The Nameify Blog

First, a word about navigating the Internet  in general.

I’m a URL guy.

I actually type URLs into my browser. Sometimes they are complicated and drawn-out, but that’s the Internet I grew up using. But there’s a change in the wind.

The ‘lay’ public is moving away from URLs as the way to move around the web. What they do (and I encourage you to watch your fellow humans to verify this) is type the main part of the URL (company name or product) into the search box and then click whichever link on the list presented seems right.

For some users, it goes even further, you give them an actual, working URL to enter and they type it into the search box.

For many of them, there is no difference between the two methods. ‘Going to a site’ means bringing up a list of keyword related sites through Google and clicking on the right one. This even happens when they have been visiting a site consistently for months (like hotmail to check their email). No bookmark, no www.hotmail.com, but rather, typing hotmail (which is where they want to go) into the search box at the top of their browser.

Even print and TV ads are taking this into account- "To find out more about the newest Pontiac, Google ‘Pontiac’. " These guys know a trend when they smell one.

And they know that they need to market to non-geeks; you know, the people who think AOL is the Internet?

Where’s this meta-trend headed?

It’s headed towards even more moneymaking for search engine companies.

They can sell targeted keywords (perhaps as a side box on the regular search results) so that every time you search the single keyword ‘pontiac’ you get www.pontiac.com. (Which you actually do.)

But even more so, the trend is for something along these lines: Instead of owning the key domain name, you just SEO your site for a short phrase you want to put in your ‘Google this’ ad. So, if you don’t have or can’t afford to own ‘dietmagic.com’, you set your SEO for ‘magical diet’ and put that in your ad: "Google magical diet to find out more".

REAL WORLD EXAMPLE:  The top listing for ‘magical diet’ is at DietBites.com even though the domain MagicDiet.com exists, and even though the terms linked together also exist (MagicalDiet.com is parked on GoDaddy).

Everything old is new again.

If all this sounds vaguely familiar, it should. It is remeniscent of AOL keywords and RealNames at Yahoo. The difference this time is that there are enough unsophisticated users on the Internet now for the idea to make a comeback on its own.

The way people actually use the Internet always trumps the way we think they ought to use the Internet. These are the same people who think that their browser opening up means they are online (and can’t distinguish between something posted on Yahoo and something they linked to through Yahoo).

I have been told that Amazon.com was "in my email" because that’s where the link was. Yes. They saved the email so they could still have access to www.amazon.com. Really.

The trend changes things for domainers.

How does this change things for domain buyers and resellers?

Well, suddenly, the long URL is back. As long as it matches a search term you want to put in an ad. www.smellsreallygreat.com becomes viable if that’s your tagline in the ad.

Also, the dot-whatever extensions get new life. If it doesn’t matter what your actual URL is, it won’t matter that it ends in dot info or dot de. What will matter is what shows up when I search out ‘beaver pelts’ (or worse). Bad news for domainers who aren’t out to improve their site statistics on search engines. Simply owning MagicalDiet.com won’t be enough anymore if it doesn’t pop up in a search engine.

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