After paying $1 million to purchase the rights to the Topix.com domain, Topix.net CEO Rich Skrenta now has to deal with a couple of daily realities in the search world: changing domains could cause a dropoff in search engine-driven traffic, and Google isn't exactly Nordstrom or L.L. Bean when it comes to customer service.
Several top level domains have come along in recent years to complement the .com, .net, and .org that have been available to the public. Dot com started life as the domain for commercial organizations, and over the years has become the must-have domain for one's business name.
Topix has been Topix.net for quite some time. Skrenta wants the dot com credibility, not to mention making it easier for people to find the news aggregator site. When it comes to the Web, people tend to think in terms of dot com.
Skrenta told the Wall Street Journal about the concerns he has with the change. Sites that make name changes without accounting for the ways search engines look for them could make a website invisible to searchers.
Redirection, particularly the issues with using 302 redirects, has been an issue of contention between webmasters and Google in particular. As the dominant search engine, Google can determine a website's success. Skrenta fears what a mishap with redirecting people from Topix.net to Topix.com could do for the site:
Even if traffic to Topix, which gets about 10 million visitors a month, dropped just 10%, that would essentially be a 10% loss in ad revenue, Mr. Skrenta says. "Because of this little mechanical issue, it could be a catastrophe for us," he says.
Skrenta also experienced the palpable frustration shared by many site publishers when dealing with Google:
Further frustrating him is that Google's response to Topix's plea for help was an email recommending that, if the switchover were to go badly, the company should post a message on an online user-support forum; a Google engineer might come along to help out. "This can't be the process," Mr. Skrenta says. "You're cast into this amusing, Kafkaesque world to run your business."
Amusing, maybe, but no one at Topix will be laughing if Topix vanishes from the Google realm. In the same article, Google's Matt Cutts said the post-and-wait support strategy 'is more reliable than it sounds.'
Fortunately, the issue of pleasing the search engines with a redirect can be addressed. Search engines like 301 redirects, which unlike the 302 redirect tells the search engine crawler that the redirect is permanent.
WebProNews Blog Talk contributor Eric Enge discussed 301 redirects in a recent article. In Google, a site Enge moved managed to be recognized properly within two to three weeks.
Skrenta probably will choke on a Pop Tart at the prospect of two to three weeks of uneven traffic. But we see no reason to think Matt isn't giving Topix good advice, so perhaps Skrenta should just drop in on the relevant Google Group and send out the SOS.
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Comments
choose a domain
Changing domain in the business world is indeed 1 crucial move in online marketing. Its advisable to think it over a 100 hours to have a great result.
http://7seo.com
Worries About Domain Change
If they do not have topix.com, Yeah I agree..
But now.. They should act smart ..
Do not worry Topix, just do some brain-storming...
Troy
http://7seo.com
MediaWebPlus.com
WWW.Graphix.mobi was sold this year in a pvt sale for $90,000
I do not buy Graphix.mobi for more than $50
The domain was sold by a company called Media Web Plus.com
http://www.mediawebplus.com/main/premiumDomains.html
This is a big issue
I think this is a very important discussion, and perhaps because Google has a vested interest they'll move fast to find a solution. Here's what I reckon they should do:
http://www.search-engine-war.co.uk/2007/03/topixcom_or_top.html
Ridicioulus
None of the domains was working when I tried to check them out. With this kind of articles Topix get a lot of free commercial that they wouldn't otherwise. The problem is actually not a problem. Let both the domain names point to the same location. Done properly, after a while everything will transfer to .com instead of .net.
tOPIX..AS SILLY AS SAYING 'MINE IS NOT FOR SALE'.
READING ABOUT THE POWER HOUSE CALLED GOOGLE REMINDS ME OF OLD TIMES OF THE EASTERN CONGLOMAERATES IN EUROPE BEFORE THE BERLIN WALL FELL 1989.
It must come a day when the big guys must compromise and become more collegiate and kinder to each other.
Isn't Google turning the internet and the www into a 'cut throat' environment where billions are today treated as we used to treat millions in the past years; I have been around since 1996?
As a publisher and affiliate marketing student of the web I am afraid the 'horse and carriage' has traveled too far. I leave 'Il Presidente Google' to ponder over is soon too sooon demise and self destruction within 10 years if not sooner.
Googles challenges lies dormant soon to be awakened and available for a 'spurt in cyberspace' coming from the European hinterlands; this to the enormous surprise to many.Thank you for letting me contribute in a small but honest way.
