discuss Who buys category defining domains like - ElectricCars.com

[KnifeCatcher]

As most of you do, before buying any domain I usually try to identify who the potential end user would be.

Although it might look obvious at first glance, I am finding it hard to decide who the perfect end user would be for category defining domains such as ComputerScreens.com / TeaCups.com / CargoShipping.com (just examples I made up. Not mine).

Would these domains be used by a brand as part of a campaign to sell specific products / services?

If not, why would a company call themselves a generic name rather than a brand name?

 

[Digital Nomad]

As most of you do, before buying any domain I usually try to identify who the potential end user would be.

Although it might look obvious at first glance, I am finding it hard to decide who the perfect end user would be for category defining domains such as ComputerScreens.com / TeaCups.com / CargoShipping.com (just examples I made up. Not mine).

Would these domains be used by a brand as part of a campaign to sell specific products / services?

If not, why would a company call themselves a generic name rather than a brand name?

Some companies may use them for promotion or lead generation.

Others like to own them to help establish themselves as the authoritative brand for a certain product or service.

If the names generate organic traffic, the value there is pretty clear.

@Bob Hawkes It would be interesting to see an article about this topic as you are the master of research himself.

 

[Kris88]

Thank you for sharing. Just to clarify, did this domain have any existing backlinks, domain authority prior to your SEO work? Could it be the reason for better ranking rather than the fact that it's an EMD? I'm asking because I read that Google doesn't give any boost to EMDs anymore

No, no old back links, 0. The reason it ranked is #1 amazing onsite, great articles, menu structured right, custom schema, correct internal linking etc. That plays a hugeeeee role in seo now. And then once that was done we had about 50 citations built, then a few guest posts over time, not much to be honest. The city we ranked in was about 600k people, but most of the other concreting companies didn't have articles written about concrete cutting, so it was fairly easy to jump to the top of page #1 as there wasn't much competition.

Point it, EMD"S do still work if you have great onsite, competition is lower, having the EMD we had defiantly helped it a bit. people will say it wont work but it depends on the circumstances. like people say that web 2.0 links don't do much anymore, but we have a site ranking #1 with only web 2.0 links. it comes down to competition, population etc. But like people have stated before, alot of companies buy domains they think may be competition to eliminate competition. If there's a doctor in network, and the domain doctornewyork.com is available, they might buy it so no one else does as they may know that that could rank well and take away business.

Alot of domain sales aren't really for anything. Ever wonder why domains like 888666.com sell? Chinese buyers, why are they buying them? they're not building anything on them, 8 and 6 are good luck number in china, alot of the people that buy those domains 301 redirect them to their online store, online business, to bring good luck to that online store or online business. I saw a Chinese big online clothing store that had hundreds of those types of domains. people buy domains for multiple reasons all the time

 

[nononsense123]

Your marketing/advertising will have 5x-10x more impact if you're marketing Booking.com vs whateverbrandable.com.
Once I saw a commercial of Housing.com on TV, and now it's impossible for me to forget it.

 

[Mkt Sales Leads]

Trademarks are meant to protect brands, not to stop other companies from using generic words and terms. They also apply to specific product or service offerings (i.e. "Apple" for computers and cell phones).

Companies cannot trademark a generic word or term based on its true meaning. So although Northwestern owns LifeInsurance.com, they can't TM the term to stop others from referring to their own life insurance products/services.

This stuff isn't set in stone of course... Every situation is different, and ultimately a legal expert should be consulted in any situation that feels like a grey area. But generally speaking, if your name is a truly generic EMD, then TMs should not be a concern for you.

Ancestry.com and Entrepreneur.com are interesting cases. Would anyone reg a domain using these words?

 

[Super-Annuation]

I've read those same comments from Google, but I'm not sure it's that cut-and-dry. I've also read a lot of different articles where data was presented to show that, all SEO things being equal, EMDs could have a slight advantage over non EMDs for matching (or near matching) search terms.

Maybe it's a chicken and egg situation? I.e. people see a url that matches their search and are more likely to click it, which improves trust/authority with Google and increases ranking.

