gTLD – Fad or Here to Stay?

[katherine]

BTW if you are hoping for a SEO boost - forget the idea. New TLDs will not bestow any competitive advantage.

- If expensive .COMs is the problem, then why do registries withhold all the good domains ?

SSshhhhh you just exposed the ploy

 

[MobileDesigner]

yes but....my questions are :

- Why would a mom-and-pop place need a category killer ? It just doesn't make sense to me. A so-and-so domain would be ok, possibly including location
- If everyone owned the equivalent of a premium domain like plumbing.com or plumber.com etc, how would people know which one is the big site when presented with a long list of results ?
- If expensive .COMs is the problem, then why do registries withhold all the good domains ?

yea, those darn poo-poo heads. again, these could be resulted in categories. The solutions are available (back and front-end of search engines) but i cannot explain as I'm tied to NDAs. The results will not be a complete contrast to what is currently available, but they will help a lot better.

Your assignment:
1. search for "dallas plumber" on google. scroll to the bottom.
what do you see?


"SEARCHES RELATED TO DALLAS PLUMBER"
"dallas water heaters"
"dallas plumber reviews"
"cheap plumbers in dallas"
"dallas electrician"
"dallas carpenter"
"plumbers dallas denton" (denton is suburb)
"dallas toilet"
"dallas plumbing and heating"
(The bold words are some of the new gtlds.)

Google has already known that users need to categorize and narrow searches as there are too many results. therefore, they needed to create this section.
if you type "dallas plumber that is close to denton", the "SEARCHES RELATED TO DALLAS PLUMBER" has disappeared. The same goes for Bing.com. But Bing.com has added the "most popular searches" next to the keyword when users type in the search box (adding "coupons", "reviews" "unions", "jobs", etc.)

back in 1997, when users typed in "dallas plumber" the number of technological-savvy owner of a website was very limited. for example 500 websites were up and running for plumbers in dallas. web design schools were not available. jesh, we couldn't even make payments via internet in those days. 18 years later, more schools were available to learn web site design, web site design services and companies boomed, high school kids went to college and learned about the internet, man... pretty much everyone knows how to make a website. so in 1997, only 500 plumbing websites were up on the internet. search for "plumber" now and we see 17,000,000. and all during these years. only .com, .net, .info, .biz domains were available. The new graduates from IT and Business wanted to make their own companies. but some of YOU (and me) hoarded these domains, parked them and list them for sale for $500,000...instead, these new grads got pissed and either gave up or regged a different name. now that the new gltds are out, its a whole new ballgame.

lets compare between .com and the new gtlds:

1. search for "dallasplumber.com". # of search results: 3,980
2. search for dallasplumber (no quotes). # of search results: 2,760,000
3. search for "dallas plumber". # of search results: 14,000
4. search for "dallas.plumber". # of search results: 2,850,000

Which two have almost the same number of results? Yep, 2 and 4
:-s

 

[Biggie]

yes but....my questions are :


- If expensive .COMs is the problem, then why do registries withhold all the good domains ?

so they can "auction" them at later date, to rekindle the frenzy

 

[Gerry]

So, the average joe and delores search for a plumber in dallas.

The enter dallas plumber on google

Here are the first 20 results:

https://www.berkeys.com/plumbing
bakerbrothersplumbing.com
bbb.org/dallas/...
rotorrooter.com/dallas
yelp.com
yelp.com
bestpickreports.com
dallas.mrrooter.com
angieslist.com
yellowpages.com
atlasplumbing.com
holdenplumbing.com
precision-plumbing.com
superpages.com/yellowpages/.......
indeed.com/.....
benjaminfranklinplumbing.com
homeadvisor.com
prontoplumbingdfw.com
rodgersplumbing.com

This list pretty much proves that everything is keyword driven and keyword specific.

Most are directories to and of dallas plumbers. So you have to visit one site (a directory) and conduct your searches from there. Some directories (Angie's List) actually charge to membership fee to utilize there services.

The point is NOTHING Dallas Plumbers specific search terms takes you to dallasplumbers specified search term. Everything appears to be either part of a directory or is appearing thanks to the keywords dallas plumbers in the text, description, keywords, metatagging, etc.

This leads to this question: if everything dominating the top search results are pointing to a directory that contains the keywords (search term), then why can't an exact term and exact match keyword domain NOT dominate in a keyword related search?

 

[DomainsInc]

yea, those darn poo-poo heads. again, these could be resulted in categories. The solutions are available (back and front-end of search engines) but i cannot explain as I'm tied to NDAs. The results will not be a complete contrast to what is currently available, but they will help a lot better.

