These search parameters and features would improve domain discoverability.
A couple of marketplaces reached out after I wrote my most recent plea for domain name marketplaces to improve their search functionality. They asked what I would include in marketplace search.
Here are some of the features I’d like to see. (I’m ignoring ones that are already included on many sites, such as excluding names with numbers are searching by length.)
Dictionary word search: Sedo lets you search by the number of words but the results it delivers are gobbledegook. Search should compare against at least the English dictionary and only show words that are in the dictionary. This will let people search for one word and two word domains.
Number registered: Filter by the number of TLDs the second level domain is registered under. Added points for letting users choose which TLDs they’d like it registered under.
Age: It’s not the perfect measure, but showing only domains over a certain age is a crude quality filter.
Listing Age: Filter by how long the domain has been on the marketplace, or exclude ones within a certain timeframe. For example, I might just want to see domains added in the past month.
Rank by quality: This is an important one. Responding with a list of thousands of domains isn’t helpful. Some people are wary of putting automated prices right next to domains, but they can be used in the background to rank the domains. If you look at a list of domains ranked by GoDaddy appraisals, I think you’ll agree that the quality drops as you go down the list. Even if you disagree with the valuations, this type of appraisal is great for ranking domains.
Alerts: Another important feature to alert investors about new inventory. This way they don’t have to come back to the site to research and find new domains. Let people sign up for alerts whenever new domains meeting their criteria are added. For example, new domains less than 10 characters, over 10 years old, in which the domain is registered in at least three TLDs, with a buy now price of under $5,000.
What have I missed?
Over 41,000 second level .uk domain names were registered last week, the first week they were available to people that didn’t have a matching third-level .uk domain.