You might be right here.

They recently bought ModernComputing.com

This is where it goes:
chromeenterprise.google/moderncomputing/

Some kind of established alliance.

I guess this is brand protection.

 

[Levi_charlz]

I recently trademarked the EMD GlobalStablecoins.com® and have been getting some good SEO results although I can’t guarantee this is down to the domain name or my websites content. I have tried my best to keep the site as balanced as possible. However, I can say for sure that EMD’s do create organic traffic.

I’ve been getting some interesting enquiries from both potential start ups and existing related businesses lately. I can’t go into it too much as I don’t want to jeopardise a potential sale. But they all definitely see value in one way or another.

 

[biggie]

Hi

let me throw my $0.001 in this

I thought that it’s been established that EMDs don’t have an advantage in generating traffic through google?

emd's that get type-in traffic, don't need google.

There is zero benefits for EMD's in relation to SEO

emd's that get traffic, don't need seo

understand that an exact match domain that gets type-in traffic, does not need google or seo to continue to get type-ins as long as people continue to type the word or phrase, in the address bar.


imo...

 

[Levi_charlz]

Perfect example of how powerful EMD .com branding is when you get it right.

Would they of raised so much interest without the Domain? I doubt it.

Blockchain.com Raises $300 Million Through Series C Funding Round Led By DST Global Partners, VY Capital, & Lightspeed

https://www-crowdfundinsider-com.cd...st-global-partners-vy-capital-lightspeed/amp/

 

[FolioTeam]

Hi

let me throw my $0.001 in this



emd's that get type-in traffic, don't need google.



emd's that get traffic, don't need seo

understand that an exact match domain that gets type-in traffic, does not need google or seo to continue to get type-ins as long as people continue to type the word or phrase, in the address bar.


imo...

I agree with you.

In addition, I will like to point out that you are likely to get that type-in traffic with a great one word EMD or a really good category killing two-worder.

So, Book.com is a great EMD that doesn't need SEO. But no one will be typing in YellowBooksSanAntonio.com in their address bar. Hence, the need to work on the content and SEO for the latter without which it wouldn't even rank for the keywords "Yellow Books San Antonio". Unless, there are no other competitors for those keywords

 

[biggie]

I agree with you.

In addition, I will like to point out that you are likely to get that type-in traffic with a great one word EMD or a really good category killing two-worder.

So, Book.com is a great EMD that doesn't need SEO. But no one will be typing in YellowBooksSanAntonio.com in their address bar. Hence, the need to work on the content and SEO for the latter without which it wouldn't even rank for the keywords "Yellow Books San Antonio". Unless, there are no other competitors for those keywords

Hi

book.com is generic word that would get type-in traffic,
however
if you build a website, or parking it, then you'll have to decide whether you're selling "books" or "reservations".
and because of that ambiguity, i'd rather have books.com than book.com

the example for usage of a domain like yellowbookssanantonio.com, has obvious problematic implications, for it to get traffic, so of course it would need development to gain visitors.


imo..

 

[KnifeCatcher]

I recently trademarked the EMD GlobalStablecoins.com® and have been getting some good SEO results although I can’t guarantee this is down to the domain name or my websites content. I have tried my best to keep the site as balanced as possible. However, I can say for sure that EMD’s do create organic traffic.

I’ve been getting some interesting enquiries from both potential start ups and existing related businesses lately. I can’t go into it too much as I don’t want to jeopardise a potential sale. But they all definitely see value in one way or another.

Show attachment 186516

Just curious why you're getting good SEO thanks to EMD? Global StableCoins get very little search queries...Unless I am missing something

 

[Levi_charlz]

Just curious why you're getting good SEO thanks to EMD? Global StableCoins get very little search queries...Unless I am missing something

I don’t know if the EMD has any influence to be fair.

 

[biggie]

Just curious why you're getting good SEO thanks to EMD? Global StableCoins get very little search queries...Unless I am missing something

Hi

stablecoins would be considered emd, but global stable coins is not.

imo...

