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Microsoft / Yahoo Deal Increases Value of Generic Domain Names

Elliot Silver

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July 29, 2009

MicroHoo The Yahoo and Microsoft on-again off-again partnership/buyout discussions have been all over the financial and Internet news for a while, so I don’t need to chronicle those here. Yesterday afternoon, news broke that Yahoo and Microsoft were not only talking once again, but a deal was imminent. This morning it was announced that a deal between the two companies had been completed – finally.

According to Reuters, the upshot of the deal is that Microsoft’s Bing search engine will handle search duties on all Yahoo-owned websites, and Yahoo will be responsible for selling the premium search ads. This means that Bing will now be the search engine for nearly 30% of all searches, up from 8% in June according to a report from Comscore. This is big news for owners of generic domain names.

A few weeks ago, I posted an article stating that Microsoft’s Bing search engine seems to love developed generic domain names. I listed a small sample of search results for generic domain names on Google and on Bing, and they clearly ranked much better on Bing. While I was doing my small sample, noted domain investor Edwin Hayward was doing the same comparison with similar results, and the white paper he wrote shares his results.I didn’t report Yahoo’s search results, but they were somewhere between Bing and Google for the most part.

This is very good news for domain investors, because it means if a company has a generic domain name, it should rank higher for almost 30% of web searches rather than just 8%, making these domain names more desired and valuable. I won’t speculate about what will happen with PPC payouts because domain parking is a very small % of 1% of my total revenue, so I will let other experts provide commentary on that side of things.

I believe this is good news for owners of generic domain names.

Setting Domain Google Alerts

Google

Elliot Silver

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July 28, 2009

3

I’ve discussed why I think its important to set Google Alerts, and I hope you’ve considered the reasons. Not only does it allow me to immediately see breaking news stories related to the domain industry, but it also helps me find articles I may have missed otherwise.

I want to share my domain-related Google Alerts.

Domain
Domains
“Domain Names”
“Domain Name”
Domaining
Sedo
Namemedia
Afternic
“Dark Blue Sea”
Cybersquatter
Cybersquatting
Trafficz
“Elliots Blog”
“Elliot Silver”
ElliotsBlog.com

I have most of my alerts set to Comprehensive as it happens, allowing me to receive them nearly instantly, as they are indexed in Google. Since I get dozens of alerts every day, you may opt to set your delivery to once per day or week. Keep in mind, the more alerts you set, the more emails you will receive.

It’s also a good idea to set alerts for your domain names and websites as well. I have many Burbank, Lowell, and Newburyport related alerts as well.

Bing vs. Google .com

Google

Elliot Silver

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July 9, 2009

1

Want to see a side-by-side comparison of how your developed websites rank in Bing and Google? It’s as simple as visiting Bing-vs-Google.com. This new website shows the results from both search engines directly next to each other, allowing you to easily see how your sites rank and the description and title for each page. Sure, you can just go to Bing and Google independently, but why not search both at once?

From my point of view, the most interesting aspect of this is the domain name. It would seem to be a risky endeavor to use both trademarks in a single domain name, especially because Microsoft is known to vigorously defend its marks. I don’t see any monetization of the website, so I don’t know about the legal issues.

The New York Times has an article in today’s paper, where they cite this website, so I am sure if it wasn’t on either company’s radar before, it is now. Ironically, the domain name without the dashes (BingvsGoogle.com) is also registered but is undeveloped. That page has the default Godaddy landing page, which is monetized with PPC links, potentially causing problems for that owner.

When Do You Add Adsense to a Website?

Elliot Silver

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July 2, 2009

17

I recently received an email from a long-time reader who I have spoken with on several occasions and have done business with in the past who is looking for Adsense advice. He gave me permission to include parts of his email into this post to get opinions from my blog readers:

We finally launched the websites last week (www.FoodBlogs.com and www.MommyBlogs.com).

We’re not in a big hurry to sign advertisers on FoodBlogs.com yet, as traffic is just starting to build. My developer suggested I put up Adsense (color matched to the site) as an interim solution. I’ve heard a lot of positives. I’ve also heard that there are negatives to putting up Adsense ads on a newly developed website.