Your assignment:
1. search for "dallas plumber" on google. scroll to the bottom.
what do you see?


"SEARCHES RELATED TO DALLAS PLUMBER"
"dallas water heaters"
"dallas plumber reviews"
"cheap plumbers in dallas"
"dallas electrician"
"dallas carpenter"
"plumbers dallas denton" (denton is suburb)
"dallas toilet"
"dallas plumbing and heating"
(The bold words are some of the new gtlds.)

Google has already known that users need to categorize and narrow searches as there are too many results. therefore, they needed to create this section.
if you type "dallas plumber that is close to denton", the "SEARCHES RELATED TO DALLAS PLUMBER" has disappeared. The same goes for Bing.com. But Bing.com has added the "most popular searches" next to the keyword when users type in the search box (adding "coupons", "reviews" "unions", "jobs", etc.)

back in 1997, when users typed in "dallas plumber" the number of technological-savvy owner of a website was very limited. for example 500 websites were up and running for plumbers in dallas. web design schools were not available. jesh, we couldn't even make payments via internet in those days. 18 years later, more schools were available to learn web site design, web site design services and companies boomed, high school kids went to college and learned about the internet, man... pretty much everyone knows how to make a website. so in 1997, only 500 plumbing websites were up on the internet. search for "plumber" now and we see 17,000,000. and all during these years. only .com, .net, .info, .biz domains were available. The new graduates from IT and Business wanted to make their own companies. but some of YOU (and me) hoarded these domains, parked them and list them for sale for $500,000...instead, these new grads got pissed and either gave up or regged a different name. now that the new gltds are out, its a whole new ballgame.

lets compare between .com and the new gtlds:

1. search for "dallasplumber.com". # of search results: 3,980
2. search for dallasplumber (no quotes). # of search results: 2,760,000
3. search for "dallas plumber". # of search results: 14,000
4. search for "dallas.plumber". # of search results: 2,850,000

Which two have almost the same number of results? Yep, 2 and 4
:-s

well guess what, dallas.plumbing is taken by a well known domainer. so, its the same story all over again. regardless as to search engines, why would dallasplumbing.com be looked at any differently than dallas.plumbing when searching for "dallas plumbing" with or without quotes? also i don't get the same numbers as you...for number 3 and 4 i get the exact same results, 14,000 since google views a dot as a space.

also, i bet if i looked hard enough i could find you saying the same thing about holding onto .mobi domains years back. what makes you so sure you will be right this time?

 

[MobileDesigner]

Smash! Drop-kicked and on the ground bleeding. Domainsinc.
i reinforced the industry for .mobi with my knowledge. It was a bad domain but thats what was available then. .mobile however is way better when users are searching for mobile stuff like mobile computers or mobile homes. Yea, for only ONE company wanting a .mobi presence only needed to create a subdomian m.name.com but if there are more than one name.com, it would make sense having these nee extensions.
But please do not agree with me so that future names will be available for me to buy.

 

[DomainsInc]

Smash! Drop-kicked and on the ground bleeding. Domainsinc.
i reinforced the industry for .mobi with my knowledge. It was a bad domain but thats what was available then. .mobile however is way better when users are searching for mobile stuff like mobile computers or mobile homes. Yea, for only ONE company wanting a .mobi presence only needed to create a subdomian m.name.com but if there are more than one name.com, it would make sense having these nee extensions.
But please do not agree with me so that future names will be available for me to buy.

forget i said the last paragraph. it was not needed. i was more curious about why search engines would treat dallasplumbing.com any differently than dallas.plumbing. i am not trying to be a 'basher'...i even bought a couple of these domains though if you and i and domainers all over the world buy them, whats going to be left for startups and mom and pops?

 

[Gerry]

I have been simply "window shopping" to see what other people are doing with their domains and I am honestly quite impressed with how rapid many are being developed out.

This is a nice site:
makers.and.builders

great use of one of the most common words in the english language (and) and creating a subdomain that actually has endless possibilities. Found this when googling site:.builders. (note: I own a couple of builders)

I was really impressed with all the developed sites or in progress when search for site:.menu. I own no .menu but was glad to see so many sites made.

strength.training, resume.builder, tablet.menu and so on are going to perpetuate, propagate, and penetrate the internet. Exact keyword matches are going to reign above all else. Otherwise, what is even the point of releasing all these tads?

