About Keyword Domains

If leveraged and developed correctly by an appropriate owner, keyword domain names can:

• Increase traffic to brand content
• Strengthen brand awareness
• Maximize findability
• Position a company as the leading authority on relevant content
• Convey market dominance
• Establish instant credibility

The Internet is a constantly changing landscape. In the past few years alone, the number of users online, the amount of commerce conducted on the Internet, what the Internet is used for, and most importantly how Internet users interact with content has changed dramatically. We have seen a significant shift towards the use of direct navigation—the practice by which an Internet user types a search term in the form of a domain name directly into the Web browser address bar—which has in turn changed and will continue to change the way that brand owners must market and position themselves online.

Domain Space Overview

Category-defining keyword domain names offer effective and cost-efficient ways to capture the bulk of browsers searching for specific content. Certain domains are capable of delivering irreplaceable dominance, instant credibility and maximum findability to their owner. Those who correctly leverage category-defining domain names clearly stand apart from their peers online and can position themselves as the leading authority on relevant content, products or services.

Domain Name Strategic Alternatives and Benefits

Depending on the particular end user, there are several strategic ways to best leverage category-defining names. Traditionally, the three most common options are:

• Directing browsers navigating for relevant content to existing websites via a DNS redirect.
• Improving existing content to extract significantly better performance.
• Developing and branding the domain, and building stand-alone websites to grow enterprise value.

In any case, category-defining domain names will increase traffic to and awareness of the owner's site and brand at a minimal cost. Unlike paid-search traffic, which companies must pay for on a per-click basis, the direct traffic and organic search engine traffic that category-defining domain names attract is free on an ongoing basis.

DigitalDNA's valuation model is able to distinguish the low value domains from the high value domains, and can advise its clients based on their unique business goals.