These are fully developed websites targeted to a very large (yet niche) audience. We intend to develop them further and grow the user-base and traffic to its full potential. In other words, we’re in it for the long-haul. Eventually, we will have relationships with direct advertisers or with Ad Networks.
What are your thoughts on Adsense as an interim solution versus something else.

Would you put Adsense on a newly launched site or hold off? If you would hold off, when is a good time to add your Adsense blocks? How do you balance the “stigma” of adding Adsense too quickly with the need to begin generating revenue on an expensive development project?

Bing’s Gain on Google Good for Domainers

Elliot Silver

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July 1, 2009

12

Microsoft Bing I’ve been reading many articles about Microsoft’s $80-$100 million marketing campaign and about how Bing’s search market share continues to grow. If this trend continues even when the marketing campaign ends, this could be very good news for generic .com domain investors.

Based on a small sampling of searches I tested, it seems that Bing gives generic domain names higher rankings than Google or Yahoo. It’s the case with my websites, Burbank.com, Lowell.com, Newburyport.com, and Torah.com. It’s also the case with a number of other generic .com domain names that I checked in both search engines.

Bing’s market share is still very low, so the impact is minor. In fact, I highly, highly doubt Bing will overtake Google in the near future. However, if Bing does grow and eats into Google’s share, and/or if Microsoft buys Yahoo’s search business and the generic domain name rankings of Bing transfers to Yahoo, we could see more companies valuing generic domain names for their SERP value.

Here’s a comparison of the rankings of a small number of websites with generic domain names in Google and Bing:

Casino.com: – Google: 6 – Bing: 1 for Casino
Burbank.com: – Google: 5 – Bing: 2 for Burbank
Lowell.com: – Google: 10 – Bing: 2 for Lowell
Newburyport.com: – Google: 8 – Bing: 2 for Newburyport
Mortgage.com: – Google: 9 – Bing: 1 for Mortgage
Soccer.com: – Google: 1 – Bing: 1 for Soccer
DogSupplies.com: – Google: 3 – Bing: 1 for Dog Supplies
Airfare.com: – Google: 7 – Bing: 1 for Airfare
Fly.com: – Google: 7 – Bing: 2 for Fly
Chairs.com: – Google: NR – Bing: 3 for Chairs
Torah.com: – Google: 20 – Bing: 8 for Torah
HomeFashions.com: – Google: 7 – Bing: 2 for Home Fashions

One thing that is especially good is that most of the websites above wouldn’t be recognized by consumers as the brand leader. In the Lowell market for example, most people would probably consider the Sun newspaper to be the market leader. Likewise, in the pet marketplace, people would probably choose Pet Smart or Pet Co as the market leader.

Monitor Your Adsense Ads

Elliot Silver

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June 14, 2009

0

When developing a website, I really like to use Google’s Adsense. Not only can I customize the ad units to integrate into my website, but I can also use graphical banner advertising, which not only generates revenue, but it helps give the appearance that advertisers want to be advertising on a particular site. Technically, they may not know they are advertising on certain websites at the time, but they are able to block them if they don’t wish to advertise there any longer.

One drawback though is that certain advertisers, who may have opposite beliefs than your website, can still advertise on it. For example, on a religious website, a website that is owned by a group who has conflicting beliefs can still place advertisements depending on the keyword match they are choosing. These links can take visitors of your website to another site, potentially angering the visitors, especially because people don’t always realize how Adsense works.

A website owner is able to block certain urls from appearing, however, there may be hundreds of different website urls with the same message that want to advertise, so it can be a never ending battle. That said, it’s very important to monitor your websites to make sure objectionable advertising isn’t being displayed. While the ads don’t violate Google’s TOS, it could violtate your own site’s standards.

Google

Microsoft / Yahoo Deal Increases Value of Generic Domain Names

Setting Domain Google Alerts

Bing vs. Google .com

Bing’s Gain on Google Good for Domainers

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