on this machine where Chrome is the primary browser, but I also have Firefox that I use. I may have to purchase a third machine for discussing Internet freedom.

Easy, don't serve malware from your website or allow a parking provider to redirect to such.
 
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Easy, don't serve malware from your website or allow a parking provider to redirect to such.

Did you not understand my post and the implications for the future. political comments against globalists are the new malware. What will happen to food quality if Amazon takes over wholefood suppliers. The same consideration applies to Internet surfing. Try speaking out against the lies pushed by the anti global warming industry.
 
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That's a lot of what ifs.

When my browser redirects my request or blocks access to a website I want to see, I'll use a different browser.

*edit.. wtf that has to do with the value of domain names I have no clue.
 
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To my mind the DIY name, whilst it is prestigious, it doesn't really provide a good freturn on the capital tied up in the name.

How many supermarkets use a generic name for their websites.
...
Obviously there is also demand for good brandable domains, not only generics :)
Not everybody is obsessed with Google, webmasters maybe. But big corporations have a branding strategy that goes well beyond that. Like you say, some brands have been around for decades, even before the Internet came around.

Don't forget that direct navigation doesn't exist any more, traffic is sent at the discretion of Google.
I don't think so, we still have billboards and advertising on TV etc. The aim is that people visit the URLs. Even if they type the name in google they 'should' get the relevant link.

If they think a site is politically incorrect, then they will throw up a search page, and do not let you onto the site. They are doing this already in Chrome.
Example ?
 
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I would think products like Amazon Echo are more of a threat to domain names than manipulated search results.
 
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all the money of the world won't get you google traffic if
you didn't qualify your website in the eyes of google...
I beg to differ. The nicest looking site in the world means nothing if people can not find it. Have you ever set up and ran an adwords campaign? I have several times. Even a few hundred dollars makes your site traffic explode as long as the campaign is running. Business are willing to pay to be on first page search returns. The days of some India hack coding to the top search returns are long gone. Maybe in a niche or category that does not involve much money.
 
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