discuss Domain name TYPE IN traffic - Your experiences?

[kaz2]

Hi, we know that great one word generic domain names receive type in traffic (ie people type in the domain directly into their browser).

However, most of us do not own these great high traffic generic type in traffic domain names (sadly).

What I would love to know is, what is the experience some of you have with type in traffic to your generic keyword rich domain names that have not many searches in the google keyword tool?

For example, say you own the domain name BelgiiumVisas.com which is a Godaddy closeout domain - apologies to anyone who does own it. I am just using it as an example here.

According to the google keyword tool this gets about 50 searches a month globally for the phrase "belgium visas".

Would a domain like this receive type in traffic? Or do you need substantially more searches (say 500 a month)?

This is also useful where you have a sales landing page for a domain name and are relying on type in traffic - do lots of your buyers find you via the domain direct type in route?

For those of you with larger portfolios and some experience in this are it would be great to get your insights into type in traffic for low search generic keyword domain names.

 

[HUKU]

what is the experience some of you have with type in traffic to your generic keyword rich domain names that have not many searches in the google keyword tool?

This is a tough question to answer. It was a lot more straight forward in the old days, prior to domain sniffing strategies. Back then you could just put into the Overture Search Inventory. That would give you a figure for "Search Term" and then you could compare those figures with those for "SearchTerm.com".

According to the google keyword tool this gets about 50 searches a month globally for the phrase "belgium visas".

What are the results for BelgiumVisas.com? That metric is much more indicative. With just 500 searches for the search term, I'm not sure you would get a result for the domain as typically you need a lot before the searches on a domain name appear in the results. Or at least that's how it was back in Overture days. It wasn't an exact science but you could make a prediction about it.

Remember, if its a true type-in domain then searches for the Domain Name will appear in results, regardless of whether the Domain Name exists, is registered or even known about.

Today, I'm sure there are those who still bother to look but I think the tool is now in Google and thats where you go to make the assessment but I guess its very difficult to find such domains since most have been measured a very long time ago. That said, if you're persistent you may still find some. Type-in traffic can perform extremely well for conversions.

 

[kaz2]

This is a tough question to answer. It was a lot more straight forward in the old days, prior to domain sniffing strategies. Back then you could just put into the Overture Search Inventory. That would give you a figure for "Search Term" and then you could compare those figures with those for "SearchTerm.com".



What are the results for BelgiumVisas.com? That metric is much more indicative. With just 500 searches for the search term, I'm not sure you would get a result for the domain as typically you need a lot before the searches on a domain name appear in the results. Or at least that's how it was back in Overture days. It wasn't an exact science but you could make a prediction about it.

Remember, if its a true type-in domain then searches for the Domain Name will appear in results, regardless of whether the Domain Name exists, is registered or even known about.

Today, I'm sure there are those who still bother to look but I think the tool is now in Google and thats where you go to make the assessment but I guess its very difficult to find such domains since most have been measured a very long time ago. That said, if you're persistent you may still find some. Type-in traffic can perform extremely well for conversions.

Hi Huku, many thanks and a fantastic reply! Yes you are right, any domains with significant type in traffic will have been hoovered up ages ago.

I am more interested in much lower traffic domains especially to know if people who have sold these domains did so as a result of the buyer typing in the domain name and landing directly on your sales page?

 

[WatchDogue]

Have a modest number of EMDs in a micro-niche market, and are in the .com .

The names are either two word or three word EMDs.

Type-In-Traffic has lessened each year for several of these EMDs and general inquiries, let alone offers to purchase, have correspondingly declined.

Am in the process of changing keywords, general marketing and, my pricing structure to try and counter-act the lessening Type-In- Traffic ( better late than never).

There is always the factor of a natural lessening interest in the niche subject matter and the growth of Facebook pages, etc

And yet other EMDs still receive a steady " monthly average " of Type-In-Traffic compared to other years.

 

[kaz2]

Have a modest number of EMDs in a micro-niche market, and are in the .com .