 

[Ian]

Yes. But the keyword being searched is just that. Users would not type in "name domain .com" in the search engine, they would type "name domain" instead. And results will be seen differently (sorry, NDA) which would perfectly compliment these new .gtlds.
Regging domains carefully. "Ballerina.plumbing" would not make any sense and would throw such domains out of the search engine (sorry, darn NDAs).

when we old folks were regging .coms .nets and .orgs, we put "quotes" at the end and beginning of the keywords to see how many reults would appear. This was one of the main factors in determining regging a domain name. This

I find your take on how search engines could index content placed on the new gTLDs interesting. What intrigues me is how different language strings on a new gTLD e.g. .plumbing could target audiences say sanchez.plumbing (Spanish) vs. John.plumbing (English). If these two plumbers are located in California serving different clients (English vs. Spanish). How would you rank the results of these two domains in two languages under the TLD .plumbing to users? Thanks for your time.

 

[Biggie]

If these two plumbers are located in California serving different clients (English vs. Spanish). How would you rank the results of these two domains in two languages under the TLD .plumbing to users? Thanks for your time.

it's not up to any of us to 'rank' the domains or websites, on the .gtld ... that's what the SE's will determine.

the first hurdle will be competition with established .com in same market.

and that too, will be determined by SE's.

also think, "legitimacy" of gtlds will be an issue, with general public deciding to use service of .com site versus a new .whatever.

take all tlds/cctlds/gtlds and look at what extension is used most and then the next one down the line.

follow the hype of release of each, then see where they are now.

sure, over time, some make the leap to commercial acceptance, like a .tv

but don't forget .pw .asia .xxx .eu


time, is biggest factor....how long you gonna wait for it, is up to you

 

[MobileDesigner]

Biggie is right. thats all up to how people search and how the search engine determines what is ranked. such factors include "location", "history" and "keywords entered". as of now, there is no way (or limited) to enter the factors and see the new domain extensions in the results quite yet. I've seen a few but i used "quotes" including the extension and the owners name (which was included in the domain). On the other side of this rainbow is that the public doesn't really know about these domains so the majority of us are snagging these domains and parking them. we haven't created any content yet. i haven't created any sites quite yet. one of them has great keywords - phone (dotgoeshere) technology - if i were to test this and add an "i" or "android" or "google" in front... curious to know what would happen. i could get slapped with a cease and desist letter but I'm curious to know how it would be treated.

have any of you noticed that "domain.extension" has the same number of results as "name extension" (without quotes)? a lot of us got some good domains but we haven't created any content on them so that is why we don't see them ranked up with the .com versions.

I find your take on how search engines could index content placed on the new gTLDs interesting. What intrigues me is how different language strings on a new gTLD e.g. .plumbing could target audiences say sanchez.plumbing (Spanish) vs. John.plumbing (English). If these two plumbers are located in California serving different clients (English vs. Spanish). How would you rank the results of these two domains in two languages under the TLD .plumbing to users? Thanks for your time.

 

[MobileDesigner]

forget i said the last paragraph. it was not needed. i was more curious about why search engines would treat dallasplumbing.com any differently than dallas.plumbing. i am not trying to be a 'basher'...i even bought a couple of these domains though if you and i and domainers all over the world buy them, whats going to be left for startups and mom and pops?

ptthhh, no worries. i got used to that during the .mobi era (error).
on the reply to Ian's question, its the same. IMO.

(searching keywords...)
"dallas plumbing .com" # of results: 195,000
"dallas plumbing" # of results: 37,100
"dallas.plumbing" # of results: 37,200
dallas.plumbing # of results: 14,500,000
dallas plumbing # of results: 14,500,000
(and when just the 2 keywords without quotes are entered, the following is shown:

plumbing contractors dallas
dallas plumbing and air conditioning
dallas plumbing supplies
dallas plumbing fixtures

dallas plumbing reviews
dallas plumbing jobs
dallas plumbing code
dallas plumbing equipment parts



[FONT=arial, sans-serif]




and if you look at the bold words on the results page, you can see other combined keywords.
i highly doubt that we would buy all of those domain variants.
don't you think that mom and pop businesses would purchase a domain extension with their names? i.e. www.SanfordandSons.plumbing, jacks.plumbing, etc. we domineers would not buy those. we end up buying www.best.plumbing or www.fixmy.plumbing as we are different animals.
without these domain extensions, www.SanfordandSons.com could mean any type of business. especially if users nowadays are dependent upon keyword searching and search for "sanford and sons plumbing" which most likely list both the .plumbing and .com extensions. but if the .com extension is taken for SanfordandSons without the "plumbing" keyword, the results page could mean anything. this is a lot of work for the search engines servers which costs more money for maintaining.

around April, ill be able to share more about this theory (need to adhere to the current NDAs)[/FONT]

 

[DomainsInc]

ptthhh, no worries. i got used to that during the .mobi era (error).
on the reply to Ian's question, its the same. IMO.

