PALM BEACH, FL – I have been reviewing and writing about email phishing scams for years and I have seen a ton of them, from outright laughable in their easy discoverability to incredibly convincing, but this latest one I must write about because its one of the most convincing I have ever seen, and it has been happening for over a year now. I know it well as I once fell for it. The reason this is one of the most convincing I’ve ever seen is because unlike most phishing … [Read more...]
Great Search Engine, Strange Web URL; Two Years Later, “Duck.com” Still Just Redirects
PALM BEACH, FL – A couple of days ago I looked up and saw a highway sign and thought to myself, 'great search engine, horrible name.' That was after seeing a sign off I-95, in West Palm Beach, Florida advertising what is a better search engine then Bing and Yahoo, but still far less use. Also sort of odd, there was no web URL on the sign. Back in 2018, the domain name “Duck.com” was seen to have changed hands according to domain registrar details pointed out by domain … [Read more...]
Are You Losing Backlink Credit or Traffic from Your Forwarded Domain Names?
WEST PALM BEACH, FL – There are many reasons why you might want to forward a domain name; you might have moved your website, you own multiple domain names, or you purchase domain names which have existing traffic or backlinks. If you do not forward your domain name correctly, you could be losing backlink credit and/or traffic. Here are some scenarios to forward your domain name properly. The Simple Easy Way (Free and Doesn't Require Hosting) If you have your domains … [Read more...]
How Am I Supposed to Find A Good Domain Name When They Are Already All Gone?
PALM BEACH, FL – Finding a good, short, “.com” domain name nowadays is much harder than it was in the past, but it certainly isn’t impossible. What you don’t want to do, is listen to bad advice from someone who tells you to go ahead and register an alternative, such as “.net”, “.biz”, or “.info”. Whatever you do, don’t make that mistake, because you will very likely regret it at some point in the future. Unless your business is an ‘organization” you could get a “.org” … [Read more...]
Must Be Nice To Be “THE Sheriff” with “Sheriff.org”… URL Branded Vehicles
PALM BEACH, FL – Sometime back in 1996 someone had a pretty decent idea down in Florida; to register the Internet domain name “Sheriff.org” for the Broward County Sheriff's Office. I’m often reminded of this ‘solid decision’ as I live one county North and often see these URL branded police vehicles Wizz by me with “Sheriff.org” branded on the back bumper. I always think, there’s probably a lot of Sheriff’s offices around the entire country that wish they had that URL. … [Read more...]
Biden Staff Sends Email Blast for Feedback on Debate… [Before Debate Takes Place]
PALM BEACH, FL - Former Vice President Joe Biden and his staff are no newbies when it comes to technical blunders, mispronounced domain names, and faulty web strategies - yesterday came more of the same. According to Politico, Biden sent out a fundraising email asking for feedback on his debate performance more than six hours before the debate even began. The email blast, which went out at approximately 3:00 PM was titled: “Did I make you proud?” Unfortunately, for … [Read more...]
Generic Domain “Naturals.com” Subject of WIPO Case; Complainant Uses “Naturals.in”
PALM BEACH, FL – The generic domain name “Naturals.com” is the subject of a WIPO proceeding with the complainant showing as “Ms.Veena Kumaravel” , who is the co-founder of “Naturals”, a beauty salon chain with over 500 locations throughout India. Kumaravel started the business with a partner in 2000 and the business was said in an interview to become “profitable” (and likely at least moderately known in India) by its forth year. The company currently operates on the … [Read more...]
Just Some Fake Bids; Nothing to See Here; Move Along Now, Please Disperse…
PALM BEACH, FL – This is a pretty interesting story all though it has come and gone just like yesterday’s old news – no one cares, no one is all that surprised, figuring it was non-sense to begin with, next story please. I suggest domain market participants not let it be forgotten and swept under the rug so soon, because it isn't at all good for the domain name industry as a whole - and clearly more should be done about it. Platforms that are used for … [Read more...]
If Google Removes URLs From Search Results, Who Exactly Stands to Benefit?
PALM BEACH, FL – Last week I ran a story about Google’s obvious intent to remove URL’s from search. The story was titled “Google Determined to Remove URLs from Search Results; Replace with Breadcrumbs” and published on October 18, 2019. It was a follow up to “EVIL: Will Google Do Away with Domain Name and Extension Entirely Anyway?” There has been wide reaction from both the SEO and Domain community on the coming change and it warrants added thought and hopefully, added … [Read more...]
Exact Match Domain Names Yielding “Free Ticket to Ride” Long Over on Search Giant
PALM BEACH, FL – Exact match domain names, URLs which are spelled exactly how a top search term is used in popular verbal expression still work to help boost search rankings well when it comes to Bing.com and Yahoo.com, but on Google.com, it doesn’t seem to matter unless there are powerful “brand signals” in play, such as high numbers of inbound links, frequent references to the URL whether linked or not, and other popular signals such as social media activity with matching … [Read more...]
Google Determined to Remove URLs from Search Results; Replace with Breadcrumbs
PALM BEACH, FL – It seems that Google, the world’s most popular search engine, is determined to do away entirely with URLs in its search engine, no doubt further increasing its position in, and not to mention, the value itself of “alternative URLs” by completely removing a person’s ability to subconsciously decide whether a site is trustworthy based on the URL itself. I touched on this topic back in September 2018 when I wrote “EVIL: Will Google Do Away with Domain Name … [Read more...]
Why I Shipped a Car with “Ship.Cars”
PALM BEACH – My son’s car arrived this morning and delivery has been confirmed via email. We had an agreement that I was sending the car as a gift from South Florida to Georgia, but mom was taking care of the transport fee and choosing the shipper and scheduling it; she chose Ship.Cars, a vehicle transport “marketplace” which is using a new and different domain name ending, likely to improve the chances of being found online. Ship.Cars is what would be considered a … [Read more...]
Google Promotes Alternative Uniregistry URL in Keyword Planner “How To” Video
PALM BEACH – Google is a massive giant in promoting things - and it looks like they’ve decided to include some interesting advertising for Uniregistry in one of their search advertising videos called “Get Started with Google Ads: Pick The Right Keywords”, a how-to video about setting up your Google Ads. This video, which was created in 2017, about two and a half years after general availability of the .flowers URL, teaches people how to use the Google Keyword Planner tool … [Read more...]
Google Search Console Consolidates Common Variations Into Single Domain
BOCA RATON – Not sure why it has taken Google so long to realize and implement a sites various version into webmaster tools, but they have finally sent out a notification letting users know they have done so. It’s been one of the most annoying things; to have to enter each individual version of your sites URL into webmaster tools. For example, www, non www, http://, https, etc. This should go without having to designate as it just creates extra meaningless work when adding … [Read more...]
SHOCKER: Two More “Dot Brands” Throw in the Sponge on Future of Alternative URLs
NEW YORK, NY – According to DNW.com, another two dot brands are letting go of their sweet dreams of running their very own .BRAND URL. The two companies are “Blanco GmbH” and “SPIEGEL-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co. KG”. I’ve never heard of these companies before, but surely these special URLs such as “.blanco” and “.spiegel” would have made them both Uber famous and internationally known. Nonetheless, they have notified ICANN that they are throwing in the towel on … [Read more...]