Search engines beat the hassle of universal resource locators - URLs, to you

[Rhythm]

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/bus...tors-urls-to-you/story-e6frg996-1225879198180

ADVERTISERS take note: consumers can't be bothered remembering those pesky universal resource locators, or URLs as most of us know them. Rather than remember addresses to type in the top bar of a web page, consumers are increasingly heading straight to search engines instead.

Kevin Walsh, head of iProspect, part of media buying company Aegis Media, said consumers were already showing a reluctance to try to commit even the simplest website addresses to memory and were instead choosing to use search.

"Search is an evolving thing and a lot of marketers misunderstand that there is a lot more to Google and the way people are using it," Mr Walsh said.

Latest figures from Experian Hitwise showed Google remained the dominant destination for search in Australia, with www.google.com.au accounting for 85.18 per cent of Australian searches during the month of April.

The generic www.google.com search engine accounted for 5.16 per cent, ahead of Microsoft's Bing (3.65 per cent) and Yahoo7 (2.38 per cent) and Yahoo.com (1.98 per cent).

The research reveals that 72.33 per cent of all searches use between one and three words.

"I think brands will grow to have a more consumer-centric view of the Google world," Mr Walsh said. He said that there was already a clear move by some advertisers to abandon URLs in advertising, relying instead on the strength of search to drive consumers to their sites.

"I think we are seeing the death of the URL, and what I have seen more of is clients who realise that just putting the URL on an ad is not the best way to draw people," he said.

The movie industry, with a rapid turnover in unique movie titles that lend themselves easily to relying on search, is one of the earliest adopters of using search rather than URLs to gain attention. "Certainly URLs will live a bit longer, but we might see the disappearance of the vanity URL completely," Mr Walsh said.

 

[djuqa]

I have seen it a hundred times when I taught Web Design
Peope would automatically use the google search box and then often type in the exact url they could have type directly in. Weird.
But using a search engine is the preferred method for most web users unlike domainers that seem to assume "type-ins" are all important.

"Really-great-hyphenated-keyword-names.AnyTLD" can often get indexed and found better than any old "LookatmeTypeinname.com"

 

[soj]

Id disagree that we will see the death of URL's, and even then, with the way good keyword .com.au domains rank in AU Google, you would be stupid not to worry about a good domain.

 

[Shaun]

Hmm... It frustrates me that the interview the wrong people for stories like this.

An exact match URL or generic URL will give you a competitive advantage in search.

 

[FirstPageResults]

I think it's funny that there has been a big push in traditional media advertising to remember certain keyword phrases rather than URLs. What happens if the competition starts outranking you or someone has PPC?

I'm sure you could use blackhat techniques to syphon organic search traffic from these marketing campaigns.

 

[DavidL]

The movie industry, with a rapid turnover in unique movie titles that lend themselves easily to relying on search, is one of the earliest adopters of using search rather than URLs to gain attention. "Certainly URLs will live a bit longer, but we might see the disappearance of the vanity URL completely," Mr Walsh said.

This doesn't appear to be anywhere near true - every ad I ever see for a new movie, always promotes a unique URL

Like http://www.robinhoodthemovie.com/ or http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/ or http://www.avatarmovie.com/

In fact I think you'd struggle to find a single example of a major movie doing this...

 

[Rhythm]

FYI:

iProspect just so happens to be a(an?) SEM/SEO company.

Might explain the inherit bias in the 'reporting'.

Reason I posted this was to make aware the challenges we face in educating the media/public.

Maybe a more established domainer/seo/company should make contact with the journalist.

 

[Oz.]

http://www.howtotrainyourdragon.com/

Your favourite movie of all time, isn't it?

 

[DavidL]

Good point, Rhythm!

 

[DavidL]

Your favourite movie of all time, isn't it?

Phew that's a big call - top 5 for sure but all-time??...

 

[marketingweb]

This makes basic SEO even more important.

Remember - there is no guarantee you will rank #1 for your own domain name - google doesn't work like that for better or worse.

Often when a site is new and not ranked at all well in google, you will get a "did you mean...." suggesting a different site ... even for www.yoursitename.com.au

I don't think a lot of businesses out there realise (and it won't affect 80% of them), but i'm sure there are plenty of cases of people typing in a URL in the search box and ending up at a competitor!

 

[Data Glasses]

people dont remember those pesky urls ......what a load of poontang

 

[FirstPageResults]

There is an American Express TV commerical running at the moment where they say "search 'potential'", yet if you search google for 'potential' they have PPC running - but not even at the very top.. strange

Maybe the marketing agency gets a commission for PPC

 

[WG2010]

I actually do this for a lot of sites because it's easy to tab tab to search bar, type in the website name and hit enter and then click the first result.

I do it for analytics, webmaster tools, gmail etc etc.

 

[Honan]

There is an American Express TV commerical running at the moment where they say "search 'potential'", yet if you search google for 'potential' they have PPC running - but not even at the very top.. strange

Maybe the marketing agency gets a commission for PPC

Are you using google.com or google.com.au to get that result?

 

[FirstPageResults]

Are you using google.com or google.com.au to get that result?

hmm looks like it was targeted to my account because its gone now

 

[OzDomains]

Hell.... I type "dntrade" into the google search bar.

I bet dntrade.com.au's top keyword is "dntrade".

 

[soj]

Hell.... I type "dntrade" into the google search bar.

I bet dntrade.com.au's top keyword is "dntrade".

"dntrade" is the 12th highest search that brings in traffic

 

[OzDomains]

Just out of the top ten........ not too far off.

 

[snoopy]

I doubt the majority of businesses are ever going to rely on promoting google searches as opposed to promoting a url they actually control, even though it is a trend to some degree at the moment for some. It is a bit like stating "The shop next to Bankstown McDonalds" on all your business cards as opposed to listing an address, some customers find it easier but you are putting your business in the hands of someone else.