Google Removes Domains From Search

[Internet.Domains]

According to SearchEngineJournal.com Google is continuing to test search results without showing the entire domain. The website name (keywords) is shown, but not the extension. By doing so this could possibly create new trends in the domain investing niche. The article goes on to quote a Reddit user saying:

“I don’t think this is going to change much in terms of SEO, it just removes one factor that separated good content from good ranking. This is going to normalize the perception of users between traditional tld’s and modern tld’s because they cant subconsciously decide whether or not to click on something based on the perceived trustworthiness of the URL.

I think that fundamentally it is a good thing for new domains trying to get into a niche. this is going to devalue the perceived “vanity” of any particular url, which is good in a climate where basically any URL is taken.”


https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-is-testing-search-results-without-urls/329465/

 

[JB Lions]

I can't imagine this becoming the norm because it's just so dumb. It's less information/transparency. I like seeing the url when I search for something.

 

[Internet.Domains]

This is really bad news for the NewG's.
Google will only be showing the keyword so a targeted extension becomes irrelevant.

Home.Loans = Home
Vacation.Rentals = Vacation

 

[accuname]

This will take power away from the user so I hope they never do this. The url offers alot of useful info for searching and avoiding undesirable sites and viruses.

 

[Mister Funsky]

giggle, for now, is on top. No business, entity or organization in the history of man has remained on top forever...they are simply trying to remain relevant in the face of overwhelming competition on the distant horizon.

What does this mean? Invest in quality .com domains like they are limited...because they are.

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I recall reading (but some time ago and my memory is far from perfect ) some research done (I vaguely recall at Microsoft) about a decade or more ago that indicated that people did take into account both the extension and how elegant a domain name was when they decided whether to click - i.e. Name.com would get clicked more than Name.biz for example and Name.org would get clicked more than Name4It.org, as I recall. By hiding information, Google is further taking away this choice from the user.

I also recall reading research that on social media people were more apt to click on links that they found attractive. For example they would be more apt to click on Perfect(.)life than they would perfectlifeeverywhere.com.

How important the change is will depend I guess on whether Google really do it, and not just on the trial basis, and if they do on how dominant Google will stay in search and how important search will be in how we are served with content.

That they are even trying it is disconcerting, though. Both to domain investors and to those who are opposed to large data companies making too many decisions for us.

Bob

 

[Bob Hawkes]

I think the idea they are apparently testing is flawed. I might add that it also seems contrary to other initiatives at Google. Why is Google delegating TLDs like .app and promoting secure extension spaces if the viewer will have no idea if the site is on .org, .top, .app or .com?

 

[Larion]

Is there any potential advertising wise for Google in the change?

sure.
If companies are not being found on the search-engine by users (and traffic to their websites decreases), these companies will pay more money to Google in order to appear at the top of the search-results-page.

Google will make more money from Ads in the short-run, but it is a short-sighted idea if people are going to use other search-engines.

 

[bmugford]

Not being able to see the domain...

Good call. It will be a boon to scammers.

Brad

 

[Internet.Domains]

we know that we can modify the page titles of our websites to take advantage of that.

Scammers will also take advantage by modifying page titles. Again, the changes being tested is a security issue at large. Showing the entire domain is essential to know you have arrived at the correct address.

 

[namemarket]

I believe it is far more likely than not Google will implement this soon on desktop searches. It's similar to what G already did with mobile searches where entire URL (not just tld) is often not being shown.

This can be a big blow to the value of .com and .org when people are more likely to click on com or org vs many other tlds due to either recognition or trust, especially involving dot-org's high trust perception in some categories. It may damage dot-org ext values even more than dot-com.

It can mean a name like stocks.best will be clicked on about as much a stocks.com or forex.best as many search clicks as forex.com etc and assuming the meta title and descriptions are good. A big plus for all newer tlds making me now wish I had invested in them when the good ones were still available.

 

[namemarket]

I recall reading (but some time ago and my memory is far from perfect ) some research done (I vaguely recall at Microsoft) about a decade or more ago that indicated that people did take into account both the extension and how elegant a domain name was when they decided whether to click - i.e. Name.com would get clicked more than Name.biz for example...Bob

Agree for sure on that Bob. If fully implemented by search engines (real likely it will, imo) it can be a devastating negative to many domainers with lots of com's and org's possibly also country-codes and the domain business itself.

