It seems like not too long ago, every domain name included "www." before it. Over time, people came to know that something that ended in ".com" was a digital address for a website that could be visited directly in a web browser.
Thankfully, www. is rarely included in mainstream TLDs like .com today, no matter where they are displayed. Saying and seeing www. was never a thing I enjoyed personally.
What can www. be useful for today, other than for visiting a website? Let’s talk about that, starting at the beginning:
Google does a really great job at displaying indexed domain names when you include "www." in the search. Why does this matter?
If you are interested in investing in a specific domain name, it's important to know what is indexed (listed) for a keyword, as well as the keyword's popularity. If this domain name could be considered an "upgrade" from another similar domain name, that is a good situation to be in if you own the more desirable domain.
One very helpful free tool available is DotDB.com, which I have talked about before. This free service allows you to type in a term and see the volume of "exact matches" and "string contains" for domain names registered in a variety of TLDs. In general, the more popular the term, the higher the exact match and the broad match will be.
There is one disadvantage of the DotDB.com metrics of registered domain names: You are leaving potential domain names out of your search results because of the exact match keyword function of the DotDB tool.
Welcome back, "www."; let’s get back to work!
For testing purposes, we will use a term I recently saw. The reason I picked this specific term as an example is because in a list with thousands of other domains, you may zoom right past it without batting an eye.
FiveNines.com is the example.
DotDB.com would give us our first clue that this domain name has some upgrade potential and may be a good domain name to own. To see this data: Visit DotDb.com and type: fivenines in the search box on the home page and hit Search. This results in 38 exact match and 120 broad matches. These are some good results.
Pro Tip: A good domain name asset to focus on is a domain name that I would call an "upgrade". This type of domain name would be the best because it has several similar domains already registered that relate to it. If FiveNines.com is the best domain, similar registered and potentially used domains would be FiveNinesExtraWordHere.com. The more "extra word here" or ExtraWordFiveNines.com type domains that are registered and used (developed), the better if you own the best domain without the extras.
Okay, on to the "www." Google trick you are here to learn about. Visit Google and type: www.fivenines
Do not include the TLD with your search.
You will be looking at indexed results that directly relate to the term you searched. These will often include the exact match term you entered, but in various TLDs (.co.uk, .info) that are developed websites as well as broad matching terms that are also developed sites. (Best if these companies brand as the exact search term you searched).
In general, Google will do an outstanding job at displaying very relevant indexed results to your search and matching domains to it. Keep in mind that many of these are active websites and businesses behind them.
Not only will Google display exact relating domain names, you will also see business filings, trademark listings, Yelp listings, social media-related topics, and many more things directly relating to the term you searched.
Fascinating! Give it a try yourself.
To blow your mind some more with the Google "www." trick, Google even helps highlight domains like FiveNC.com, which is a company called Five Nines Consulting. This domain and relevant business likely would be interested in FiveNines.com.
Although DotDB data is pretty epic, they miss the mark on relevant companies that use off-brand domains like FiveNC.com, which would be excluded in a fivenines DotDB search. Similar domains like 59Systems.com (FiveNines Systems LLC) were spotted and highlighted by the Google www. trick and many, many relevant domains and businesses.
Although the "www." Google trick isn’t something that you can automate (that I'm aware of), using DotDB data to highlight terms to narrow down a list can make manually viewing the Google "www." trick data a bit easier.
Personally, I normally look at about 5 pages worth of data on Google when doing the search technique, which should give you the insights and data you need to make your decision.
Happy hunting and I hope this search trick helps you in some way.
Extra Tip: Using the Google "www." trick is a great way to help find end-user buyers of relevant domain names.