The names are either two word or three word EMDs.

Type-In-Traffic has lessened each year for several of these EMDs and general inquiries, let alone offers to purchase, have correspondingly declined.

Am in the process of changing keywords, general marketing and, my pricing structure to try and counter-act the lessening Type-In- Traffic ( better late than never).

There is always the factor of a natural lessening interest in the niche subject matter and the growth of Facebook pages, etc

And yet other EMDs still receive a steady " monthly average " of Type-In-Traffic compared to other years.

Hi WatchDogue, thanks that is some really useful insights. I can see where you are coming from on the type in traffic decreasing especially for niche domains.

Do you think:

The new gtld's have had an impact?

Why do you think that your .com sales have tailed off/declined?

For the domains where you still get type in traffic is it possibe to roughly equate this to searches on google - for example would a domain that has 500 monthly google searches get type in traffic and, if so, how many per month(very rough figures, more of a guide).

Thanks for taking time to educate the newbies and less experienced domainers!

 

[eventures]

Hi WatchDogue, thanks that is some really useful insights. I can see where you are coming from on the type in traffic decreasing especially for niche domains.

Do you think:

The new gtld's have had an impact?

Why do you think that your .com sales have tailed off/declined?

For the domains where you still get type in traffic is it possibe to roughly equate this to searches on google - for example would a domain that has 500 monthly google searches get type in traffic and, if so, how many per month(very rough figures, more of a guide).

Thanks for taking time to educate the newbies and less experienced domainers!

Hi Kaz2,

Our best non-idn, not-developed type-in generic .gtld gets about 1200 unique direct human hits per month.
Our best idn, not-developed type-in generic .gtld gets about 400 unique direct human hits per month.
Our best non English but IDN and not-developed type-in generic .com gets about 6k ( IDN )
Our best non-English and non-IDN and not-developed type-in generic .com -registered year ago- gets about 800;
and naturally our best English and non-idn and -fully developed- dot com gets more hits than the four categories above together.

For proven type-in English and non-idn dot coms it would be hard to get a reg. price, in this context the
best way is either dropping lists, bargain auctions ( and for these you can research pre-existing possible back links and traffic ) .

*not-developed = Parked Without ppc ( for sale page, nothing else ).

Some of them were bought/or registered based on search keyword stats ( ex: semrush )
But also a lot of them were bought/registered based on "gut" feeling ( not advisable as most
domains registered on feelings endup not being that great, however it is a good way
to find hidden generic type-in traffic gems - our best type-ins were mined in such way - but again, this could be expensive).
There's also the language factor, and it is a great way of getting doc coms at
reg. price. For example, Cities or Generic single keywords that have IDN character(s) in their
original language ( ex: Reykjavík, Düsseldorf, Montréal, Calendário, même, dejá, etc - within the .gtlds, not all extensions support it, but some great ones -fully- do ex: .news, .click, .link, .top, .digital, .global );
dusseldorf.news is available and priced by the registry at 55k whilst Düsseldorf.news is priced
at reg. non premium price ).
By generic, meaning: a dictionary word -and even so, sometimes a dictionary word in a language could
mean a trademark in a different language / jurisdiction ( and when that happens,you need to make
sure your ppc page is optimizing / earning revenue using -only- the dictionary meaning, best not
to ppc at all perhaps, thin ground .. )

All that makes it hard to predict with precision the amount of type-in traffic you will get.
(unless you predict an event or trend and get the dot com for it before the fact, Nostradamus style )
The only way to fully optimize your domain is to Develop it. As for your question on the dot com
traffic, personally I think it will be there and growing for quite a while still, but it is not unrealistic to
imagine a scenario where big companies will have their 'anchor' / 'link' on the dot com leading to
their main portal at their new name space ( dot brands ), which would maybe reduce / divert traffic
away from the traditional space ( and elevating awareness / trust on the open .gtlds ?! segmenting
sld.tld type-in searchs, ex: library.london, one thing is for sure: new Ad models will arrive soon... time will tell ).

