It’s not a perfect science, much like domaining itself, but it can offer a valuable data point that can be one part of a bigger whole in prospecting. But, can the Google™ AdWords Keyword Tool provide a window into how much type-in traffic a domain can expect?

Have you ever wondered if it was possible to determine the prospective traffic of a keyword matching domain name by looking at the search volume of the keyword itself? Intuitively, the more searches a keyword gets, it’s probable the higher the traffic a domain will get, but how strongly are they correlated? Furthermore, could we come away with a number that predicts a domains traffic based on search volume?

The Test

Over the course of April, we looked at the type-in traffic stats of a total universe of 1,015 .COM domains that were selected completely at random. Using the domain split/keyword, we were able to determine their exact global searches with the Google™ AdWords Keyword Tool. We used the exact keyword that matched the domain split, eliminating hyphens.



Observations

Domain Attributes and Omissions

As mentioned above, the domains were selected randomly. All names were put into the tool as is, without correcting the spelling or removing the numerical digits. The domains omitted were numeric only names and non .COM TLDs. Additionally, after running the keywords through the AdWords tool, we trimmed nearly 300 names that simply had no data. (Note: That does not mean keywords that returned “0”. Those were kept. According to a few different web resources a “-“ means no data, while a “0” means little data when using the Google™ AdWords Keyword Tool.)

Stronger Correlation

Not surprising was the trend-line revealing a correlation between traffic (y-axis) and AWT Exact Global KSV (x-axis). Using Excel, we determined the correlation coefficient was roughly 45% (.4473). To simplify, the correlation coefficient measures just how closely two variables impact one another on a scale of -1 to +1. The closer to +1 the stronger the correlation, 0 is no correlation, and the closer to -1 is inversely correlated.

The revelation was a stronger correlation than we had anticipated.

Confidence Interval

Using the simple regression model, we were able to predict with 90% confidence that the traffic of a domain will be:

Low-end: Exact Global Searches X .0162 + .5 High-end: Exact Global Searches X .0182 +18.9

Example: If a keyword gets 10,000 global searches according to the Google™ AdWords Keyword Tool, you can say with 90% confidence that the domain would receive between 16 and 37 visits per month.

Conclusion

We are able to answer yes – and to what degree – the relationship between Google™ AdWords Keyword Tool and type-in traffic to its keyword match .COM. The correlation is roughly 45%, a stronger than expected relationship. Additionally, we were able to determine the range of traffic to the keyword matching .COM with 90% confidence.

“Legal is among the more competitive verticals with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on online advertising annually,” Domain Holdings CEO Jason Boshoff said. “Owning this name provides any entity with interests in the space with a unique positioning or monetization opportunity.”

According to a study sponsored by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform, trial attorneys alone spent nearly $52.6 million on keyword advertising in 2010, more than double what Apple spent on the terms iPad and iPhone, and triple that of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign online ad spend. The study measured spending from 25 of the nation’s biggest law firms and their estimated annual spend, including: Danzinger & De Lano $16.6M, Sokolove Law ($6.35M), The Lanier Law Firm ($4.98M) and others.

“It’s rare in any business to be able to own something that simultaneously promotes your brand while eliminating your competitions’ ability to promote itself,” Boshoff said. “There is only one Attorney.com.”

According to Wordstream, a privately funded company that specializes in Search Engine Marketing, variations of the keyword “attorney” were the fourth-most searched terms behind insurance, loans and mortgage. The term attorney gets nearly 40,000 unique monthly searches with Google’s adwords tool. Using two of the top domain appraisal tools on the market, the estimated value of the name is $9.05M (Estibot) and $8.5M (DomainIndex). Attorney.com was originally registered in 1994 and Vertical Axis acquired the domain name in 2005.

Interested parties should send inquiries to sales@domainholdings.com.

About Domain Holdings

Domain Holdings is a world-class service provider for buying, selling and monetizing of domain names. The company was co-founded by Chad Folkening, a longtime domain industry veteran, and John Ferber, co-founder of Advertising.com which was acquired by AOL for approximately $500 million in 2004, and whose collective online products and services have grossed more than $3 billion since 1996. DomainPower is an end-to-end domain monetization platform and marketplace. Like us on Facebook and Follow Us on Twitter.

Since January, we’ve seen our MDE technology outperform every vertical lander and produce more revenue for our customers. Now that the launch is official, we are confident in its potential now and in the future. No action is required on your part, as all domains were automatically switched to Auto-Select (the MDE) starting April 1. For those selling domains, the MDE still includes “For Sale” banners to capture in-bound sales inquiries.

For those that would prefer their domains not to rotate, our ‘PPC’ framework remains live. You will still have the options for customizing imagery, headers and unique content.

To see the results of the new MDE visit your DomainPower account. Please contact your account rep or email info@domainpower.comM with any questions.

After announcing the launch of its Monetization Decision Engine (MDE) on the DomainPower platform in early March, Domain Holdings has published a case study to illustrate the revenue increase the MDE provides domain owners. Over two separate 30-day periods, the case study compared a domain portfolio’s revenue earnings using a Tier 1 PPC provider to those of the MDE. Results revealed a 91% revenue increase in favor of the MDE.

