The newly introduced Google Live Search has been met with both excitement and dismay by domainers. Questions about what would happen with lengthy domains of the “long tail” kind are still left to be answered.
In the preliminary stats that I have at my disposal from my own domain portfolio, I can say that I’m excited about Google’s new search interface.
I’ve witnessed a 150% to 250% increase in visits and revenue since the introduction of the tool, for my domains that are short, generic or two-word compounds. This is pretty much 90% of my domain portfolio and judging by the referrer data, I witness a hefty increase in the amount of traffic coming from Google.
This means one thing: people that search via Google using the Live Search feature, actually stop searching once the result they’re looking for pops up. This includes both “lazy searchers” that don’t want to type in the generic in the browser and searchers looking for organic results.
The average person that types in Google’s search bar can multitask, looking at the results while they are typing. For a generation of consumers that has lived their entire adult life using cellphones, SMS and text-capable phones, the new Google Live Search satisfies their hunger to view instant results.
So what about the so-called “long tail” domains?
While these rank well in Google as far as organic results are concerned, they don’t necessarily pop up when typing with the Google Live Search feature set to On. People that choose to ignore the feature, thus typing in the entire string of their search instead of selecting from the drop down menu, will probably still continue to opt for this type of search.
Meanwhile, expect a substantial revenue increase for: LLL .com domains, generics, short two-worders.
Wow in direct contrast to what Morgan Linton had posted, he being in favor of the long tail. I tend to agree with you Theo, the short will out do the long tail. Personally I turned instant search off, found it annoying.
Raymond, I believe there’s room for both. However, what I’ve posted is based on the performance changes of my own domain portfolio. While results may vary, I believe this will continue to be a trend. At least, I hope so 😀
No impact, 90% of people (like me) look their keyboard when they type-in.