london.com.au

[findtim]

this could also be in the seo section but i thought i should put this here.

? why do people register foreign places as .com.au ? is there any seo benefit? i can't see it !

london as an example, NOW if there was ANY benefit then today is the day, the london olympics fast approaching and the domain name diverts to melbourneIT !!! , someones missed the boat on this one.

based on this there would seem to be NO benefit to register "newyork.com.au", bali.com.au, etccccccc

can someone please give some enlightenment on this

if melbourne IT can't see potential then why should we.

tim

 

[neddy]

can someone please give some enlightenment on this

Sure.

I have sold and brokered a number of country geos. Most have sold for high $XXXX and a couple for low $XX,XXX.

A couple of buyers are members here.

Most of these are Asian destinations - they all have huge local exact searches - some of them over 30,000 in fact. So heaps of Aussies are searching locally for these search terms.

Therefore I think they are a great buy if you can then monetise them properly.

 

[findtim]

hmmmmm, well a client of mine asked me to regisiter a domain for him

" we had a sick night bitches dot xxx" (bachelor party 2 ) , more money then sense !!

funny how he rang me on a friday afternoon @ 6pm and was having a beeerrrrrr or 22222 with his mates

chiang mai xxx was taken !

kinda like owning "rockyIV.com" LOL

SOOOO, then why is london dot comau sitting there doing nothing ????????

tim

 

[neddy]

soooo, then why is london dot comau sitting there doing nothing ????????

fiik

 

[payattention]

I don't like them.

Not because I was late to the game and missed out getting such domains at cheap prices and not for the reasons Neddy laid out which make them attractive for users wanting to visit those countries but for the simple fact geo has been under attack by Google for some time as have the services you would promote on geo sites such as hotels, flights, car rentals and restaurants.

If you look at how much the SERPS have changed over the past 2 years, it's almost unimaginable what it'll look like in another 3-5 but whatever the change, it'll unlikely be favourable to geo sites and domains. Of course, none of that matters when the user does a type in. I'd love to know the volume exact match geos get if anyone is keen to share.

I'm sure if you have experience in the geo field, own already long established geo sites or have a big budget that can be used to really promote the site (imagine london.com.au on a billboard or radio, you can't miss it), it can work but personally I don't see any reasons to jump into a market that is being squeezed harder day by day. I missed that boat and it's long sailed but there are always more on the horizon

 

[findtim]

jonathan that was my thought regardless of the recent google events.

the "cost v benefit" of branding london dot comau on a billboard or radio would be just stupid.

so lets all wait for it to drop ! lol

tim

 

[neddy]

If you look at how much the SERPS have changed over the past 2 years, it's almost unimaginable what it'll look like in another 3-5 but whatever the change, it'll unlikely be favourable to geo sites and domains.

I don't know the answer to this JB. I'm not an SEO expert.

The domains that I sold were done nearly three years ago. And their search volume is still right up there. My mate is quite happy with his return so far.

 

[snoopy]

? why do people register foreign places as .com.au ? is there any seo benefit? i can't see it !

london as an example, NOW if there was ANY benefit then today is the day, the london olympics fast approaching and the domain name diverts to melbourneIT !!! , someones missed the boat on this one.

based on this there would seem to be NO benefit to register "newyork.com.au", bali.com.au, etccccccc

These make sense as tourism names to me. Someone in Australian looking for an Australian company to get them to London. Most people think locally when looking for travel agents, booking flights etc. Even booking tours & hotels a lot like to book locally.

 

[James]

Heaps of people search for information and book flights/accom for popular areas overseas, these searches are done on google.com.au so AU domains can rank against strong .com properties.

I have a few US areas which are highly popular, they are easy money makers.

But yeah every thing is under attack from Google, I mean author search, airline bookings, live scores, the game is changing as Google does not want people to leave the search engine and they want them to be sticky on Google.