I just arrived in San Diego, and am excited for the GeoDomain Expo that begins tonight. I may have covered this in the past, but I would like to take some time to define the different types of geodomain names, which will be helpful as I post articles in my geodomain series. I have purchased region .com gedomains, long tail geodomains, and non-com geodomains, although I have never purchased a ccTLD geodomain or an abbreviated geodomain.
A region .com geodomain name is fairly self-explanatory – it is the exact name and spelling of a location in the world in the .com extension. People who visit the location or who live there exclusively refer to the location by this name, and it is spelled correctly. These are the diamonds as far as geodomains go. Some examples of region .com gedomain are Burbank.com, Mexico.com, Caribbean.com, and NewEngland.com.
Within region .com geodomain names, there are towns, cities, counties, states, countries, lakes, mountains… etc. A region .com domain name is generally the most prized geodomain name because people are familiar with that particular area and in many cases, visitors simply type the region + .com into their Internet browser and visit whatever site is there looking for information.
Long tail geodomain names have a regional area in them as well as specific keywords either related to that area or to something specific in that area. The better long tail geodomain names make complete sense and have people searching for that keyword in the region. Many of these names are great because they are so targeted that the traffic converts well. Examples of these domain names are NewYorkHotels.com, MediterraneanCruise.com, IrelandPubs.com. Oftentimes, people in a particular geographical area want to be known as THE particular service provider of that keyword, and they will pay to have the domain name.
Non .com geodomain names are basically the same as above, but obviously not in the .com extension. I don’t include ccTLDs in this, because I think they are an entity in and of itself. Non .com geodomains would be Chicago.net, LehighValleyDoctors.info, and Seoul.org.
ccTLD geodomains are very popular in many countries outside of the United States, where adoption of the .US ccTLD hasn’t been as widespread. In many countries, such as Croatia and Italy, the country’s ccTLD is as popular or more than .com domain names. Two examples would be Vancouver.ca and TurismoVenezia.it.
Abbreviated geodomain names are geodomain names where an abbreviation is either standard (StLouis.com) or necessary because all other extensions are registered NewYorkNY.org. Abbreviated geodomain names can be any type of geographic area and any extension.
For the sake of my series, I am going to mainly focus on what I know – region .com geodomains and long tail keyword geodomain names. I have experience buying these types of domain names, and I would rather write about something I know and have experience with than to write based on theory.
Did I miss any types of GeoDomain Names?
You may also want to mention city + state domains such as orlandoflorida.com. Admittedly these are not as powerful or valuable as the pure city .com domain, but they are still popular searches and are immediately recognized and portray a certain amount of trust in the SERPs. In many cases, a city + state .com would be preferable to the pure city .net/.org.
I’m here at the conf. Any chance to meet up? Ping me if you’re available today (thurs)
A small point but I don’t get the “long tail geo domains” moniker. “Long tail” means something completely different than a generic term.
“Lawyers” is not a “long tail” term it is a generic term and as such ought to be referred to in conjunction with a geo reference as a “geogeneric” – a long tail geo domain might be “VancouverLawyersForPersonalInjuryClaims.com – being as the domain would match a search query for “Vancouver Personal Injury Claims Lawyers”.
“Vancouver Lawyers” is quite specific – VancouverLawyers.com might get hits from the “long tail” but that “long tail” would be from a search for “I’m looking for a Vancouver Lawyer experienced in Injury Claims today”.
I suppose it is a small point, but your post is after all about defining the various types of geo domains and all the reading I have done concerning “long tails” (The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson) indicates (to me) that “VancouverLawyers.com” is not anything resembling a “long tail” domain – “geo-generic” covers that type of domain very well and accurately too.
Try finding someone who knows what “long tail” means and then ask them to give an example of a “long tail domain name” and I’d bet 99 times out of 100 they would never come up with “VancouverLawyers.com” type of names but say “geo-generic” and watch the understanding take place without problem.
i would also add popular neighborhoods (e.g., greenwichvillage.com).
here’s a shameless plug for those of you currently in san diego @ the geo conference: i own cortezhill.com, a popular neighborhood in san diego – it’s for sale.
Hi Eliot. Have a stupid question I always wondered about, and was wondering your professional opinion. What do you feel is better, a CityState.com,net,or org, or a CityNJ.com, net, or org? Abbreviations or spelled out?
You should have office hours and charge people for your advice that you give so freely. Maybe someday I can buy you dinner?
@Mark…I like spelled out and would guess you would get higher type-in. As for development or branding, check Keyword tools as I bet it varies by state which people use more Full name vs abbreviation. For our stuff though, we try to skip abbreviations (even on a longer state name) and go for full name…vermillionsouthdakota.com, minneapolisminnesota.net, etc…
We will see what Elliot chimes in with…
Mark,
IMO the citystate.com is more valuable because there are far more searches for it.
With a citystate.com there is a greater chance of typos, and I believe many less people will type that in than simply the city.com.