Domain parking company speaks out in favor of ad feed provider changes.
In its latest newsletter to clients, DomainSponsor discusses changes at its ad provider (Google). As you may know, Google has been “cleaning up” the domain channel (Google’s words, not mine). This means focusing on quality traffic and cutting (or discounting) the rest. So far I’ve seen a lot of domain parking companies nod grudgingly about how this is necessary for the long term of the industry, but in DomainSponsor’s latest newsletter it came out and spelled it out. DS should be commended.
Below is the text of its commentary about the changes:
As many of you know, the top search ad providers have increased their focuson the quality of traffic sent to them over the last six months. While every parking company is working through these changes, DomainSponsor wants to be direct with you, our clients, about our position on these changes and how they may impact you moving forward.
This new focus not only includes checks for invalid clicks but now includes measuring the conversion of traffic with advertisers. For many of us, this change has come with its own set of challenges that require restructuring systems, processes and business guidelines. And to these changes, DomainSponsor says:
It’s about time.
The market system that underpins our industry requires trust. Advertisers have to trust that behind every click is the possibility of a sale. When that trust is lost, then everyone who depends on the investment made by advertisers loses. DomainSponsor, like you, is in business for the long term. It’s our goal to maintain and build that trust whenever possible – for the sake of the long term.
Reinforcing the value of trust in the marketplace is too complex of an issue for even the largest parking company to do alone. It has always been necessary for the search ad providers to step in — and up — to the challenge by helping shed light on what advertisers want and need from us.
With that now done, DomainSponsor is taking the lead as the largest parking company to set a new level of standards for performance. Working with our primary search ad provider, DomainSponsor will continue to use a multipart quality analysis of traffic on our network. This process will allow us to
take the time necessary to identify traffic that does not or has not met quality standards. Clients whose quality is consistently below an acceptable level may see their payment terms extended and/or access to feeds removed.Why are we telling you this? We want you to know that DS is committed to maintaining our position as the leading place for you to monetize your domains. The majority of our clients deliver the kind and quality of clicks that will deliver higher payouts from the search ad providers. In short, this focus will benefit everyone on the DS network.
These changes are about making our industry work for everyone well into the future. We want advertisers to know that working with domainers who park with DS is the single best way of assuring that they are getting the customers they seek. We want them to know that when they see your domain on one of our landers, it’s a partnership they can trust.
In other words… it looks like Google is cutting the long tail, typos and maybe a lot of expired traffic.
Why speculate? Just ask them what it means. I’m sure they’ll be glad to tell you.
I’m confused, I’m not sure why this means long tail, typos and expired traffic is getting cut. I hear this alot. What I read here is that traffic that doesn’t convert (for advertisers) will get cut. Do you find Long Tail and typo has a lower conversion rate (for advertisers) than other types of traffic? I’m constantly surprised by what converts and what doesn’t, often times contradicting what I expect. Realistically, DS is dead on. If domain parking (in general) has a low conversion rate for advertisers then 1 of 2 things will happen: Advertisers will lower their bids to compensate for the defficiency in conversions or if they aren’t given that option, they should choose to not advertise with us at all. You can’t expect people (advertisers) to pay and get nothing in return. You must give them quality (conversions), thats kinda the point for them.
jp….. they are probably getting cut b/c there is a rumor from a Google insider going around for about three months or so that this would happen….. specifically the long tail, but I am expecting typos and expired traffic will go this direction too.
Typos convert less b/c generally speaking folks that can’t spell are either uneducated, which means they probably have less money to spend… hence lower conversions. Also, many of the typos have foreigners going to them which have lower conversion rates.
Expired traffic…..well…. you know the story about that.
it means traffic that does not convert…not anyone kind of traffic. Typos probably convert so google will not give up that revenue.
We’ll see…… but I think the writing is on the wall already.
I think it is in Google’s play book to cut domain rev. back as much as possible in the name of “quality” and then when all that has been stripped away they will then deliver the death knell. Right now the don’t want to nix it all at once or there will be a big shift to competitors… they’d prefer if we would lose our businesses slowly and suffer and let many domains drop.
We are competitors to them and they want to get rid of us… now that we have helped them become #1.
I’m of the belief that Google, & yahoo are too smart to just throw away money. Its not that hard for them to tell what is, and what isn’t converting on the domain level. They arleady have systems in place to do this. Why would they toss an entire category (such as typos) when some typos convert great? I think as a generalization you could say typos may be in jeopardy, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say “All Typos”. If it makes Google money, I don’t think they will toss it. They will just continue to improve their tracking systems so that they can better pin-point the domains that make them money vs. the domains that don’t. If there is a domain that is proven to make conversions for advertisers, fear not, if google doesn’t want to play the part, someone else will. Unfortunatley the balls that google drops probably won’t be picked up overnight.
The point in time you need to worry about is the point at which the cost of further improving the pin-pointing system exceeds the expected value of the revenue to be generated. When there is no longer a cost benefit to an entire category such as typos, then there is a problem.
A great example is in gold mining. They say that there is still a large percentage of gold still in the gold mines. The thing is the mines fill with water, and it costs more money to keep pumping out the water than the gold is worth. So therefore there is no longer a cost-benefit to mining for gold. Interestingly it seems with the rising value of gold that the table may turn on this issue yet but you see my point.
Inexpensive domain development sounds like a solution to those tasty longtails if they get kicked to the curb by any PS.
DISCLAIMER: I am biased.
well, the good thing is that google understands the process very well, what converts what not, what is important for the advertisers, what not. Google must keep the advertisers happy first, for that makes the search possible
Typos generally convert very well. One of the best converting types of domain names, sometimes even better than pure generics.
There is a VERY VERY small amount of generics that are very specific and convert great. These are usually developed or in the hands of very large portfolio owners.
Anyway, what Google/Yahoo will do is cut out trademark typos when they get complaints or lawsuits. I doubt they’d even willingly cut out trademark typos without getting complaints – it is wasted money.
If they were to block out all typos, this industry would collapse. 95%+ of the industry’s revenue is made up of typos.
Other than typos, you have good specific generics, non-targetted generics, expired traffic domains, long-tail domains. All of these on average have lower conversion rate than typos other than the specifically targetted generics, such as “BuyShoes.com”.
Matt