Google eliminating domains from search results

[News]

Google has made another move to make domain names less relevant to internet users.

The company will no longer display URLs in search results pages for any web site that adopts a certain technical standard.

Google explained the change in a blog post incorrectly titled “Better presentation of URLs in search results”.

Code samples and the rules are published here.

It strikes me that Google, by demanding naming uniqueness, is opening itself up for a world of hurt.

Full Article: http://domainincite.com/18364-google-eliminating-domains-from-search-results

 

[enlytend]

And it is by default, just not every site (possibly because of parsing/tech issues) is being displayed in this way, yet.

I'm seeing sitenames in desktop search results today on some sites ... to the right of the "cached" dropdown, with a site information box if you click its dropdown.

I'd still call this a presentation change, it isn't an algo update. I'd be much more concerned about this weeks' "mobiocalypse."

 

[tomcarl]

Same here, it be perfect if they just kept it that way and shortened the entire url with breadcrumbs but keep the dang domain/extension so we know what site we're clicking on.

 

[TheWatcher]

I will adapt to the change. Can't do anything against google anyway. They can do whatever they like.

 

[iowadawg]

And the entire thing is for those sites/businesses/individuals that rely only on google.
For the rest of us, it is a non-event.

 

[NameYourself]

so, this makes it easier for the user..?
Just a random search for a random term and what shows up on first page.

SEARCH FOR: GeneTech
gene.com - Genentech's mission is to develop drugs to address significant unmet medical needs.
genetech.co.in - GeneTech is a leading technology organization..
genetechsys.com - Genetech Building Systems, Inc.
genetech.biz - Genetech is a privately owned family company which was established in Cairo..
genetechpharma.net - Gene Tech Pharmaceuticals is proud to present a wide variety of products..
genetechlab.com - Gene-Tech Laboratories is a high tech Biopharmaceutical marketing company..
genetec.com - Genetec: Leader in IP video surveillance
subeta.net/explore/asmodeus.php - Asmodeus Genetech Lab

COULD HYPOTHETICALLY BE:
Genetech - Genentech's mission is to develop drugs to address significant unmet medical needs.
Genetech - GeneTech is a leading technology organization..
Genetech - Genetech Building Systems, Inc.
Genetech - Genetech is a privately owned family company which was established in Cairo..
Gene tech - Gene Tech Pharmaceuticals is proud to present a wide variety of products..
Gene-tech - Gene-Tech Laboratories is a high tech Biopharmaceutical marketing company..
Genetec - Genetec: Leader in IP video surveillance
Genetech - Asmodeus Genetech Lab

Ease of mobile-only viewing aside, how is any of this good or less confusing to the user? There are many companies named "genetech" in many different countries and in many different industries. Though I have not gone deeper, there are likely also projects, programs, etc.. that also share this name.. How is just displaying "GeneTech" for all of them going to help anyone differentiate which company they actually want to find. This in my opinion makes that much harder to do and forces the user to rely solely on what google chooses to display.

 

[enlytend]

How is just displaying "GeneTech" for all of them going to help anyone differentiate which company they actually want to find.

They are not GOING to display "GeneTech" for all of them. Read the original post and Google's announcement. The site name must be unique. One of them may (or not, at Google's discretion) get to use GeneTech, the others will probably default to the domain unless they can come up with another name that meets Google's criteria.

And the entire thing is for those sites/businesses/individuals that rely only on google.
For the rest of us, it is a non-event.

Even if 80% of your traffic is from Google this is a non-event.

 

[iowadawg]

Again, if you are getting 80% of your traffic from google?
You are too dependent on google!
Break away!

 

[starizec]

Again, if you are getting 80% of your traffic from google?
You are too dependent on google!
Break away!

It's not that easy. It all depends on type of site you have.

 

[SuperbDomains.com]

I think category killer short one word generic .com domains will be ok always because the .com is part of the brand and can't be forgotten or replicated by anyone, example cars.com, would not be just cars its cars.com, sushi.com ours would not just be sushi, its sushi.com, h2o.com ours also is h2o.com in the brand and logo, harder to do with longer domains but not so hard with one word category definers.

