.mobi Do dot MOBI sites rank in search engines?

[cslcpunk]

I was trying to find dot MOBI sites that rank in search engines. Are dot MOBI for direct type-in traffic or a mobile device search only? I can't remember actually seeing one in a search. Not sure because it is lack of development or they just don't rank. From what I know the search engine will basically determine your location and not display the other ccIDN for your search, is this correct? If so does this apply to dot MOBI? I am actually looking at purchasing some that have xx,xxx google search stats with limited competition. However without knowing the above, I don't know if it is a good idea. Many questions, hope someone can help.

Thanks.

 

[carob]

You're not going to find one. Period.
They don't exist.

I'm not clear on what you are saying here.

I think you're referring to what cslcpunk said -

I was trying to find dot MOBI sites that rank in search engines

Are you saying that there are no .mobi sites developed, or none at all that rank in searches? How high up does it need to be to say it has "rank in searches"? Top 100 results? Top 10?

I tried googling alcatraz and found alcatraz.mobi on page six. I tried googling mobile dating, and on page one the fifth result was dating.mobi.

---------- Post added at 10:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 PM ----------

Personally I try to understand SEO for .Mobi

Me interest 2 points: it is a WebSite or a MobileSite or W+M?
And more traffic from mobile devices or a web?
And niche of site?

It's a website, it could be one made for mobiles, or computers. Or it could detect the device and show the right version for that device.

You don't know what sort of traffic you will get until you try it.

In google webmaster tools you can upload a second sitemap for a mobile version of a site.

To make a mobile site do well in mobile search is a different project.

 

[carob]

You can't really challenge statistics.
But our unfortunate mobi investors think otherwise.

Actually the big name investors in Dotmobi - Google, Microsoft, Nokia and a number of other big name companies - all saw Dotmobi company's terrible results and dumped it to Afilias, losing their collective investment of €18m. Domainers who bought mobis at auctions up to 2008 for xxx to xxxxxx have probably lost their money for good.

But the topic of this thread is not mobi prices,it is mobis ranking in search and they seem to do this as well as any other TLD. Any info members can offer on ranking in search is very welcome. And thanks to the mods for keeping the thread on-topic.

Sanfran, you gave this figure about mobis ranking in search

You're not going to find one. Period.
They don't exist.

So have you got some stats or information to share?

 

[sanfran]

The only way that Italian site raked those numbers is by infringing the TM and riding on its coattails.

Even the poster has indicated that.
And that is the reason he wouldn't mention the site.

 

[VanceHedderel]

In response to Carob's note re: "Actually the big name investors in Dotmobi - Google, Microsoft, Nokia and a number of other big name companies - all saw Dotmobi company's terrible results and dumped it to Afilias, losing their collective investment of €18m ...," that does not at all reflect the reality of why the original dotMobi company investors collectively agreed to sell dotMobi.

I've discussed it elsewhere but —*short version —*try having 14 competing global companies hold joint discussions and let me know how it goes. dotMobi finances really didn't enter into the decision. (Honestly, any one of dotMobi's 14 original investors likely have accounting errors of €18m on a regular basis.)

 

[think]

In response to Carob's note re: "Actually the big name investors in Dotmobi - Google, Microsoft, Nokia and a number of other big name companies - all saw Dotmobi company's terrible results and dumped it to Afilias, losing their collective investment of €18m ...," that does not at all reflect the reality of why the original dotMobi company investors collectively agreed to sell dotMobi.

I've discussed it elsewhere but —*short version —*try having 14 competing global companies hold joint discussions and let me know how it goes. dotMobi finances really didn't enter into the decision. (Honestly, any one of dotMobi's 14 original investors likely have accounting errors of €18m on a regular basis.)

Nice to see you here Vance. Welcome to NamePros.com.

 

[carob]

I've discussed it elsewhere but —*short version —*try having 14 competing global companies hold joint discussions and let me know how it goes. dotMobi finances really didn't enter into the decision. (Honestly, any one of dotMobi's 14 original investors likely have accounting errors of €18m on a regular basis.)

In its final year as an independent company Dotmobi lost over €2m as shown by their own financial statements filed in Ireland, publicly available. In that same year they claimed to domainers that they were in profit. The previous year the loss was big enough the auditors advised an exceptional general meeting was needed to address it. And for an earlier year they failed entirely to file a financial statement with the Irish authorities - something that is supposed to bring serious consequences and penalties.

Does anyone seriously believe those companies who founded .mobi wanted to carry on pouring money into a failed product and failing company?

The most telling thing is that Nokia dumped Dotmobi when it was Nokia who originated the idea of .mobi and was one of the very few founders to actually use a .mobi domain in real life. Nokia could have bought out the others if they wanted to.

The idea that the board was somehow unworkable is laughable, if that were the case no board would work anywhere, and why did these companies come on board? The product, management,strategy and results were the problem. Failure, failure, failure.

But the .mobi domains are as successful as other TLDs in search, Google does not treat them as a bad neighborhood.

 

[scandiman]

You're not going to find one. Period.
They don't exist.

sure, there is not one single .mobi domain that ranks in any search engines. Period.



[/sarcasm]

 

[scandiman]

I've discussed it elsewhere but —*short version —*try having 14 competing global companies hold joint discussions and let me know how it goes.

If the OP will excuse the topic sidebar, this got me wondering if there are other examples of major corporations cooperating successfully in this market. The first thing that came to mind was the Open Handset Alliance. This is an interesting example to compare against for a few reasons:

1) The Open Handset Alliance has been extremely successful with Android platform, and

2) It's corporate membership includes 7 of the 14 mTLD corporate Founders plus dozens of additional competing companies.

So obviously it can be done, why it didn't work at mTLD is a matter of speculation. Can you elaborate on what specifically were the competing visions among the Founders for the .mobi tld?

 

[sanfran]

sure, there is not one single .mobi domain that ranks in any search engines. Period.

Wines.mobi probably is the only mobi site out there with a decent traffic.

 

[scandiman]

Wines.mobi probably is the only mobi site out there with a decent traffic.

from 2008: http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=122885

ESPN declined to confirm the numbers, but an executive briefed on the data said that for one 24-hour period, ESPN's wireless NFL section, with 4.9 million visits, topped the PC NFL section's 4.5 million visits.
.
.
.
ESPN did confirm there were three days when its mobile NFL content outdrew its PC NFL content.

from today (and the past several years): ESPN mobile: http://proxy.espn.go.com/mobile/products/product?id=3304060

visit ESPN directly from your mobile phone's web browser

* Find the mobile web on your phone.
* Choose the menu option that lets you enter a web address ("Go to", "Go to URL", "Enter URL", "Enter Address", etc.)
* Enter http://espn.mobi and select "Go to URL"
.
.
.
Blackberry® Smartphones Users: ESPN is only one touch away on your BlackBerry® smartphone! Download an ESPN icon onto your home screen for free by entering http://espn.mobi/bblauncher into your BlackBerry® browser

While it redirects to their go.com platform, their mobile web branding intent is clear, and clearly successful.


A smaller success story but highly significant to independent developers, the owner of dating.mobi has publicly reported hitting 20,000 users as of nov 2010, with the numbers continuing to increase.

There are more examples of successful .mobi websites, but I wonder if I'm just feeding a troll here.

 

[Blitzpotz]

You're not going to find one. Period.
They don't exist.

Try finden.mobi. If you search for the key sanfran in the web, .mobi only, English, you will receive 71 results with .mobi sites. Just for example.