*I'm not mentioning specific names in purpose, but feel free to PM ...
just the .2 cents ...
thanks,

 

[kaz2]

Hi Kaz2,

Our best non-idn, not-developed type-in generic .gtld gets about 1200 unique direct human hits per month.
Our best idn, not-developed type-in generic .gtld gets about 400 unique direct human hits per month.
Our best non English but IDN and not-developed type-in generic .com gets about 6k ( IDN )
Our best non-English and non-IDN and not-developed type-in generic .com -registered year ago- gets about 800;
and naturally our best English and non-idn and -fully developed- dot com gets more hits than the four categories above together.

For proven type-in English and non-idn dot coms it would be hard to get a reg. price, in this context the
best way is either dropping lists, bargain auctions ( and for these you can research pre-existing possible back links and traffic ) .

*not-developed = Parked Without ppc ( for sale page, nothing else ).

Some of them were bought/or registered based on search keyword stats ( ex: semrush )
But also a lot of them were bought/registered based on "gut" feeling ( not advisable as most
domains registered on feelings endup not being that great, however it is a good way
to find hidden generic type-in traffic gems - our best type-ins were mined in such way - but again, this could be expensive).
There's also the language factor, and it is a great way of getting doc coms at
reg. price. For example, Cities or Generic single keywords that have IDN character(s) in their
original language ( ex: Reykjavík, Düsseldorf, Montréal, Calendário, même, dejá, etc - within the .gtlds, not all extensions support it, but some great ones -fully- do ex: .news, .click, .link, .top, .digital, .global );
dusseldorf.news is available and priced by the registry at 55k whilst Düsseldorf.news is priced
at reg. non premium price ).
By generic, meaning: a dictionary word -and even so, sometimes a dictionary word in a language could
mean a trademark in a different language / jurisdiction ( and when that happens,you need to make
sure your ppc page is optimizing / earning revenue using -only- the dictionary meaning, best not
to ppc at all perhaps, thin ground .. )

All that makes it hard to predict with precision the amount of type-in traffic you will get.
(unless you predict an event or trend and get the dot com for it before the fact, Nostradamus style )
The only way to fully optimize your domain is to Develop it. As for your question on the dot com
traffic, personally I think it will be there and growing for quite a while still, but it is not unrealistic to
imagine a scenario where big companies will have their 'anchor' / 'link' on the dot com leading to
their main portal at their new name space ( dot brands ), which would maybe reduce / divert traffic
away from the traditional space ( and elevating awareness / trust on the open .gtlds ?! segmenting
sld.tld type-in searchs, ex: library.london, one thing is for sure: new Ad models will arrive soon... time will tell ).

*I'm not mentioning specific names in purpose, but feel free to PM ...
just the .2 cents ...
thanks,

Wow, eventures, where do I begin?? This is an amazing post, one of the best I have seen on Namepros.

I'll need to read this a few times and then respond to you.

Thanks for taking time to really address this issue of type in traffic.

 

[eventures]

Wow, eventures, where do I begin?? This is an amazing post, one of the best I have seen on Namepros.

I'll need to read this a few times and then respond to you.

Thanks for taking time to really address this issue of type in traffic.

Hi Kaz2,
Thanks for the kind words.
If you take the 'gut' route, I should then mention that the best way to mine these type-ins is to
use your own nameserver. It's not complicated as it may seem, the only requirement is
to have a Root-Access type of Hosting Account with Cpanel/WHM - which is about cd$500/year.
Under such architecture you can assign your main domain to an external ppc plattform without
giving up / surrendering the nameserver - which means you will be able to see the exact traffic that is routing to external PPCs, Auctions, you also get to keep the MX records ( email boxes ), but the best part is
that you will easily mine out ( or in ) good type-ins;
For example, the domain org.press and org.pizza - it would be hard to predict its type-in performance, so we registered it on instinct, and by not surrendering the nameserver ( and still assign to ppc externaly, ex: domainNameSales, etc ) we were able to analyze its type-in and ppc performance at the same time,
the result is a lot of traffic on org.press[ from open infranets, an exposed document let's say, with the
string realEntity.org.press, resolves not to realentity.org but rather to org.press, and it would not
be possible to know that without the nameServer logs, on the other hand, org.pizza has zero traffic ).

