Domain Research Tip: Advanced Google Searches
Every domainer likes to get a quick glimpse of the volume of content on the internet related to their potential domain name registrations or aftermarket purchases. They do this by doing a Google search for the exact word or words within the domain to find just how popular the keywords are.
Just a quick note before I explain the advanced search options: searching Google will generally only work if your domain name contains real words. A short brandable domain name that sounds cool may not turn up any results at all, but will still have aftermarket value.
Results with Exact Words Combined Together
This is the most important domain research rule when searching Google for exact results. To accomplish this you simply need to place all of the words in your domain within quotation marks. This tells Google to make sure that results only appear if the words are directly next to each other, assuring more accurate and quality representation of your keywords on the internet.
Often times if the number of results is high using this method it is a good indicator to place more value on a domain. The following examples are assuming you are researching for the domain name “DomainNews.com”
Example: “Domain News”
Results with your Keywords in Title Tag
Taking things a step further, we can refine our keyword search by filtering out results which do not contain your words in the title tag using the “allintitle:” command. Keywords found directly in a page’s title tag are often more relevant pages and can provide insight into possible end-user buyers for your domain. Remember to continue to keep your words within quotation marks for more accurate results.
Example: allintitle:”Domain News”
Results with your Keywords in the Page URL
The “allinurl:” command is another handy way of filtering results. This command tells Google to only display results which contain your keywords directly in a URL. Usually your results will display your keywords found in specific pages or sub-folders of a website. This generally indicates blog posts related to your keywords and can be good for finding relevant information.
Example: allinurl:”Domain News”
Hopefully these tips can help you research your potential domain name purchases and find more insight into the value of your names. If you have any additional suggestions for advanced searching please let me know in comments. Thanks for reading!
November 19th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Here’s a related resource for using this technique:
[Link Removed, Login Was Required]
November 19th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Thanks. i often find choosing the domain name the hardest part of the process. So many ways to go wrong. And such a nuisance if you don’t choose a good one you’;re stuck with it for life! (or so it seems).
November 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
Excellent! I didn’t realize that you’d have to put quotes around the [allintitle:”keywords go here”]
November 20th, 2007 at 1:06 am
Sorry about the link above ^. The gist of that thread was to use all of these various Google searches to determine keyword competition for running affiliate programs and PPC. The break down was this:
1) Normal Search: 10 mil on a keyword might be too competitive to bid on for PPC, it might make a terrific domain name!
November 20th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Very cool post. I had no clue it was that easy to look up domains like that.
November 20th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Jason, that is a great tip about using more results when choosing a potential domain name. Everyone gets caught up in finding niche phrases with a little competition and not really thinking the opposite could help when choosing a domain name for a sub niche.
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Great Post. There are many people out there that just do not know about these searches and how beneficial they can be. I use them all the time to find my site/s and backlinks.
November 22nd, 2007 at 6:43 pm
The allintitle is the one I use often. Its result are very much targeted and accurate.
December 11th, 2007 at 2:12 am
One thing that I have found with checking backlinks, especially with your competitors, is that ‘link:’ type operators won’t show all of the backlink results for Google. This is because Google only shows through links that are trusted for that domain (Google staggers backlink value over time).
Conversely, if you create a backlink then check the “link:” operator for Yahoo, it may show up virtually overnight. This is because Yahoo doesn’t filter the backlinks it shows as heavily. If you compare the two, you can get some idea of how many of their links are old trusted links and how many of their new links or old inks may potentially be spam. Based on these results, you can get some idea of what their marketing budget might look like and how hard they will be to compete with.