For Sale how accurate is overture stats

[changejobs]

recntly i have put some names in overture tool complete with the .com and have seen some names with a few hundred monthly type ins. These are not generic and have no links to them.i see nothing to justify a few hundred typeins per month for the name.

any ideas

regards
larry

 

[mole]

I think Overture stats is, has always been, just another gimmick to sell PPC or as a side-spinoff, value domains/domain traffic.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

 

[Joe826]

Overturen CAN be a gimmick, but it can also be a very very useful tool, don't give him the wrong impression. As far as finding names with a few hundred type-ins, those still may be good names. Most of the type-ins won't have links on the internet, since it's just a the user who mistypes it and not necessary the website publishers (though this does happen). Gauging it's popularity on links is not a good idea. Remember that type-ins can be typos of another popular site, like leaving a letter off, or making a double letter. Also, it could be the name with a different TLD. It could also be a foreign word, who knows. Search for the key term and see what you find. The general rule is, if you don't know and can't find any reason why that particular type-in would actually be feasible, don't buy. Use overture in conjunction with google and in several different ways, you should be fine.

Joe

 

[Attilio]

I find Overture returns very usefull, in my opinion they are one of the fundamental parameters to try to estimate the type-in potential of a domain name.

However if I would know how to do it I would have used bold and underline for " ONE OF " because used by itself, and in particular considering returns for .com version of the name only, Overture results can deliver very bad surprises.

I myself found and registered a few domains with hundred of monthly Overture searches for the complete name (including TLD) which sorted out to get no real type-in traffic at all (or ridicously low one).

That for I surely suggest to be careful and as Joe286 wrote to check out and compare Google results, links, and Overture returns for same keyword without TLD and with and whitout spaces between words (when tere are more than one).

 

[David G]

Originally posted by Attilio I find Overture returns very usefull, in my opinion they are one of the fundamental parameters to try to estimate the type-in potential of a domain name. However if I would know how to do it I would have used bold and underline for " ONE OF " because used by itself, and in particular considering returns for .com version of the name only, Overture results can deliver very bad surprises. I myself found and registered a few domains with hundred of monthly Overture searches for the complete name (including TLD) which sorted out to get no real type-in traffic at all (or ridicously low one). That for I surely suggest to be careful and as Joe286 wrote to check out and compare Google results, links, and Overture returns for same keyword without TLD and with and whitout spaces between words (when tere are more than one).

Been there and done that too. I find Suggestion Tool returns very bewildering. I have reg'd many names with good ST results (using the domain and extension) but when I put them online with a counter the hits are almost nothing. When ST results are checked the next mo suddenly and for no apparent reason the returns are down to zero.

However, there have also been some pleasant surprises, for example, several names I purchased or had Snaps on ended up with even better results than hoped for. Perhaps the ST showed say 50 returns for the month but when put online it was say 50 to 100-day, mostly pure type-ins (I think). The reverse has also happened.

An example is a name I had a Snap on which had 107 ST results for Feb., name and ext. Four days ago I put it online and it's getting 20 to 40 hits/day, all believed to be type-ins as it was never an online website before and of course is not yet listed in the Search Engines, etc.

It's all a very strange and inexact science and the reason for this is quite mysterious. However, I think I am finally close to the point of understanding it all after learning from experience at the game. Anyone else here have thoughts on this?

 

[changejobs]

thanks for all your very informative feedback.
i took a chance and registered the domain to see if gets any traffic. i'll repost to the column in a eek or so once the site with counter is up for a few days. the only reason i dont put the name in now is the counter results would be false as people here will go to see th domain once its posted(only natural). this way we can all learn in a week on this experiment.

regards
larry

 

[jingle]

the strange results could be from people checking "expiring soon" domains at overture to see if any websites relate to those domains. When people see a domain that's about to expire some of them probably go to overture.com and search for it to see if it shows anything. For example, allahabadinfo.com expired a short while ago. It shows 409 at the overture search tool but will likely show 0 next month. What probably happened is that there were 409 searches done at overture in feb on that domain from people looking at expired domain lists. Why so many people thought that domain looked interesting enough to check it at overture.com is a mystery to me. Well, that might not be what happened but it's my best guess. allahabadinfo.com is available if you want.

