Thread: Finding exact match domains

I'm getting really frustrated trying to find exact match domain names with good search volumes (>10,000 per month).

It seems every single domain on the planet has already been registered!!

And what annoys me to no end is all these parked domains and their ridiculous prices!

It seems just 6 months ago it was so much easier to find great exact match domains, but I guess the cat's out of the bag and people are rushing to register every domain they can.

What is your process, and how do you brainstorm, to find some good exact match domains?

It is almost impossible to find a good .com exact match domain, but there are still some good .net and .org domains available. Google's exact match bonus works with those, as well. A large part of my business is affiliate marketing where the .net and .org domains work almost as well as a .com.

A year ago I didn't own anything but .com domains. Today, and increasing percentage of my domains are .net TLDs.

I use the AdWords Keyword Tool to see a list of domains related to a primary search phrase. I then cut-and-paste the top keyword phrases into the Bulk Check tool at DomainTools.com.

Most of the time, the DomainTools.com tool is pretty accurate, but it is not 100% up-to-date. A few months ago I found an available hobby-related domain with over one million searches each month. I rushed to register it, but found out that it had been registered by someone else just a few days earlier. The Domain Tools Bulk Check tool did not show it as registered until the next day, which means it sometimes has a 3 day lag.

I am also seeing that the search estimates in the AdWords Keyword Tool are not always accurate. You can almost guarantee that if a domaineer owns the .com domain and has it parked on one of their cheesy advertising pages, the Google estimate for searches will be extraordinarily high. At first I thought they were just doing a good job of picking good domains, but if you do a search using WordTracker, you will frequently find that their estimate of the number of searches is less than 1% of the Google estimate. Even though WordTracker uses a daily estimate, that doesn't account for the discrepancy, which leads me to believe that the domaineers are doing something to artificially boost the number of searches estimated by Google. This in turn raises the value of their domains. I think they are using the tools used by the "guaranteed traffic" scammers to artificially boost the search estimates in Google.

My advice is to check the search estimates using both the AdWords Keyword Tool and WordTracker.

Personally, I find exact match .ORG with over 10k searches relatively easy to find. .NET domains with xxxx searches are also relatively easy to find. Good .COMs with over 1000 searches are hard to find. But that's just handregistered names.

What is your process, and how do you brainstorm, to find some good exact match domains?

Magazines, newspapers, press releases etc all contain pieces of information that can be the start of a new business, online project or domain, especially long tail stuff.

Originally Posted by TopDogger

which leads me to believe that the domaineers are doing something to artificially boost the number of searches estimated by Google. This in turn raises the value of their domains. I think they are using the tools used by the "guaranteed traffic" scammers to artificially boost the search estimates in Google.

My advice is to check the search estimates using both the AdWords Keyword Tool and WordTracker.

I had never even considered that they could be artificially increasing the search estimates for their own domains, but it makes perfect sense.

Thanks, I will definitely start checking in wordtracker more from now on to make sure the numbers make sense.

Originally Posted by tmongy

I had never even considered that they could be artificially increasing the search estimates for their own domains, but it makes perfect sense.

Thanks, I will definitely start checking in wordtracker more from now on to make sure the numbers make sense.

Oh yes,it's always the best idea to use more sources,like SEOBOOk for example,it does take a bit more time,but it can save you time and a bit of money

Originally Posted by TopDogger

Most of the time, the DomnainTools.com tool is pretty accurate, but it is not 100% up-to-date. A few months ago I found an available hobby-related domain with over one million searches each month. I rushed to register it, but found out that it had been registered by someone else just a few days earlier. The Domain Tools Bulk Check tool did not show it as registered until the next day, which means it sometimes has a 3 day lag.

I am also seeing that the search estimates in the AdWords Keyword Tool are not always accurate. You can almost guarantee that if a domaineer owns the .com domain and has it parked on one of their cheesy advertising pages, the Google estimate for searches will be extraordinarily high. At first I thought they were just doing a good job of picking good domains, but if you do a search using WordTracker, you will frequently find that their estimate of the number of searches is less than 1% of the Google estimate. Even though WordTracker uses a daily estimate, that doesn't account for the discrepancy, which leads me to believe that the domaineers are doing something to artificially boost the number of searches estimated by Google. This in turn raises the value of their domains. I think they are using the tools used by the "guaranteed traffic" scammers to artificially boost the search estimates in Google.

My advice is to check the search estimates using both the AdWords Keyword Tool and WordTracker.

I'm wondering in the future whether there will be a slap on the exact match domains. On the one hand, the domains are harder to acquire so it makes sense to use the domain name as a relevancy factor. However, on the other AM and MFA are heavy on the exact match and the domainers are making a lot of money.

Originally Posted by bogart

I'm wondering in the future whether there will be a slap on the exact match domains. On the one hand, the domains are harder to acquire so it makes sense to use the domain name as a relevancy factor. However, on the other AM and MFA are heavy on the exact match and the domainers are making a lot of money.

I don't see them applying a general slap across the board for all exact match domains because there are lots of people that search for a site by inputting the site's name into google and expect to get the site back as the first result.

So it would come down to having to identify the genuine exact match domains from the AM/MFA ones, which I think might be difficult to do algorithmically.

But hey, you never know what those PHDs over at G are capable of!

Some interesting stuff..

Just out of interest what was the hobby-related domain that got snatched away, topdogger?

Magazines, newspapers, press releases etc all contain pieces of information that can be the start of a new business, online project or domain, especially long tail stuff.

I like this idea, it can help you identify a phrase that has been exposed to the public but not yet been SEOed online yet.

Another idea may be to try and coin your own phrase and mention it in a bunch of places online in the hope that it will catch on.

Maybe using sites like Amazon and eBay pulse,to see whats popular at the moment,and social media can help you as well...