 

[scithe]

If you owned Tesla and also owned electriccars.com, would it not be beneficial to use the exact match domain on a different hosted server and create a website that links to Tesla? Perhaps an authority page or a comparison site that has Tesla as the winner.

I feel like I've seen sites like this for Not-A-Pyramid-Scheme.com with SomeReviewSite.com set up to totally promote the business.

 

[Dshan]

If EMDs had any inherent SEO value imagine how screwed up the SERPs would be... remember how search engine results were in the 90s

 

[AEProgram]

EMD's are only good if you create a real business around it (not a mini site, a traffic page etc).

If you have a category defining EMD it will be easier for you to get people to link to you organically.

If I needed to start a company today I would go with an EMD in that niche over a brandable. It might cost 15-150k but I would not attempt to go at it if I cannot secure a good EMD for it (usually two word name).

If I had 15 million or more to spend on advertising I would go with a 4L brandable and probably buy a few EMD's to build as a traffic source. Build would mean daily updates, forums, articles and more.

Most EMD's are not developed, they are for sale. Some ended up big flips like creditcards.com for 2.5 mil to post development sale including other business parts for 145mil (something around that).

Freelancer is a great one word brand and many others too. Prior to that they were RentACoder.

Most of the names I try to buy now are EMD's, very few are for sale at a reasonable price for me, and most people that think they have EMD's don't.

A good EMD's maybe comes to the aftermarket (expired or dropped) once a month?

 

[skyrider]

All undeveloped petrolCars hydrogencar and electriccars and it all wont matter unless someone develops them. ..

On that note, I happen to be selling HydrogenTrucks.com, but am having trouble estimating the value

 

[AEProgram]

On that note, I happen to be selling HydrogenTrucks.com, but am having trouble estimating the value

electrictrucks.com sold for 23400 in 2019

 

[biggie]

HydrogenTrucks.com

Hi
build a mini site with information found below

"hydrogen trucks' - Yahoo Search Results

imo...

 

[domaineed]

Mostly people who like using 'pragmatic' brand names for a variety of reasons, such as type-in, word of mouth, SEO, CTR, trust, category leader, perception, memorability, instant recognition, marketing cost, campaigns, defensive, etc. etc.

Few examples:
CarCovers
HalloweenCostumes
BabyNames
BobbleHeads
RanchWork
etc. etc.

You might find this thread for CarCovers .com interesting:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362515601135046658

 

[AEProgram]

Mostly people who like using 'pragmatic' brand names for a variety of reasons, such as type-in, word of mouth, SEO, CTR, trust, category leader, perception, memorability, instant recognition, marketing cost, campaigns, defensive, etc. etc.

Few examples:
CarCovers
HalloweenCostumes
BabyNames
BobbleHeads
RanchWork
etc. etc.

You might find this thread for CarCovers .com interesting:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1362515601135046658

no need to visit that twitter thread just read this https://techstartups.com/2021/02/20...-figure-business-purchase-400000-domain-name/

 

[Levi_charlz]

Hi

stablecoins would be considered emd, but global stable coins is not.

imo...

Really

So you disagree with the European Central Banks official regulatory categorisation?

 

[KnifeCatcher]

Really

So you disagree with the European Central Banks official regulatory categorisation?

Not sure what this categorisation have to do with search engine exact match keywords?

 

[Levi_charlz]

Not sure what this categorisation have to do with search engine exact match keywords?

Classification defines meaning among regulatory bodies.

Federal Reserve
European Central Bank
FSB
GFMA
IOSCO
G20
G8

Have all released official papers outlining the definition of GSCs.

 

[KnifeCatcher]

Classification defines meaning among regulatory bodies.

Federal Reserve
European Central Bank
FATF
FSB
GFMA
IOSCO
G20
G8

Have all released official papers outlining the definition of GSCs.

I’m with you, but that doesn’t add value to the domain? Or even make it technically an EMD

Also, it’s an obscure classification that most people are unaware of (judging by the search volume)

unless I’m missing something else?