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Google rolling out link spam update

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Search giant is rolling out an update to discredit paid and affiliate links.

A graphic with a search box and the words "search results" in white letters on a blue backgorund

Google is rolling out an update to its search results to combat what it calls “link spam”. The complete rollout will take about two weeks.

The search company still places a lot of weight on links that point to a website, counting them like votes for the website that is linked to. Companies try to take advantage of this by buying links on websites.

Google says that sites taking part in link spam will see changes in their search rankings as Google’s algorithm re-assesses those links.

As the listed contact on two blogs, I can say that the amount of requests for link insertion and guest posts has ballooned over the past couple of years. I typically get about 6-8 emails every day, and even bigger brands are asking for these insertions now.

While Google asks website owners to use tags to qualify sponsored links, there’s a fine line between Google putting too much onus on website owners. At some point, Google needs to just figure this out for itself, especially in cases where content is clearly delineated. Which, according to its algorithm update, it’s apparently capable of doing.

CentralNic organic revenue growth hits record 25% in Q2

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Revenue accelerates with addition of advertising businesses.

Picture of stock chart with the words earnings report

Domain name company CentralNic (London AIM: CNIC) announced today that its organic year-over-year revenue growth in Q2 was 25%, a record for the company. This compares to organic growth of 16% in Q1 and 9% in all of 2000. While the announcement doesn’t state it, I believe this growth is primarily coming from its advertising businesses, including domain monetization platform ParkingCrew.

Overall revenue was $90 million, up 63% year over year including acquisitions.

For the first half of 2021, the company expects to report revenue of $174 million and adjusted EBITDA of $20 million, representing 56% revenue growth and 32% adjusted EBITDA growth compared to the first half of 2020.

The company grew its cash reserves by $10.8 million during the half, despite reducing its debt load by $1 million and paying $13 million for the acquisitions of Safebrands and Wando and the final deferred consideration payment for Team Internet.

CentralNic will report its official H1 results on August 21.

Verisign has another strong quarter, raises guidance

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.Com domain registrations continue to outpace prior years.

A chart showing continued growth of .com and .net

Verisign continued to grow its domain base in Q2. Chart from Verisign investor presentation.

Verisign (NASDAQ: VRSN) reported second quarter 2021 earnings after the market closed today.

The company reported another robust quarter, with 11.7 million new .com and .net domains registered in Q2. That compares to 11.1 million in the same quarter last year. Verisign ended the quarter with 170.6 million .com and .net domain name registrations in the domain name base, a 5.2% increase from the end of the second quarter of 2020, and a net increase of 2.59 million during the second quarter of 2021.

Reported revenue was $329 million, up 4.8% from the same quarter in 2020.

Revenue will start growing faster in Q3 as Verisign increases the wholesale cost of .com domains by 7% on September 1. The impact will aggregate over time and boost the company’s already stellar operating margin of about 65%.

The company boosted annual guidance for revenue and domain base growth based on the results and its forecast for the remainder of the year.

Behind the name: Mailchimp.com vs. Chimpmail.com

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The company would have been named differently if the domain was available.

Logo for Mailchimp showing a chimp and the word mailchimp

I was listening to How I Built This with Guy Raz this week. He recently interviewed Ben Chestnut, the founder of Mailchimp.

At 24:57, Raz asks Chestnut about the name Mailchimp. Chestnut explains that he was going to name the business ChimpMail but the .com domain was taken, so he settled on Mailchimp. (The company subsequently acquired Chimpmail.com.)

This goes to show how much of a role availability of .com domains has on company naming. This is still the case today. It also shows that companies can find alternatives to their first choice.

It also shows how names can be limiting. Mailchimp has expanded well beyond email these days (much to the chagrin of people like me who just want a good email service). Maybe Chimp.com is in the company’s future?

I enjoy listening to How I Built This to hear the up and down stories of successful businesses. There’s a selection bias in the stories because Raz only interviews successful founders. But he ends the episodes asking how much luck played into the eventual success story.

Oh, and GoDaddy should buy Mailchimp.

ICA to host event about next round of TLDs (open to public)

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Internet Commerce Association to hold free event about the next round of new TLDs.

graphic with the words "business intelligence briefing: ICANN's second round of new gTLDs"

Internet Commerce Association is hosting the ICA Business Intelligence Briefing on Round 2 of New gTLDs on August 4. While many ICA events are open only to members, this event is free and open to the public.

Nearly a decade since ICANN opened the application period for the first round of “new TLDs,” the industry is preparing for the next round. But when will it actually happen? What will be different this time around?

Before domain investors shun the idea of applying for new TLDs out of hand, remember that the investment thesis for owning a TLD is different than investing in second level domains in that TLD.

ICA has assembled four people who were active in the first round of new TLDs to provide insight into the next round. Registration is here.

This post has been updated to reflect the correct date for the event.

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