Meet Portfolio X

Portfolio X consisted of 9,873 domains spread across more than 40 different categories with traffic from 137 different countries. Prior to the MDE launch, all domains were pointed to landing pages monetized through a “Tier 1″ PPC upstream provider (illustrated below).

Portfolio X Category Composition

As the pie chart below illustrates, Portfolio X had an even category composition, with domains across all major verticals. Among categories in “Other” are: Kids, Vehicles, International, Government, Art and Food.

Portfolio X Traffic By Country

U.S. Based traffic accounted for slightly more than 55% of all traffic to Portfolio X.

Introduction to Monetization Decision Engine (MDE)

The MDE technology allows domains and traffic to be clustered by similar attributes and routed to external partners. Revenue from partners is measured until the MDE identifies the rotation with the highest yield.

The hypothesis was that the MDE would offer higher revenue almost immediately due to prior optimization of the clusters and revenue would continue to increase as a result of continuous optimization.

Monetization Partners

Portfolio X’s traffic was routed amongst 31 total DomainPower monetization partners, whose methods ranged from PPC to CPA to zero-click.

Test Results

For this study, Portfolio X’s 9,873 domains were  switched to the MDE on January 10. Results were measured over the course of three different intervals. The red represents the trailing revenue over pre-MDE date ranges. The blue represents post-MDE revenue over the same number of days. There is a two-day gap between periods to account for DNS propagation. The percentages indicate the lift from pre- and post-MDE revenue stats.

Conclusion

Our hypothesis was correct in that the MDE increased Portfolio X’s revenue almost immediately, showing a 46% lift in the first seven days. Over time, the lift steadily increased as the MDE optimized, eventually reaching 91% over a 30-day period.

Sign Up for your DomainPower account today to take advantage of the MDE

The MDE differs from traditional rotational testing in that it uses a predictive analytics, optimizing earnings for a domain the minute it is uploaded to the platform.

Domain Holdings announced Thursday that it launched its proprietary Monetization Decision Engine (MDE) to its award-winning DomainPower Platform, increasing revenues by up to 70%.

For the last three months, DomainPower has been building out its core MDE technology in private Beta. The MDE routes domain traffic amongst its 31 monetization partners to maximize revenue opportunities for platform users.

“When we spoke with our users in late 2011, it became abundantly clear that the main thing they were concerned with was maximum revenue on their domains,” DomainPower General Manager Paolo DiVincenzo said. “We’ve integrated some of the biggest parking platforms and advertising networks in the space, which combined with the MDE, are producing some of the highest payouts in the industry.”

In a recent customer case study, Domain Holdings analysts saw a 70 percent increase after switching a domain portfolio of 9,800 names from a single-feed parked page to the MDE.

The MDE differs from traditional rotational testing in that it uses a predictive analytics, optimizing earnings for a domain the minute it is uploaded to the platform.

“The MDE uses historical data from similar domain names to send its traffic where we predict – and have proven through testing – it will monetize the best,” DiVincenzo said. “This is important for domains with little traffic, as it takes time – months, years to get a large enough traffic sample to optimize revenue.”

In July of 2011, Domain Holdings completed a round of Series A funding which was used in large part to facilitate the growth and development of DomainPower. Since September, the platform has averaged over 150-percent month over month growth.

More Revenue Guaranteed

Do you earn more than $5,000 in parking revenue per month? Domain Holdings is confident they can do better. For a limited time, Domain Holdings will contract guaranteed current revenue for domain portfolios, plus upside. Guarantees are subject to review/analysis of historical stats. For those interested in learning more, please contact Chris Waters – Chris@domainholdings.com – or call – (561) 634-7334.

About Domain Holdings

Domain Holdings is a world-class service provider in domain life-cycle management, specializing in the buying, selling and monetizing of domain names. The company was co-founded by Chad Folkening, a longtime domain industry veteran, and John Ferber, co-founder of Advertising.com which was acquired by AOL for approximately $500 million in 2004, and whose collective online products and services have grossed more than $3 billion since 1996. DomainPower is an end-to-end domain monetization platform and marketplace. Like us on Facebook and Follow Us on Twitter.

Important 2013 Tax Changes for all employed people

New Island Capital, a Bay Area based investment firm, has filed a lawsuit against the owners of the domain name NewIslandCapital.com, claiming among others that the site is being used for a Ponzi scheme.

The firm uses NewIslandCap.com, obviously failing to buy a domain name with their full business name. The suit claims defamation, and there is no clear indication of what exactly the site was used for. Given the ambiguity of the entire domain name, there is no clear indication that the firm has a suit.

The site NewIslandCapital.com has recently been updated, mocking the lawsuit and the firm that filled the suit.

Apparently, the firm has at least been able to sway Facebook to take down the fan page. Any case where there might even be whiff of copyright infringement that violates “The Book’s” ToS, they will usually act swiftly.

Perhaps the biggest area of concern, as Domain Name Wire pointed out, is for clients of the firm. Some emails were routed to @NewIslandCapital.com AND NOT the actual firm. Given the sensitive nature of emails between clients and financiers at the firm, the NewIslandCapital.com domain owners could be getting their hands on some extremely important financial information.

It’s far too speculative to assume that the sensitive information is being sold, but it is something that everyone should keep in mind. NewIslandCapital.com could get seized and handed over to the firm, but the legal fees, business lost, reputation damage and security concerns likely exceed what it would have cost to simply buy the domain.