That way we know which ones to drop, which ones to renew, which ones to develop and which ones
to leave it in ppc.

another hint would be, If the domain happens to have a history, you can catch pre-existing traffic ( in addition to type-ins ) by adding a wildcard for subdomains and a wild card on directories, for example,
say you acquire example.com, and example.com used to be an e-shop of some sort, you would want
to make sure that the following resolves ( via DNS records):

somethingAnything.example.com -> by Adding WildCard records to the DNS
example.com/Something/Anything/old.html -> by Adding WebServer Rules, very easy if Apache.
somethingAnything.example.com/Something/Anything/old.html -> By doing both .htaccess and DNS records.

To be very sincere, I have developed a tool for that, I'm not sure if there is enough interest,
but regardless, I've made a live example at http dot science ( I hope it's ok to mention the link ),

once there, on the left panel, tick on Live DNS, tick also PPC Activity - and you can watch
our live log, and you will see lots of obvious type-ins..

please note, I'm in no way referring to type-ins due to miss-spelled words -only Generics like the above.

if somehow we could 'test' the domain before registering, it would be free to all to mine good
picks.

I took the development route ..

 

[WatchDogue]

Hi WatchDogue, thanks that is some really useful insights. I can see where you are coming from on the type in traffic decreasing especially for niche domains.

My " Niche Domains " are in a Niche that is slowly eroding, that is, less persons interested in that Niche than 15 years prior.

Do you think:

The new gtld's have had an impact?

Nope - and I personally like the new " gold's " as a believer in the survival of the marketplace fittest.


Why do you think that your .com sales have tailed off/declined?

1) In general I stubbornly, bone-headedly clung to sales prices that were " very high " years ago and today are ridiculous ( and are under revision) ;

2) I'm a very, very passive seller of domains, although I was a very successful & rather aggressive sales rep for a world-wide corp;

3) Facebook - stated without any criticism whatsoever -some people can start a Facebook page and accomplish for free a web presence for their Niche interests - hence why buy a domain and build a website if a FB page give one the exposure / contact that meets their requirements.



For the domains where you still get type in traffic is it possibe to roughly equate this to searches on google - for example would a domain that has 500 monthly google searches get type in traffic and, if so, how many per month(very rough figures, more of a guide).

Sorry, would gladly tell you if I knew offhand, just don't do that type of tracking.

Thanks for taking time to educate the newbies and less experienced domainers!

After years away from domains ( just kept a bunched parked) I'm feel more like a newbie - the domain name world has really grown and evolved.

 

[WatchDogue]

Kaz2, looks like you will have to "click to expand" the above quoted post to see more answers

 

[WatchDogue]

Also Kaz2, our purpose for buying domains when we started in the late 1990s was for various web design purposes, not necessarily for the re-sale of the domains.

We did many niche market websites, from one page " personal home page " type sites to several sites between 50 - 85 plus pages. ( " we" of course means my wife - I talked, she designed! ).

Basically designed sites by hand from scratch, no templates, no pre-formatted click and build programs, etc., so we customized and could provide EMDs for the sites.

The EMDs brought in many perspective clients, after all, we had the domain/subject of interest and could provide listings, niche emails, etc.

We had then, outstanding web hosting service provider analytics to track EMD numbers, searches, etc.

 

[kaz2]

Also Kaz2, our purpose for buying domains when we started in the late 1990s was for various web design purposes, not necessarily for the re-sale of the domains.

We did many niche market websites, from one page " personal home page " type sites to several sites between 50 - 85 plus pages. ( " we" of course means my wife - I talked, she designed! ).