 

[NameYourself]

They are not GOING to display "GeneTech" for all of them. Read the original post and Google's announcement. The site name must be unique.

Then that makes it even more of a headache for Google and the site owners.. there are at least 4 on first page that only go only by "GeneTech", nothing else.. in which case they would just display their URL likely?? In which case it serves very little purpose except for enormously big brands. Even still, that brings us back to the David vs. Goliath issues that have come up with domains themselves. Nissan Computer owns and has the right to use Nissan.com over the giant car manufacturer. Surely both of them would prefer just "Nissan". The thing is google is setting themselves up for having to police and determine rights to a given mark one over the other. I see no easy, fair, or consistent way for this to be done. Ultimately I see the possibility of this leading to more add-on purchase options for organic listings.. not to affect the rankings, but purchasable options that help define it and make it stand out. We will see..

 

[enlytend]

Then that makes it even more of a headache for Google and the site owners.. there are at least 4 on first page that only go only by "GeneTech", nothing else.. in which case they would just display their URL likely?? In which case it serves very little purpose except for enormously big brands

Exactly. And that's where they're using it for now. Major brands.

I added sitename schema to a few of my test sites. They're not sites Google considers important, by any means. Also added to a few client sites. It will be interesting to see if they pick it up on any and if so, which ones and how long it takes.

I don't know how they determine who uses which name but its an algo. There's probably a dataset they check before flipping the switch to use a sitename. If they're not sure a site is the "real" or "authoritative" whatever they'll probably continue to just use the domain, and there's probably a complaint resolution process with a manual override. In any case, it's not a ranking issue.

 

[DomainiaXYZ]

In my opinion, Google's this step will provide great opportunity to Domainers in a sense that they will sell short, generic and premium domain names with more comfort without the hassle of copywrite violation, because for an instance when user type in google's search bar usedcar it will show site result with "Used Car" instead of usedcar.com and if someone also have same keyword domain website with new domain extension like .website, .xyz, .shop, .site or .web then Google's Search will only show "Used Car" so it will provide the great opportunity for new own domain name website owners like usedcar.xyz or usedcar.website or having anyother new domain extension with same domain keyword that to own a well known keyword domain name for their website.

 

[ResoluteDomains]

This change makes no sense to me at all.

 

[ulterios]

This change makes no sense to me at all.

Since when does Google do things that make sense?

 

[ResoluteDomains]

Since when does Google do things that make sense?

True! I am probably not alone in hating the new "Maps" changes... But they're forcing it on us anyway. Looking elsewhere for mapping now.

 

[ulterios]

True! I am probably not alone in hating the new "Maps" changes... But they're forcing it on us anyway. Looking elsewhere for mapping now.

No, you are definitely not alone! It seems like every time they have something working well, they decide it's time for a change. LOL

 

[baseballworld]

You would think they would stop doing this. i mean why reinvent the wheel when its turning just fine as it is.

 

[vicho]

Since when does Google do things that make sense?

Since when they registered google.top, gmail.top and chrome.top
LOL, just kidding, I'm a passerby.

 

[ulterios]

Since when they registered google.top, gmail.top and chrome.top
LOL, just kidding, I'm a passerby.

They did that because they were obligated to do that to protect their copyright.
They did it for:

Hopefully they used the $1.99 promo code!

 

[vicho]

They did that because they were obligated to do that to protect their copyright.

You are right, but many do this for long-term strategic purposes instead of just for brand protection, part of which like OTTO and GODADDY direct otto.top and godaddy.top to their official .com websites, but they don't do this with most of the other TLDs, no offense.

 

[ulterios]

You are right, but many do this for long-term strategic purposes instead of just for brand protection, part of which like OTTO and GODADDY direct otto.top and godaddy.top to their official .com websites, but they don't do this with most of the other TLDs, no offense.

It actually goes to a sub-domain of godaddy.com, but closer than most others.