Web addresses have always been big business. In the early days of the Internet many firms were caught out when they discovered their names had already been registered. But the release of the latest phase of generic top level domains (gTLDs) – the .com, .org at the end of the address – is sparking a new gold rush.
While the new gTLDs will probably not carry the perceived importance of the more established domains (such as .com), the temptation to register domains such as car.insurance or insurance.deals (perhaps using car. as a subdomain) will be too great for some, and at $185,000 for each domain name it’s not a decision to be taken lightly.
Generally, the reasons for registering a domain are branding, reselling, brand name protection and SEO. Although the first three reasons have existed for some time, the latter is the one that concerns me the most.
Evidence seems to show that in the past Google and Microsoft have favoured exact match domain names (e.g.www.mobilephones.co.uk) for a search for mobile phones in the UK).
However, search engine algorithms are constantly changing. Once you’ve bought a domain name, there’s nothing you can do to react to such changes, making it an unnecessarily risky strategy from an SEO point of view.
For most of those that spent fortunes acquiring a keyword rich domain name in the last few years, the best case scenario is that it was probably a waste of money; money that could have been spent on SEO, branding or any other value-added activity.
To add insult to injury, the exact match .com and similar domains could see a further devaluation once the new gTLDs are on sale.
Once the gTLDs are approved and go live, many people will rush to buy domains with valuable keywords in. However, if you feel that having car.insurance will be a cool, easy to remember brand for you, feel free to invest – there will be a few catchy domains to be had. If, however, you’re looking for the next SEO magic bullet, I’d recommend looking elsewhere.
Matthew Oxley is head of search at Gravytrain
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