 

[David G]

Originally posted by jingle the strange results could be from people checking "expiring soon" domains at overture to see if any websites relate to those domains. When people see a domain that's about to expire some of them probably go to overture.com and search for it to see if it shows anything. For example, allahabadinfo.com expired a short while ago. It shows 409 at the overture search tool but will likely show 0 next month. What probably happened is that there were 409 searches done at overture in feb on that domain from people looking at expired domain lists. Why so many people thought that domain looked interesting enough to check it at overture.com is a mystery to me. Well, that might not be what happened but it's my best guess. allahabadinfo.com is available if you want.

Excellent feedback. Thanks. I never realized that could be a big reason for ST results going from good to bad or zero the next mo., just never gave that possibility any thought.

I have a strong suspicion many of the names I have either been buying or following which dropped to zero were in fact expiring ones being searched for ST results from expired lists. This is very likely the main explanation but I feel there are other scenarios also. Any ideas on other possibilities?

It sure would not take that much expired list exposure to get 25 or more returns for name plus extension, which 25 is the minimum I believe for ST results to show.

P.S. Puzzle possibly solved. Now I see even more the likely scenario what has been happening. Here it is: We see it on an expired list, go to Suggestion Tool, see it has no returns (25 is the minimum I believe), and therefore do not reg it that month. However, the next month someone posts here the name has 25 or 50 or more ST returns (caused by many checking the expired list of the month before), so this time we do in fact reg it after seeing that is so. Once reg'd we all stop checking ST that month so the next mo it drops down to zero again...very interesting and the puzzle may be solved, at least in part.

I think from now on I will reg far less suggestion tool type-in names (and certainly avoid paying bounties for them, be it dnf$ or cash as some want), and be much more conservative and suspect when considering them.

 

[RON2]

Some link popularity checkers query AltaVista, which pulls results from Overture and adds to the ST numbers for that month. Overture numbers are always very high in the couple months before a name drops because of this.

 

[David G]

Originally posted by -RJ- Some link popularity checkers query AltaVista, which pulls results from Overture and adds to the ST numbers for that month. Overture numbers are always very high in the couple months before a name drops because of this.

Did not know that. More evidence and reasons for this. Thanks!

I can't believe the money many have wasted paying bounties on these ST names that go to zero the next month. Now we know why, right? Do those who offer the ST names for dnf$ or cash know about this scenario, or were they in the dark on it too? If so it sure seems like it is taking advantage of unsuspecting members.

 

[Joe826]

That is very interesting feedback, I never thought of that scenario. That's why it's so important to use other resources available before actually purchasing the domain. Like I said before, I think if you make sure you can justify the type-ins (like it's a typo of a popular domain, wrong TLD, etc.) and other resources check out you won't pick up as many bad ones. Good luck.

Joe

 

[adill420]

Excellent feedbacks from others. Here is what one should do when going after domains for overture listed numbers:

1) check the popularity on overture with the .com
2) then check without the .com
3) go to alexa and check for rating
4) check the wayback tool - this is an excellent tool for people who like to do research before going after domains
5) then check on google and other engines..

From my personal experience I have picked up a lot of domains that have barely any or none traffic and show good results on overture, while i have also picked up some gold mines that show barely anything on overture and have great traffic (many of those have nothing on google or alexa or wayback). What one can really do is take risk. From my experience 5 out of 1 domain so far has been the ratio to pick up gold mines. Good luck with your research!

 

[RON2]

Never rely on overture alone. Anyone with an extra few minutes to spare can inflate the overture numbers on any domain. I have tested this and can get a 500 to 600 ST results for any domain name in 5 minutes work.