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RSSTalk about the Internet being like the Wild, Wild West. Along with the extraordinary expansion of domain name choices and opportunities would come HUGE potential for search engine marketing.
Currently, there is a limited range of 21 top-level domains (TLDs) from which to choose, such as .com, .org, .info and .uk. According to ICANN, this decision will allow applicants for new names to select the most marketable domains, making them perfect for attracting their target customers.
So businesses will now be able to apply for generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere. ICANN even reports that there are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based TLDs like .nyc, .berlin and .paris.
At first glance, this seems to make perfect sense. But my hope is that it doesn't spiral out of control, becoming a field day for cybersquatters that register, traffic in or use domain names in bad faith, intending to profit from the goodwill of someone else's trademark.
That would create a huge nightmare for established brands like Amazon.com, which would need to procure a laundry list of domains -- everything from books.amazon and music.amazon to amazon.books and amazon.music -- to prevent cybersquatters from wrongfully registering and profiting from its name.
It should be noted, however, that ICANN will not be selling the new TLDs for some time. The recommendation must first receive final approval early next year, followed by a limited period in which any established entity can submit an application for evaluation.
Search Engines and the Domainrush If and when it does happen, look for an immediate impact on search engine marketing. Search engines love keyword-enriched domain names, since finding exact keywords in domains proves to be an extremely strong indicator of a Web site's relevance to a search query.
By combining a newly acquired generic domain name with a very good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, a small company could find itself ranking among extremely competitive search terms and among Fortune 1000 companies. Of course, Web sites need quality inbound links to rank high on Google, but a great domain name can go a long way.
Keyword-enriched domain names and URL paths (there is a difference) are usually what it takes to achieve a top-10 organic ranking. Take, for example, AllFreshSeafood.com (ranking No. 4 on Google for "fresh seafood"); BreakingNews.com (No. 6 on Yahoo for latest breaking news") and BagelBoss.com (No. 4 on Google for "bagels"). I'm sure you get the point.
Still, non-keyword-enriched domain names can be optimized by adding keyword-enriched page names. For example, StorageDeluxe.com sits atop Google for "Brooklyn storage" and the URL path is www.storagedeluxe.com/locations_brooklyn.asp; a Google search for "used Acura parts" returns www.uneedapart.com/used-acura-parts.php as No. 1; and a search on Yahoo for "cardio exercises" yields www.lucilleroberts.com/cardio-exercies on the first page of the search results.
Now that we've established that a keyword-enriched domain name can be extraordinarily valuable, just think about owing a domain like .insurance -- you could have auto.insurance, life.insurance, health.insurance, business.insurance, etc. Beyond the obvious and tremendous SEO benefit, imagine what this will do to build brands.
I am curious to see if those who register new generic TLDs will use them to dominate their niche or resell domains. Only time will tell.
ICANN reports that there will be a six-figure charge for registering these new domains. That is chump change for major domains -- and even those that want to be
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I still find it hard to believe that TV stations and network haven't jumped all over this one. There should be a KABC.tv, WPIX.tv, etc.
I'm sure many will comment that the .tv is not a "captured" domain ending owned by one source and is a bit of a different subject. That is true. My point is that it will take the right kind of marketing to make TLD's work. At the beginning people will see an ad for "auto.insurance" and keep typing in a .com or .net at the end and wind up frustrated. This after the advertiser spends thousands in promotion.
Rob - I agree with what you're saying but my concern is when someone registers and/or manages the registry of let's say .books and .music. Arguably in this situation, TM violation of course, but someone could register amazon.books and amazon.music...amazon would have to do more monitoring on the unlawful registration of its TM in domain names.
Chris - I am a VERY strong believer in using keyword enriched domains (of course we have achieved page one rankings for keywords not in the URL)....as an example, we launched less than two months ago www.FoodCouponsDirect.com - this site is already # 1 in Yahoo for a search on food coupons...in less than eight weeks....I believe the domain has a strong weight in that...as well as content, keyword research, title, META, links, etc., etc.
Genie - Great question.....I too would love to see that research. I registered baseball.agent, hockey.agent, bartending.school, flight.school, etc. YEARS ago and never used the URLs to date....would love to know what has and has not worked with those TLDs....I do certainly see PLENTY of .net, .info. .biz, .us showing up organically on the first page of Google...
I recently discussed this topic with a former ICANN board member and he is of the belief that this expansion is a very good thing for the internet.
As always, time will tell.....
Re SEO - and it's perhaps[?] something those in the USA don't always appreciate. Outside America, Google always offers 'local' or 'global' searches - eg in the UK we get the option Experience with my own domains/sites is that it is the extension [suffix] that is the dominant criteria - a .co.uk site will top a .com in a 'pages from the UK' search'.
So will the new TLDs all be considered as 'American' - or might they take their location from the organization that registers and controls them? This might be problematic for a global-trading company, eg if a UK company registers .insurance will they struggle with 'local' searches around the world? Or will we see an expanded use of 2nd/3rd/4th level names eg www.UK.car.insurance or www.Florida.USA.automobile.insurance?
I'll repeat what I have said on other blogs/forums - it's going to take Joe and Jane public a while to get to grips with web addresses that do not end with .com or .co.uk [insert your local ccTLD here]. I am still confused when I see 'egypt.travel' in newspaper ads for that country's tourism agency.
To finish ... given the subject of this posting, it is ironic that the new TLDs may well drive more folk to search engines as they will have less confidence in 'guessing' them in their browser.
And I see "Brooklyn storage" appear 5 times on that page, and once each in the title, description, and keywords tags.
But even if there is real proof that demonstrates or measures the effectiveness of keywords in the URL, that proof may not extend to include the effect of a TLD on SEO.
As the previous poster mentioned, I'd like some scientific proof that the TLD makes any difference at all.
Granted, most of the 200+ TLDs are ccTLDs (cc = country code). If you are a multi-national corp, or hope to be one day, you absolutely should get those domains before considering the vanity TLD options. For countries like germany (.de), china (.cn), UK (.uk) France (.fr) and others, this is first option browsers choose when going online -- often more frequently than .com.
The other thing I am curious about is how some of the niche TLDs that already exist are doing, like .jobs, .travel and .museum? They have been around for years, so there should be some good case studies by now. And yet, I don't know of too many brands in the respective industries that have registered .jobs, .travel or .museum domains. Sort of leaves you wondering why.
I recently wrote a two-part series on new gTLDs for Search Insider, and have a few thoughts on this.
I'm with you on the *potential* for relevancy from a new TLD, but I think it will ultimately be up to the way a registry is managed, that determines keyword success or not (I wrote a bit about this in my column, linked below).
New TLD managers also may not be required to open up registrations. So for example, if Amazon gets ".Amazon", they can create any domain they want, without the worry of someone capturing obvious TM variations like books.amazon, dvds.amazon, etc. I expect this is the route that many TM TLDs will take (closing registrations).
A new TLD will in many ways be just like any other domain name, in terms of capturing a competitive term or phrase. So a theoretical site like auto.insurance will still need to capture links, build up content, and engage their audience, or offer some sort of unique or comeptitive value to gain visibility. Not to say that it might have some slight lift, but I think the other factors such as existing search equity from a previous domain, branding, customer confusion, etc. may outweight search benefits in certain cases, and marketers shouldn't take the new TLDs as a magic bullet for search. Here are my columns for more info:
.Anythinggoes? The Impact Of New ICANN Vanity Top-Level Domains http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/search_insider/?p=831
More On The Search And Brand Impact Of Vanity Generic Top Level Domains http://www.mediapost.com/blogs/search_insider/?p=842
i doubt google will let us simply buy our way in to top rankings