Atom / Atom.com - Marketplace (formerly Squadhelp)

URL Expo said:

This is how search works at ATOM:

Ii have done searches snd have seen hiw it operates. My point is that if someone enters "candle" on a search. It should show exact matches, then show o

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hamadyesorno said:

Here is Atom's response:

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hamadyesorno said:

Here is Atom's response:

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This brings us back to. It is not easy to do the exact searchs. Has there been any thought on making that easier for buyers to do exact match searchs?

bmugford said:

It doesn't really make sense to me.

As a domain owner, you are basically allowing a party to use your domain without any commitment.

As the party using the domain, there is no end game of ownership.

Because of that, I think there's a higher likelihood that the domain could be used in a damaging way.

I feel like instead of adding more options, Atom should work on making their system less complex and more efficient.

Brad

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I can't wait to see what @jberryhill has to say about domain rentals...

Mlebo said:

My biggest concern is Atom's domain search. It is very difficult to find exact matches and it shouldn't be.

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They do this one purpose to promote their Premium domains using the most spurious of links to tie a search for a word like "Quantum" to domains like BillyBobsLightBulbs.com.

Their search is absolutely nuts and I can't imagine a serious business using it.

Mlebo said:

This brings us back to. It is not easy to do the exact searchs. Has there been any thought on making that easier for buyers to do exact match searchs?

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Obviously not, as the Atom search system is working exactly as they designed it. To fully grasp what this really is, you can't think of it as a "search engine", but instead as a "Atom Premium Domain Promotional System".

You're not searching words or terms or acronyms on Atom, and instead you're being fed a specific and often totally-unrelated selection of Premium domains that Atom wants you to buy.

This is clearly evident from the image posted above:

Embrand said:

@Atom.com It doesn't seem possible to bulk add tags to domains in the domain manager.

Apart from that, transferring a large number of domains to Atom was a smooth process, and my account was instantly upgraded to AtomEdge after my portfolio reached 100 domains.

So far the registrar is looking pretty good - especially with the lower commission and at-cost pricing.

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Thanks for the feedback. We've added the ability to bulk add tags to domains in the domain manager, and you can now remove tags in bulk too.

Mlebo said:

My biggest concern is Atom's domain search. It is very difficult to find exact matches and it shouldn't be. If someone is typing in something, exact matches should show up 1st or atleast be an easy option to find

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URL Expo said:

This is how search works at ATOM:

Show attachment 304060

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Mlebo said:

This brings us back to. It is not easy to do the exact searchs. Has there been any thought on making that easier for buyers to do exact match searchs?

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DomainRecap said:

They do this one purpose to promote their Premium domains using the most spurious of links to tie a search for a word like "Quantum" to domains like BillyBobsLightBulbs.com.

Their search is absolutely nuts and I can't imagine a serious business using it.



Obviously not, as the Atom search system is working exactly as they designed it. To fully grasp what this really is, you can't think of it as a "search engine", but instead as a "Atom Premium Domain Promotional System".

You're not searching words or terms or acronyms on Atom, and instead you're being fed a specific and often totally-unrelated selection of Premium domains that Atom wants you to buy.

This is clearly evident from the image posted above:

Show attachment 304126

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Thanks for all the discussion and feedback regarding search. A few things are worth clarifying:

1 Atom serves two very different types of buyers. Some arrive with an exact domain in mind. However a majority of our buyers are still brainstorming and looking for names around a concept, industry, product, or idea.

A large percentage of our traffic comes from top-of-funnel searches on Google (paid and organic) such as “business name ideas”, “startup name ideas”, “company name generator”, “brandable domains”, “premium domains for sale”, “AI company names”, and thousands of similar keywords. We also bring many buyers from display advertising via Meta, X, LinkedIn, ChatGPT ads etc (typically entrepreneurs who may have an interest in a startup idea). These buyers often don’t have a specific domain in mind yet.

In fact, our sales data shows that more than half of buyers who search for a specific keyword ultimately purchase a domain that does not contain that keyword. For many buyers, the keyword is simply the starting point of the naming journey.

2. For buyers looking for exact matches, we already surface exact-match domains prominently at the top of search results. If someone searches for a specific term or SLD, we show matching domains across Standard, Plus, and Premium listings, as well as across several extensions when available. Those exact-match results appear before broader brandable suggestions. Buyers can then further refine results using filters and our AI-powered search tools.

3. The image being referenced is often misunderstood. It does not show the results we returned. It shows the keyword a buyer searched and the domain they ultimately clicked on to investigate further.
Of course, that domain appeared somewhere in the results, otherwise the buyer couldn’t have clicked it. The interesting observation is that buyers frequently choose to explore domains beyond literal keyword matches. In many cases, they had exact-match options available but were more interested in a different brandable name that captured the concept they were looking for.

That behavior is consistent with what we see in completed transactions as well. Search terms are often a starting point for discovery, not necessarily the exact string buyers end up purchasing.

There will always be buyers who want only literal string matches, and we want to serve those buyers well too. We’re constantly testing and improving search based on real user behavior and marketplace outcomes.

At the end of the day, our goal is to help buyers find a name they want to own. If our testing showed that buyers overwhelmingly preferred only exact string matches, we’d have every incentive to make that the default because it would lead to more successful transactions for buyers, sellers as well as Atom.

love4ever said:

https://twitter.com/x/status/2063276312068792348

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I've actually had great success with Atom's broker team.

For one deal, I told them I'd accept $8000 and they closed for $8500 I think.

Was surprised when it sold.

Edit: Correction, I told them $7000 I just checked my offer history

enterscope said:

I've actually had great success with Atom's broker team.

