How Google Handles The New Top Level Domains (TLDs)

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August 10–12, 2015 | #CZLSF | @ClickZLive

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SEMrush Search Trends Report 2016: New Top Level Domains Attain High Google Search Visibility

SEMrush data originally presented at NamesCon Jan. 10, 2016

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Michael StrickerU.S. Marketing Director, SEMrush

• Agency and brand digital marketing consultant• 100s successful campaigns 1,000,000s of impressions • Writes: CIO.com, Business2Community, Linkarati • Consults: 2Modern, AeroPostale, BET, Dell, GolfSmith,

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Top Level Domains

Domain.TLD@WebPromoExperts @radioMS

©1989 Universal Pictures, & Amblin Entertainment

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Top Level Domains

Domain.TLD@WebPromoExperts @radioMS

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903 new TLDs delegated But are they performing well in search?

New TLDs


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93% of buying cycles start with an online search. ~ Marketo

Why Search?


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67 non-latin glyphs (Chinese, Kanji, Cyrillic)

geoTLDs (.london, .nyc .budapest .osaka .zulu)

903 New TLDs “delegated”


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.aaa .amex . Apple .bmw .cbs .dupont .esurance .fedex .gucci .hyatt .ibm .intel .jeep .komatsu .lego .microsoft .nike .omega .pfizer .qvc .ren .sony .tdk .ups .visa .walmart .xfinity .yandex .zappos

New TLDs dot Brands


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Coffee.club Dekora.fashion Viral.buzz Lead.bank TourEiffel.Paris Upshot.agency Extrabold.design Williamsport.lawyer Jacksonville.attorney Wyoming.fish Aha.vet SimpleSteps.coach ArtOf.fitness TheGreen.diet Foxwell.tools Chronicle.software Driftaway.coffee Scratchtown.beer TripleRock.vodka

Not Coms: depleted .coms + creativity


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MORE new gTLDs


.today .technology .tips .land .kitchen .contractors .diamonds .construction .clothing .camera .careers .directory .enterprises .guru .global .holdings .gallery .equipment .estate .bike .recipes .sexy .shoes .plumbing .photos .lighting .singles .tattoo . みんな (Japanese for Everyone) .ventures .voyage .website .world and more!

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805 new gTLDs are open to Registrations67 non-latin glyphs, some restricted and dot-brands

721 new TLDs in SEMrush search data That’s almost 90%, plus a commitment to record search results for all new TLDs!

~ newgtlds.ICANN.org ~ ntldstats.com/tld (realtime Registration stats)

New TLDs “available” as of Feb, 2016


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New Top Level Domains Registered


12.5M Domains registered on new gTLDs~ ntldstats.com/tld (realtime Registration stats)

/!\ Registered ≠ In-Use /!\

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93% of buying cycles start with an online search. ~ Marketo

New TLDs: Rank Trend

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016Year

0

500

1000

1500

2000

New TLD

1,848

210 0

New TLDs in Top 1M domain New TLDs rising to enter Top 1 Million Domains based on organic search


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New TLDs Trend:Frequency of new TLDs among Top 1M

TLD

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240Number of Records

xyznyc

clubpics

churchtoday

websitelink

guruuk

227

117

122

59

39

47

37

37

50

40

The Frequency of New TLDs


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Frequency of new TLDs among Top 1Mvs Registrations

TLD

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200 210 220 230 240Number of Records

xyznyc

clubpics

churchtoday

websitelink

guruuk

227

117

122

59

39

47

37

37

50

40

The Frequency of New TLDs

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Top 10 TLDs in Top 1M, New VS Old TL Ds TLD

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400Number of Records

New xyznycclubpicschurchtodaywebsitelinkguruuk

Old comorgnetuseduco.ukgoveucoinfo

227

117

122

59

39

47

37

37

50

40

1,363

254

19

13

16

14

72

7

6

6

Top 10 TLDs

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Median Top 1M Rank, New VS Old TLDs

@SEMrush @radioMSJuly 2014 October 2014 January 2015 April 2015 July 2015 October 2015

Month of Date

500K

600K

700K

800K

900K

1000K

1100K

1200K

Median Rank

1,230,888

567,279557,759

493,533

Median Rank Comparison


Measure NamesNew TLDs

Old gTLDs

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Avg. Keywords for which Top 1M Domains Rank

New TLDs

VS

Old TLDs

@SEMrush @radioMSJuly 2014 November 2014 March 2015 July 2015 November 2015

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

# of Organic Keywords

70.7

701.6

503.7 495.8

Organic Keywords


Measure NamesNew TLDs

Old gTLDs

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TLD

New Old

Win Lost Win Lost

-100

-50

0

50

100

150

200

250

# of Keywords

-108.1

238.5

-48.7

69.2

Win/Lost KeywordKeywords Won / Lost Ratio per Top 1M Domains, New TLDs

VS Old TLDs

Win/Lost Keyword

Measure NamesWin

Lost

TLD Win LostWin/Loss

Ratio

1.4

2.2

-48.7

-108.1TLD Win Lost

Win/LossRatio

-48.7

-108.1

69.2

238.5TLDNew

Old

New Old

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Keywords Won/Lost, Top 1M Domains, New VS Old

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New TLDs among Top 1M Domains

Old TLDs among Top 1M Domains

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Caution: New TLDs are not proof against Google Algorithmic Updates e.g. “Pirate”@SEMrush @radioMS

Domain

0K 5K 10K 15K 20K 25KNum

mp3skull.wtf

amfibi.directory

explained.today

myfreemp3.club

digitalcitizen.life

mp3mp4.ninja

slamet.xyz

thepiratebay.bid

mp3lio.xyz

heyevent.uk

replies.guru

ipadr.xyz

results.social

siterank.today

mp3azur.link

jatt.desi

emp4.link

songmusic.xyz

mp3goear.xyz

gounblock.xyz

movielink.xyz

mature-tube.sexy

documents.tips

songspk.link

Keywordlost

new

Lost Rank for All Keywords, Disappeared from Google’s Top 100 listings

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Myth:

Keywords in URLs have no SEO value

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Official Google Mythbusting:

Keywords in URLs: a very small ranking factor

“I believe that is a very small ranking factor. So it is not something I’d really try to force… not something I’d say it is even worth your effort to restructure your site just so you can get keywords in your URL.”

~ John Mueller, Google Webmaster Central Office Hours Hangout Feb 2016 ~ via Barry Schwartz Search Engine Roundtable


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Myth:

Google does not “like” new TLDs, they will not rank well.


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Mythbusted:

Google: Owns .google and .youtube Became a domain registrar (reseller) Uses abc.xyz for its parent Alphabet division Treats keywords equally before and after dot CTRs may increase due to user trust.


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Original research commissioned by Michael Stricker, Hat tip to Bill Hartzer @bhartzerSEMrush search data by: Qi Zhao, Data Scientist - @QiZhaoDATA


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Questions? Michael Stricker @radioms

Hat tip to Bill Hartzer @bhartzer of Globerunner SEOSEMrush search data research and visualization by: Qi Zhao, Data Scientist - @QiZhaoDATA


How Google Handles The New Top Level Domains (TLDs)

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