 

[comati]

google is doing whatever google wants and we will have to adapt. it was the same before, it's the same now and frankly it will continue to be the same as long they have a sizeable market-share in search (aka for a long time).

first of all understand what they are doing. SEJ article says they are displaying only the website name. That's not exactly true, they are testing the idea of removing url for mobile users (because it occupies screen real estate) and displaying only the page title (not the website name).

now that we know that we can modify the page titles of our websites to take advantage of that. the current page title is:
Google Removes Domains From Search | Page 2 - NamePros
and it should be modified, IMHO, into:
NamePros.com - Google Removes Domains From Search | Page 2

that way you take full advantage both of the NP brand and the .com extension. If you think about it, this brings more attention to the domain name, not less.

of course, I'm aware that the blackhat community will try to game the new system and trick some people (and probably succeed for a short while), but let google deal with that.

from pure domaining perspective I don't think it changes things all that much.

 

[DomainRecap]

I can't imagine this becoming the norm because it's just so dumb. It's less information/transparency. I like seeing the url when I search for something.

If Google goes this route, I won't be using them, as I don't want to get phished on some whacky scammer site that is now stealth-cloaked by Google.

This is insane and is truly a hacker's paradise.

 

[DomainWolf]

If I am reading this right.
My domains (sportsbook.pub & sportsbook.best) will show up the same as Sportsbook.com?
Time to start working on my fake logo.

 

[Larion]

Google just shoot itself in the foot and became un-useable.

I think this will increase the "type-in traffic / direct-traffic" to .COM-domains, which is actually a good thing for domainers.

This will also increase the price for good .COM-domains, as it becomes imperative to own a brand-match domain-name.

 

[DomainRecap]

Nah, I'll just use Duck from now on, as this will turn out to be a scammer's paradise.

It's bad enough right now where I have to look at the URL and extension to keep safe, but now Google wants to hide everything from us like some retarded parent.

 

[garptrader]

On my phone I have apps but on my Amazon Fire tablet I use browsers to access bank account, credit card, registrar, etc sites. I want to see that .com at the end and not assume the first result is the the correct one So when Google started playing games, I switched to using Amazon's browser rather than Google.

 

[Armageddon]

This is happen when companies like google have too much power
But no one do nothing to stop them!
Basic from now is not important if is .com , .net , ccTLD or new TLD - i guess price's will go down for any extensions...maybe is time to quit ( at least for me )
So deal with this!

 

[Bob Hawkes]

Google has become too powerful.

 

[Mister Funsky]

The sheeple of the planet are slowly starting to realize they are being spoon feed paid results by giggle. Unlike the VAST majority of the planet, we all know what is happening because we are in the industry.

They are simply doing what they can to maximize profits for their search/money machine because they know competitors are coming along that will offer pure search results without paid placement. If they go back to what worked for them in the beginning...limiting paid responses to the top three spots and indicating they are ads, they can hang on a couple more years to the top position.

 

[Name Trader]

I just switched to a search engine that cares, DuckDuckGo.

 

[Arfy]

I hope Google go this route. You probably think I'm mad for saying that but if it leads to people moving away from Google to use other sites because of this stupid change then good! There is currently a monopoly on search, maybe this will lead to an oligopoly.

 

[HotKey]

yeah, but DuckDuckGo is using the data from Google.
You are still giving money to Google when you use DuckDuckGo.

DuckDuckGo is merely en extension of Google.
Under the hood, DuckDuckGo and Google is the same stuff.
I do understand that the average internet-user does not recognize this.

So Google did not just give duck.com to ddg out of the goodness of their heart?
https://www.namepros.com/blog/confirmed-duck-com-transfers-to-duckduckgo.1113728/

**

So... anybody else has been experiening search results not showing URLs lately? I was investigating a lead/offer today and it's a right mess when the URLs are not showing up.

To your edit: petition or not, will Google care? It is a household name. There are so many millions of users dependent, many of whom don't care about domains. Not to mention didn't they remove that "do no evil" or whatever it was from their MO, so that they now can.. heh.

Is the removal of urls in results specific to something, browser, device etc. On desktop, for my site I still show url in result, and ads above my result still showing url:

 

[BrandCollectors.com]

goog still showing urls on chrome android for me
may be it depends of the location