How to hit the top of Google's rankings: 'Use a new dot-thing gTLD'

If you want to get higher up Google's search rankings, it turns out that using a new dot-thing domain – such as .guru or .ninja – may give you the edge. Two recent studies into the impact of new generic top-level domains (gTLDs) have claimed that, far from Google's official position, using the right domain ending can bump you …

[PleebSmash]

$$$

ICANN made its millions, now it's Google's turn to help out the owners of shiny new gTLDs. Nothing selfish about that, right?

[Tim Jenkins]

Re: $$$

Just speed up the inevitable and feed the root servers a dictionary or ten*, then allow every word in any language as a TLD. What could possibly go(dot)wrong?

I love that (dot)wang is now available as a gTLD (fnarr, fnarr), and the rest of the list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_top-level_domains#ICANN-era_generic_top-level_domains) has some other 'interesting' ones, apparently:

"The .ROCKS new generic top-level domain... is designed to channel the enthusiasm of millennial-generation youth. Individuals, bands, and youth-oriented businesses will all want to jump on board. .ROCKS is so widely applicable that it can truly be all things to all people. Geologists, of course, will be likely to register domains like igneous.ROCKS." (sic) (http://www.uniteddomains.com)

*I know it doesn't really work like that. Probably.

[Anonymous Coward]

For how long?

I can't imagine this persisting for very long - its surely just too obviously gameable for Google not to eventually tone down the value they allocate, particularly since having one really says nothing about the quality of the content.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: For how long?

"having one really says nothing about the quality of the content"

A bit harsh. If you've spent several hundred thousand dollars just for the bleedin' *name* then surely you'd make a bit more effort (on average) than someone putting up their personal drivel outlet. Surely? Humanity isn't *that* stupid, is it?

Oh.

[Tannin]

I'm calling this one out as headline-hunting non-research. For more information, just dial Code Red on the Bullshitometer.

[Charlie Clark]

Stupid taxonomy

A bicycle shop, for example, is significantly more likely to buy a dot-bike domain than, say, a dot-spot domain.

Only in the self-fulfilling prophecies of domain resellers and SEO shops.

What if that bike shop is in Berlin, New York?

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Stupid taxonomy

"What if that bike shop is in Berlin, New York?"

A bike shop in berlin would probably pay several hundred thousand dollars to register .fahrrad.

Or perhaps not. The point, surely, is that "cute" gTLDs need to be cute in whatever language your customers are using, which fragments the possible market quite horribly.

[Mage]

Cost

These domains are more expensive than decent hosting.

Money for a database entry.

Paid every year for ever.

Having a decent domain name is turning into something only big corporations own. Eventually 50 or so big companies will completely control the internet and host all it's content. Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Wikipedia, eBay etc.

The bike shop will have to rent space in someone else's cyber mall. It will be no place for the small guy.

Maybe the IBM guy wasn't totally wrong... Just call Google's system a single distributed parallel processing Computer.

[Ken Hagan]

Re: Cost

I put it to you that your list of "big names" includes one that exemplifies why a domain name no longer really matters: Google.

People use Google to convert "what I want" into a domain name "cookie".

Their PC then uses DNS to turn that "cookie" into the current address.

Feel free to substitute your own search engine into my analysis, but as far as domain names go I'm sure that most people read no further than the top or secondary domain, just to make sure it is located in roughly the right continent. Ironically, gTLDs make that harder and so are less attractive to the few humans who still bother to either read or remember DNS names.

[Anonymous Coward]

More bad research?

The.berlin works to promote ratings the same way that "www.berlin.example.com" would. The second study was authored by someone who doesn't understand that at all.

Since there is so many scams going on in the alternate domains, I'm telling non-technical people that they are like 09 or 1-900 phone numbers and they may get a huge bill from their ISP if they visit one.

[Tim Bates]

Re: More bad research?

>The.berlin works to promote ratings the same way that "www.berlin.example.com" would.

Exactly... Google uses the domain as part of it's scoring. A website with a direct domain keyword match will rank higher than one without. Of course if you fill the page content with obvious keyword spam, it'll de-rank like crazy still, but most genuine businesses don't do that.

Google's rankings are a little mysterious, but not that mysterious.