Johan Sandstrom,BComm.
Publisher
www.johansandstrom.com
johanpublisher@gmail.com
Topix Oh we we welcome to our world!
Just a pity to Mr. Skrenta possible problem and welcome to our world. We have felt the Google pain after changing just software i.e.. shopping cart software. Google dropped us dead as a rock. We don't even have a page rank anymore. Every time you turn around you spend all of your recourses in figuring out how to tell Google that no I'm not trying to cheat you in anyway.
We never would have thought we would loose as much traffic and sales as we did. Count this one 30% down in 6-months after changing software. Google seems to believe we are a new company and the date of url registration ownership doesn't mean diddly!
Mr. Skrenta my advise to you is to check all of your Pea's Que's before making any changes or you may feel our pain as well as others who have had this problem.
Regards,
Rick Lopez
President/CEO
Boating Solutions, Inc.
Topix Complains about Google Process
So he's going to lose 10% revenue! After paying $1000000. My heart is bleeding for the poor man. However like many people with money they are surprised to find that the world doesn't revolve around them sometimes and not everything is for sale.
Why buy the .com if he's not sure it will recoup the investment. Sounds like someone didn't do his research properly. If so he shouldn't be complaining about Google but his advisors.
If he is going to recoup the investment, why complain anyway.
Why not..
Why not just forward the .COM name to the existing name and then gradually cross over?
Topix.com
I presume he still has the topix.net domain name so why not use both with mirror sites. This way he keeps his google rating and gets to use the .com tag too
Topix.com
I went to Topix.com and Topix.net today 03/13/2007 and they are still 2 different Websites!
Name changes & Google
The obvious solution is to keep both names pointing to the same site. Then you gain your new traffic while not losing the old. I did that when I changed living-room.org to bicyclefixation.com, and used redirects as well. Traffic increased.
Rick
Google Base...
Well,.... have you tried putting products up on Google Base... ?
I know that this is a free service, but you seem to get the traffic that you paid for...
I have had , just a few products there for quite some time now and the results are quite Pathetic...
I get far more "redirects" from the occasional Blog that either I connect with... or that I find searching our site... I am convinced that the day of the advertising BLOG is here to stay.. and that is encouraging since as a small Textile manufacturer of High end products.. ( the only Linen weaver in USA )... I kind of like that word of mouth rather than the Generic stuff
http://www.brahmsmount.com
Spending before thinking
Like so many netpreneurs and even established businesses are finding out, planning is not a lost art when it comes to building an internet empire.
In fact, if people planned their internet communications programs with the same diligence that they plan other aspects of their life, they would probably find it easy to succeed online.
pretty scary they rely so
pretty scary they rely so heavily on google to make money.
TOPIX.NET VS TOPIX.NET
THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE WASTED THEIR MONEY BUYING IT for $1 MIL WHEN IT COST SOMEONE $1.99 THAT WAS A REAL STUPID MOVE ESPECIALLY WHEN EVERYONE KNEW THEM AS TOPIX.NET. SOMETIMES CHANGE IS GOOD AND SOMETIMES CHANGE IS FOR THE WORST, ESPECIALLY SINCE GOOGLE CHANGED ITS SEARCHING TACTICS. SINCE GOOGLE CHANGED ITS POLICIES EVERYONE IS DOOMED BECAUSE ALL THAT GOOGLE BRINGS UP IS JUNK WHEN SEARCHING. UNLESS YOU PAY GOOGLE YOU ARE AT THE BOTTOM. DONT GET ME WRONG I THINK GOOGLE WAS TRYING TO DO WHAT WAS BEST FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS. WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT TO WASTE $1 MILL DOLLARS TO CAUSE THEMSELVES MORE HEADACHES WOULDNT YOU THINK THEY WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT THROUGH. I THINK SOMEONE IS GOING TO GET FIRED THANK GOODNESS IT IS NOT ME.
Imagine...
If it weren't for anonymous comments we might have missed out on that ALL CAPS gem of insight. Any of the other oldies out there remember B1FF?
Why Worry?
Why can't Topix just create an alias so that both domains point at the same server?
Graphix.mobi
Graphix.mobi was sold this year in a pvt sale for $90,000
i do not buy Graphix.mobi for more than $50
The domain was sold by a company called Media Web Plus.com
http://www.mediawebplus.com/main/premiumDomains.html
topix
I guess because it is obvious who ever is the CIO at Topix is not that smart. Maybe they need to re-evaluate their staff
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