Basically designed sites by hand from scratch, no templates, no pre-formatted click and build programs, etc., so we customized and could provide EMDs for the sites.

The EMDs brought in many perspective clients, after all, we had the domain/subject of interest and could provide listings, niche emails, etc.

We had then, outstanding web hosting service provider analytics to track EMD numbers, searches, etc.

Hi WatchDogue, this is really interesting. I take it that this approach would not work now as the preceived "wisdom" is that EMD's no longer work.

Of course, people who have actually been there and done it like yourself, may have different views on how effective (or not) EMD's are : )

My feeling is that EMD's are still effective although many companies are probably looking at more branded domain names.

Neverthess, do you believe that EMD's still work even if a huge content site is not built on them (ie an EMD on a 10 - 15 page site)? Also, I would imagine that they would also benefit from receiving type in traffic.

 

[kaz2]

Hi Kaz2,
Thanks for the kind words.
If you take the 'gut' route, I should then mention that the best way to mine these type-ins is to
use your own nameserver. It's not complicated as it may seem, the only requirement is
to have a Root-Access type of Hosting Account with Cpanel/WHM - which is about cd$500/year.
Under such architecture you can assign your main domain to an external ppc plattform without
giving up / surrendering the nameserver - which means you will be able to see the exact traffic that is routing to external PPCs, Auctions, you also get to keep the MX records ( email boxes ), but the best part is
that you will easily mine out ( or in ) good type-ins;
For example, the domain org.press and org.pizza - it would be hard to predict its type-in performance, so we registered it on instinct, and by not surrendering the nameserver ( and still assign to ppc externaly, ex: domainNameSales, etc ) we were able to analyze its type-in and ppc performance at the same time,
the result is a lot of traffic on org.press[ from open infranets, an exposed document let's say, with the
string realEntity.org.press, resolves not to realentity.org but rather to org.press, and it would not
be possible to know that without the nameServer logs, on the other hand, org.pizza has zero traffic ).

That way we know which ones to drop, which ones to renew, which ones to develop and which ones
to leave it in ppc.

another hint would be, If the domain happens to have a history, you can catch pre-existing traffic ( in addition to type-ins ) by adding a wildcard for subdomains and a wild card on directories, for example,
say you acquire example.com, and example.com used to be an e-shop of some sort, you would want
to make sure that the following resolves ( via DNS records):

somethingAnything.example.com -> by Adding WildCard records to the DNS
example.com/Something/Anything/old.html -> by Adding WebServer Rules, very easy if Apache.
somethingAnything.example.com/Something/Anything/old.html -> By doing both .htaccess and DNS records.

To be very sincere, I have developed a tool for that, I'm not sure if there is enough interest,
but regardless, I've made a live example at http dot science ( I hope it's ok to mention the link ),

once there, on the left panel, tick on Live DNS, tick also PPC Activity - and you can watch
our live log, and you will see lots of obvious type-ins..

please note, I'm in no way referring to type-ins due to miss-spelled words -only Generics like the above.

if somehow we could 'test' the domain before registering, it would be free to all to mine good
picks.

I took the development route ..

This is an amazing post WatchDogue and one thing that has really intrigued me is the knowledge that even new gtld domain names have type in traffic! Who would have thought that org.press would have direct navigation traffic!

This brings me to something I have always wondered about but never had the domains to test the theory - do .net, .info and .biz domain names also get type in traffic in your experience?

Thanks!

 

[Cdomains]

The good old days of making money with parked domains are mostly over for those who did not grab the good names years ago.

Trying to get good parking domains these days can be way too expensive and may not pay off in the end.

Most people do not make enough with parking to make it worth while any more.

Search numbers do not always translate into type in traffic like you expect. Sometimes you will have many visitors and you will have no idea why they are coming to a name with low search results.

 

[ttfan]

Fantastic posts @eventures!!!

 

[WatchDogue]

This brings me to something I have always wondered about but never had the domains to test the theory - do .net, .info and .biz domain names also get type in traffic in your experience?

