DomainTools Blog

A debate on Domaining was sparked over an article that was published on Domaining at Search Engine Land. Frank Schilling pointed out that the article was basically a positive piece, but it’s was so couched and cautious in its review of the domain traffic industry and written with such halting hesitation he called the article, “Search Engine Land of Make Believe”. Danny Sullivan stepped out and gave his personal view of domaining. He said he had no problems with it except for three small dislikes,

“For me personally, with domaining, I generally only have three things I dislike:

First, the idea of tasting. It just feels unfair that you’ve got people who’ve established a way to find out what works and have a free ride for testing. But I can’t blame the domainers for that. If that’s the way the system works, and they’re smart enough to work it, there’s some admiration.

Second, typo domains. Frankly, if you’re making money off a typo of someone else’s domain, I’d love to see either the domain yanked out from under you or the ads cutoff. Generics? Have a ball.

Third, that you can’t buy domain traffic separately. Contextual ads initially came under fire as being sucky because they did not convert as well as search. No surprise — contextual ads are completely different from search. They should be sold in a separate marketplace. Domain traffic is also not search, not contextual but it’s own thing. It should be something that people can buy as an independent channel.

Therein lies the problem you might have with domaining not getting the respect you seek. You want respect, you don’t end up being sold as non-opt out traffic riding on the coattails of search. If you want non-Google network search traffic, you have to get domain traffic shoved down your through. You cannot opt-out. Opt out of contextual does not opt-out of people who also do searching on domaining sites.”

Frank Schilling responded with the same line of thinking…

“Folks on the domain-side also ask themselves why the keyword marketplaces don’t separate out “domain traffic”. The answer on this side is generally the opposite of those on the Search Engine side. Folks here believe that nobody wants to shine the light of truth on where the real conversions come from. Many many domain names.”

We have two great minds, one on the Search Engine Side and one on the Domaining side. Both are wondering why search engines don’t separate out Domain Traffic for buyers of Ads. It seems everyone wants it. Why are Yahoo and Google not giving it to the people?