(searching keywords...)
"dallas plumbing .com" # of results: 195,000
"dallas plumbing" # of results: 37,100
"dallas.plumbing" # of results: 37,200
dallas.plumbing # of results: 14,500,000
dallas plumbing # of results: 14,500,000
(and when just the 2 keywords without quotes are entered, the following is shown:

plumbing contractors dallas
dallas plumbing and air conditioning
dallas plumbing supplies
dallas plumbing fixtures

dallas plumbing reviews
dallas plumbing jobs
dallas plumbing code
dallas plumbing equipment parts



[FONT=arial, sans-serif]




and if you look at the bold words on the results page, you can see other combined keywords.
i highly doubt that we would buy all of those domain variants.
don't you think that mom and pop businesses would purchase a domain extension with their names? i.e. www.SanfordandSons.plumbing, jacks.plumbing, etc. we domineers would not buy those. we end up buying www.best.plumbing or www.fixmy.plumbing as we are different animals.
without these domain extensions, www.SanfordandSons.com could mean any type of business. especially if users nowadays are dependent upon keyword searching and search for "sanford and sons plumbing" which most likely list both the .plumbing and .com extensions. but if the .com extension is taken for SanfordandSons without the "plumbing" keyword, the results page could mean anything. this is a lot of work for the search engines servers which costs more money for maintaining.

around April, ill be able to share more about this theory (need to adhere to the current NDAs)[/FONT]

google views a dot a space currently so thats why those last two have the same results.

as for your scenario, sure its possible and i'm sure will happen to some degree but couldn't they just register sandfordandsonsplumbing.com for 8 bucks? chances are something so specific won't be taken in .com or .anything else.

 

[manyagem]

I love your optimism, MB. At present rate of progress, I figure I might have a dozen sites developed and possibly make a return in my late 80s, but at least my sons may reap some benefit.

 

[jmcc]

yes but....my questions are :

- Why would a mom-and-pop place need a category killer ? It just doesn't make sense to me. A so-and-so domain would be ok, possibly including location

And that is one of the main dynamics of ccTLD registrations.

Ordinary people don't think like domainers and many domainers seem not to think like ordinary people. In any healthy ccTLD, there is always a mix of generic/category killer/business domains. Domainers generally see the large TLDs such as .COM as a single market based but it is not. It really is a set of country level markets that use .COM. Most mom and pop businesses are heavily focused on their local market and thus they will more more likely to use their local ccTLD instead of a descriptive new gTLD where they might get lost in terms of local market awareness.

Some of the new gTLDs may end up like those repurposed ccTLDs with minimal usage and minimal public awareness. Others might do well. But it is still to early to accurately predict which ones will do well and which will fail.

Regards...jmcc

 

[Charles Sweeney]

Baers.net: "I don't think any gTLD will ever become a top runner without strict regulation. I do believe if a gTLD operated in a similar manner to the .edu that it would stand a fighting chance. Imagine, if you will, an application based system that required signing an agreement to develop within a certain timeframe. Further, all development must adhere to strict quality guidelines to ensure only the top sites were built on this extension. This type of system would eliminate both spam and affiliate websites and all personal projects. This would allow the top domains to be developed by high-quality, legitimate businesses. In turn, this would bring a certain prestige to the extension. Users would begin to identify .whatever as a mediated, trustworthy source for both information and commerce. In my opinion, this is the only way for a gTLD to succeed in an overcrowded world full of hype."

Yep. Some of the registries for the new domains have strict criteria for registering which would prevent a lot of junk and a free-for-all. Just off the top of my head, .wed domains can only be owned for one year.

 

[A D]

I will say FAD now with domainers, rest of public may catch on in 5-10 years or not at all.

 

[MobileDesigner]

I agree with Adam. No one can tell now. I'd hate to be left out if there's possible money to make. So reg wisely

 

[Gerry]

A highly visible product would be the main injection these new "fads" would need...something like .coke, .pepsi, .bud. A consumer product advertised to consumers in the new name form would be the impetus for acceptance. But it desperately needs that high profile jolt.

The brand is the name. The name is the brand.

 

[Gerry]

So reg wisely

precisely.