Yes, some .nets get okay type - in - traffic in my personal experiences.

I have several niche market two word domains in .com, and I also have the exact same pair of names in the .net.

So I have several sets of the exact name pair in the .com and the .net.

Some months one or two of the .net has more hits than there .com counterparts.

Can't offer any comments about .info or .biz.

 

[kaz2]

Yes, some .nets get okay type - in - traffic in my personal experiences.

I have several niche market two word domains in .com, and I also have the exact same pair of names in the .net.

So I have several sets of the exact name pair in the .com and the .net.

Some months one or two of the .net has more hits than there .com counterparts.

Can't offer any comments about .info or .biz.

Thanks WatchDogue, that is interesting. It's incredible to see that a .net gets more type in traffic than the same .com as the preceived wisdom is that .net's get much less natural type in traffic. Just goes to show that testing is the only way to get real results - theory is great but doesn't beat the real thing.

Thanks for you input, it's been invaluable.

The good old days of making money with parked domains are mostly over for those who did not grab the good names years ago.

Trying to get good parking domains these days can be way too expensive and may not pay off in the end.

Most people do not make enough with parking to make it worth while any more.

Search numbers do not always translate into type in traffic like you expect. Sometimes you will have many visitors and you will have no idea why they are coming to a name with low search results.

Thanks Cdomains, to be perfectly honest I am not interested in parking names for revenue.

I am more interested in knowing how many fellow Namepro members sell domains using a landing page after getting direct type in traffic. Do you have any experience of this? Thanks.

 

[eventures]

Fantastic posts @eventures!!!

Thank You @ttfan,
Feel free to visualise what I meant .. at vip dot tools and then click on Real View ...
Feedback, WishFeatures are Very, very welcome

 

[amaz_bab]

if you use google analytics to track your traffic just keep in mind that not all "direct traffic" is real direct traffic.
i was also wondering about mostly getting direct traffic and then learned that the most "direct traffic" comes from twitter, in my case. To find out about this i posted a link on twitter and at the same time checked real time stats in analytics. did this several times and it always showed direct traffic although the visitors came via twitter.

so traffic from mobile apps, also emails or even a click on a pdf could be direct traffic.

also traffic from "http" sites to (your) "https" sites could show as direct traffic.

actually i did a research yesterday and found this link very helpful hope it's ok to post http://no_url_shorteners/1ILMr0B
It goes much more in detail and is easy to understand, even for not so experienced users.

 

[eventures]

@amaz_bab

Good point, for Linkedin ( Twitter soon, FB,etc ) .. you need SSL ( http Vs. httpS ),
to be able to see all the referrals, .. ( so it's encrypted, Linkedin started doing so some time ago )
for other Direct traffic that you cant figure where and how is it there, I know the feeling,
sometimes it is fake, sometimes it is real.

If you have your domains hosted on a VPS, you can create your own nameserver ( it is not hard, and it's
free).
And you will be able to see a bigger picture. Additionally you can use such architecture
to see real time traffic for the domains you have parked ( and then compare PPC clicks
with the NS's log, that sheds an incredible light on where is all that traffic is coming from ), for this: keep the domains under your NS and point ( DNS A Record ) to the desired external platform ( ex: DNS/Uniregistry, etc )


I'd be happy to elaborate more if you wish ( you can check a live example at http dot science, click on
the LiveDNS ).

if you use google analytics to track your traffic just keep in mind that not all "direct traffic" is real direct traffic.
i was also wondering about mostly getting direct traffic and then learned that the most "direct traffic" comes from twitter, in my case. To find out about this i posted a link on twitter and at the same time checked real time stats in analytics. did this several times and it always showed direct traffic although the visitors came via twitter.

so traffic from mobile apps, also emails or even a click on a pdf could be direct traffic.

also traffic from "http" sites to (your) "https" sites could show as direct traffic.

actually i did a research yesterday and found this link very helpful hope it's ok to post
It goes much more in detail and is easy to understand, even for not so experienced users.