I consider the number of registrations for a particular SLD (phrase to the left of the dot) to be one of the more important “signs of life” for a domain name. When I am evaluating domain names to buy in the aftermarket or at auction, I pay closer attention to those that have many other extensions registered.
Importantly, the number of registrations can be misleading, so there is some nuance that goes into my process for evaluating these domain names.
This morning, I was looking at a domain name currently in auction. I see there are 10 extensions registered, including the .com. Using dotDB, I see there are only 2 other domain names registered with this term. That was peculiar to me because usually if a phrase or term is registered in many extensions, there will also be other domain names registered that have the phrase within the SLD.
Because of this discrepancy, I took a bit of a deeper dive to see how the non .com extensions were being used. On almost all of them, I could see the same expired domain name landing page with a link to respective auctions. What this tells me, most likely, is one buyer registered most if not all of the domain names with this phrase. Perhaps there was a registration deal on the group or they just wanted to cover all their bases.
My guess is their project or business did not get started or failed, and they let all these domain names expire.
Had I simply looked at the number of registered domain names without taking a deeper dive – something I definitely have done before – I may have overpaid for a domain name that has little commercial value.
Several years ago, I wrote that multiple domain registrations may impact automated domain name appraisals. The domain name I was looking at this morning has a very low GoDaddy appraisal, so this impact may be a bit overstated. It is something to keep in mind though.
This serves as a good reminder to me that it is always wise to dig deeper on a domain name that stands out but has questionable commercial resale value in my eyes.
What really matters is the number of developed domains in other TLDs
I agree with you. That is important.
another thing to look for is who really owns those other TLDs domains, and how long- like the xyz….