For one deal, I told them I'd accept $8000 and they closed for $8500 I think.

Was surprised when it sold.

Edit: Correction, I told them $7000 I just checked my offer history

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Maybe they also have an exceptional guy similar to Josh B. at afternic


.

Atom.com said:

In fact, our sales data shows that more than half of buyers who search for a specific keyword ultimately purchase a domain that does not contain that keyword. For many buyers, the keyword is simply the starting point of the naming journey.

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But isn't that just a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Like if I own a fruit stand and when someone asks for bananas, I say we don't have any, but these strawberries are delicious. Slightly more than half of them agree and buy the (higher-margin) strawberries, while the others leave in a huff and buy their bananas from another stand.

By your logic I could then say:

"Our sales data shows that more than half of buyers who come to the store to buy bananas ultimately end up purchasing strawberries. For many buyers, the fruit type is simply the starting point of their journey."

DomainRecap I love your comment about buying Strawberries instead of Bananas.
Good point!

DomainRecap said:

"Our sales data shows that more than half of buyers who come to the store to buy bananas ultimately end up purchasing strawberries. For many buyers, the fruit type is simply the starting point of their journey."

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Me i can imagine/consider it as below .



.

Atom.com said:

2. For buyers looking for exact matches, we already surface exact-match domains prominently at the top of search results. If someone searches for a specific term or SLD, we show matching domains across Standard, Plus, and Premium listings, as well as across several extensions when available. Those exact-match results appear before broader brandable suggestions. Buyers can then further refine results using filters and our AI-powered search tools.

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@Atom.com

There's exact match, and then there's exact match.

I've run numerous tests on two-word plurals by searching the singular version and separating the words.

For example, with BareTones.com, searches for "baretones," "baretone," "bare tone," and "bare tones" all produce wildly different results, ranging from a first-page match to giving up after seven pages.

They should all bring up BareTones.com as the top suggestion.

(Yes, it's my domain.)

DomainRecap said:

But isn't that just a self-fulfilling prophecy?

Like if I own a fruit stand and when someone asks for bananas, I say we don't have any, but these strawberries are delicious. Slightly more than half of them agree and buy the (higher-margin) strawberries, while the others leave in a huff and buy their bananas from another stand.

By your logic I could then say:

"Our sales data shows that more than half of buyers who come to the store to buy bananas ultimately end up purchasing strawberries. For many buyers, the fruit type is simply the starting point of their journey."

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The key point is that the same search query can represent very different buyer intents.

For example, if someone searches for “clothing”, they may be looking for domains that literally contain the word clothing (e.g. MyClothing.com, SmartClothing.com).

Or they may simply be looking for a name for a clothing business, which may not contain the word clothing at all.

A significant portion of Atom buyers are looking for a distinctive brand name rather than a keyword match, which is why our search is designed around discovery and intent, not just literal text matching.

This isn’t a philosophical decision. We’ve A/B tested different search approaches extensively over the years, and discovery-focused search consistently outperforms purely literal string-matching experiences across engagement, inquiries, and completed transactions.

If the data showed that buyers were better served by a purely literal string-matching experience, we’d have every incentive to make that the default. Our goal is to maximize successful transactions, not push a particular search philosophy.

Atom is not the best place for exact match domains.

If a buyer needs an exact match, they'll type the name directly into their browser.

If the name is taken in their favorite extension and they don't have the money to buy it, the next step is to try the SLD in other available extensions (usually through the registrar route).

Mlebo said:

My biggest concern is Atom's domain search. It is very difficult to find exact matches and it shouldn't be. If someone is typing in something, exact matches should show up 1st or atleast be an easy option to find

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They also made the exact matches even smaller! It looks horrible. They really need to be the same size of the other cards.

sellian said:

Atom is not the best place for exact match domains.

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That's the problem, not the solution!

URL Stream said:

That's the problem, not the solution!

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You can always list your exact matches at other marketplaces.

Future Sensors said:

For me, it's a 7-character .com domain related to crypto, and has high visibility for 1,314 keywords/phrases.

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Atom keeps attaching new keyword and search phrase visibility to all domains. This one is still climbing and now has 1,713 since my last report on May 30 ^.

@Atom.com the bug that was reported a while ago is still not fixed. Domains that the appraisal tool reports as instant premium eligible are in fact not when you try to add them.

This has happened a few times now when I have purchased a domain solely because it was eligible for the premium marketplace, only to be disappointed.

If I had to guess, the bug is due to these domains having been rejected from the premium marketplace in the past by the old system. Some flag on them is probably preventing them from showing in the instant upgrade list despite them qualifying.

Thanks

Atom.com said:

A significant portion of Atom buyers are looking for a distinctive brand name rather than a keyword match, which is why our search is designed around discovery and intent, not just literal text matching.

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I understand the philosophy, but I often have an issue with the implementation, where a good portion of the results have no connection at all to the search term(s) and are just there because of the listing type.

And I get it, everyone needs to make money, but it's not "all data and logic". I have search results on my screen right in front of me that I would bet serious money no unaffiliated 3rd-party could find a logical link to the search term I used.

Like if I type in something specific like "storm repair" I would expect non-keyword domains like WindFix.com, GaleReno.com, ElStormy.com, WindRestoration.com, TheWeatherMen.com, DisasterSolutions.com, HurricaneAlley.com, etc., but NOT something (hypothetical) like Heelabalula.com.

Chris Co said:

I have purchased a domain solely because it was eligible for the premium marketplace

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Interesting strategy.

What's the thought process?

I'm not sure myself why I've done that too