Posts Tagged ‘DNS’
Will New ICANN TLDs change search engines?
The following is the transcript of a response we made earlier on the Linked In group “Domain Name“. This is a non-public forum, but thought the topic was related to Search Engines, and thus worthy of publishing on Search News.
Peter Leuzinger of Net Names had asked:
“Will the gTLD liberalization by ICANN upcoming this or next year change the way search engines operates?”
Our response:
I think the search engines are already influenced by the TLDs currently in the space, and feel that this will continue to be the case, as long as the TLD is topic-specific, or region specific.
Example: The CCTLDs such as .AU and .CA are synonymous with Australia and Canada, and this is part of the localised search results presented in the search engines (for example, in google.com.au selecting the “Pages from Australia” option will display local results for Australian pages, the most common being .COM.AU websites).
.MOBI is the space for mobile phones, although I’m not sure this has been as successful as some would hope, with many companies using sub-domains, such as m.facebook.com for example.
.TEL is an interesting space to watch, and it seems Telnic have kept search engines in mind when developing the service, and also use it as part of their marketing strategy.
The .TEL service runs completely on the DNS protocol, and is attractive for the search engines to crawl and index this information due to the information being quick and relatively simple to parse.
.TEL is an online phone-book or contact system if you like, and .TEL has potential to work it’s way into the search engines as a contact information store, but with it’s ability to list keywords related to your business or service, may also be beneficial as part of a businesses SEO Strategy.
I would expect Google at the very least to implement some form of indexing and using a new TLD in an appropriate manner, as Google have gone so far as to index books, NNTP newsgroups and much more. If Google’s use of that TLD is significant, I’d expect the other players to follow.
In terms of new TLDs being launched in the coming years influencing the search engines, this really depends on a number of factors.
Firstly, I think that new TLDs can be very topic specific.
Example:
In Australia, Churches often use . ORG.AU names, because their legal status in the Country is a non-profit organisation, and the policy rules permit them to use . ORG.AU or . ASN.AU names, whereas .CHURCH or similar could symbolize much more, and the search engines would be able to then use .CHURCH names in indexing Churches in SERPS.
Possibly not the best example to follow a religious institution, however .XXX could be a well regulated space for adult-oriented content, and search engines already have the ’safe search’ function enabled by default, and could add additional layers of restriction and/or verification to ensure Adult content isn’t found by minors.
The possibilities are endless, but I feel quite strongly on a few points when I consider the introduction of new TLDs:
1. The new TLD should pose a benefit to the community at large.
2. The registry should have a good marketing campaign to educate the community at large about it’s existence and purpose (example: how many .MOBI or .ASIA domains have you seen advertised in print-media or online?). The registry should also work in conjunction with the search engines to promote the benefits of their TLD and why they should alter the way their search engine presents information to their users.
3. ICANN should not allow the introduction of new TLDs to pollute the internet.
If those three considerations above aren’t adhered to, then there is little point in launching a new TLD in the first place, as it will present little benefit, and we’ll see an increase in confusion amongst internet users.
New Domain name: Dot Tel
DotTel ( .TEL ) is a new type of domain name that promises a new way of locating information on the web. It may also include benefits to compliment your existing SEO Strategy.
Search news contacted the Dot Tel registry recently for some information about the new TLD, to see what all the hype was about, and the benefits it has to offer for a company’s Search Engine Optimisation Strategy.
DotTel is a different concept from most other ordinary domains such as .COM or .COM.AU, because rather than using the domain for ‘regular purposes’ such as hosting a traditional web-page that presents your company or product information using a HTTP web server, Dot Tel is a ‘directory service‘ of sorts, which presents a company or person’s contact information, and that content is serverd over the ‘DNS’ or Domain Name Service protocol.
DNS is s the underlying technology that runs the domain name system, in essence, allowing you to type a web address into your web browser, and it locates where on the web you need to go to retrieve that information or website.
A spokesperson for .TEL said the new domain has very specific and unique content, which allows customers to locate your business and provide information on the products or service you provide, in addition to your contact information and location. You are also allowed to to specify keywords related to your business, so this has the added benefit of being crawled and indexed by local search engines.
Making use of DNS technology presents many incentives for search engines such as Google to crawl and index the information because it is in a standard and easy to read format, and updates to content are almost instant, search engines have more incentive to re-index .TEL content in short intervals.
Finally, the spokeperson feels .TEL adds a great deal of value to the end customer because .TEL content is easy to maintain, can be updated at short intervals and has the best return on investment in the SEO business because it is expected to retail at very low prices (approx $15-20 USD/year).
When asked about privacy concerns, DotTel has advised that just like many social networking sites such as Facebook, customers can decide on what information is made public and who gets to sees information that they would prefer not to be seen by the public. In a similar way that you can see the friends of your contacts in Facebook, DotTel will also allow you to see a limited amount of information to people in your approved contacts network.
The Dot Tel landrush is currently on (Jan 09 to February) and landrush applications start on Feb 3rd at a premium price, and general availability (GoLive) begins on 24th March.
Visit the Telnic website for more information on this new and exciting Domain TLD, and view their demos for demonstrations of the many features and benefits offered by DotTel.
We’d like to thank DotTel for supplying this information.
Article brought to you by Search King.