Comments on: Do URLs matter anymore?

With search boxes becoming increasingly the first place people go to find anything, does it really matter what your URL is?

[bobmarleypeople]

Unless I have it in my bookmarks bar (which doesn't have a lot) I generally type the beginning of the address and let Firefox do the rest. I generally keep 50 days of history, so any major websites I visit I will be able to quickly load.

[gerrrg]

Ah. Hence why I like Chrome so much...if the URL is in the history, it'll auto-complete while I'm typing, and voila, I don't even need to complete the URL and I hit enter.

With firefox, you just pull down the history right in the address box, and you get the ones most recently used. That's something I wish was in Chrome.

[umbrae]

Firefox and IE both do autocomplete as well. The awesome bar in Firefox 3.5 is much better now too.

[yprtb]

i don't type urls at all. With firefox, i just type in the address bar what I'm looking for, and it automatically contacts google and goes to the first search result. Like cnet, thats all i type in the address bar and I'm here.

[KO1391401]

Google or browser history for me, not because URLs are pointless, but because squatters buy up anything resembling legit domain names. Get rid of squatters and URLs will be more relevant.

[martinatornitore]

Such a stupid thing! A name is not confined only within the digital world, but is much much more... Bookmark systems generally suck and people still need trust and will always need it...

[thebumboys]

Various points of view on: replys to martinatoitore, then Chef zen, then recognition followed by thoughts on original article etc.

What is "such a stupid thing" exactly? Yes names are not confined, uh, bookmarks work if you use the same machine or store them online, and I agree that we need trust.

I once knew a Chef who didn't like fancy names for his food, he also wanted the foods natural taste to come through. There was something profound and harmonic about both of those ways that he knew food.

From the moment someone perceives the site that you would like them to remember to the moment they need to recall any part of it to find your online presence there is a time when a tiny part of what they perceived is only in thier brain. It is then important to ease that transition by having easily remembered keywords and or web address.

The original article on url's was refreshing to me. I always thought it smarmy how people traded up url's. Now we are entering an age where it is more important to know how to find information than to remember lots of info. Keywords are better than remembering web urls.

[memathews]

Simply type a name in the search box instead of memorizing the URL? Heck, stats show there's a huge number of people who actually type "Google" into the search box, "Google" was the #1 term for a while.

I can't brag, though, I can hardly remember a phone number anymore.

great post! I love short Domain for one primary reason; easy to type and easy to remember for email purposes. I guess it would be the same for URL. I consider myself typing URLs almost every day, thanks to modern browser for the auto fill and suggestion capability.

Thank you for the post.

[mikedrud]

I liked the idea the Japanese company had of displaying a Search Box with a suggestion within it, because if you have no brand identity, you need to peak people's curiosity and that would certainly do it.

Marketing will certainly be more challenging in the future due to oversaturation of media in general. But one way around that, and your post suggests this, is to make SEO a priority so that people find you first!

Once in a while I try URLs, but the above commenter who noted that because there are so many squatters out there, I most often resort to keyword searches instead.

[Paldasan]

I still type in most URLs, especially for wikipedia if I'm reasonably certain I know what the entry will be called. If you can remember a URL it is still faster to type than click through a hierarchy of bookmarks or wait on a search and then sort through all the garbage results.

[paulej]

Yeah, same here. Sites where I buy products frequently, for example, I enter by hand. news.com, I enter by hand. I could bookmark those sites, but I already have tons of bookmarks all categorized to allow me to quickly go to sites of interest that I do not visit quite so often.

So, yeah, I personally think the name is important. But, does it have to be short? That is less important given that browsers will assist you with the longer names via auto-complete. A good name is a good name. r34q or similar names are not.

[WeCanDoBIZ]

Very interesting piece.

Google videoed a load of people in Times Square recently and something like 60% didn't even know what a browser was, let alone understand URLs. I have watched a lot of non-techie people use the web and they perceive the search engine to be the place they use to get everywhere, so type what they want in there before clicking on the results. That's even if they know the URL.

So you might be on to something.

Of course, they'll be those who say it matters in ensuring that you get listed higher in the search engines, so it is still important but now in a different way.

Ian Hendry
CEO, WeCanDo.BIZ
http://www.wecando.biz

[Binary Minds]

Oddly, even though I have most of my regular haunts in my bookmarks, I still start typing the address and let the browser fill in the rest.

[Nicholas Buenk]

Yes, if I want to send someone a link in an IM, email etc. It's helpful if there is some information in the URL about what the link contains.

[Hunnter2k3]

URLs don't mean anything anymore.*
Most people just Google it, search on Yahoo or whatever else.

* Only times URLs are important are outside of the web, such as posters, TV ads, etc.
So, in that sense, if you are going to be advertising outside of these places, having an easily remembered URL is good.
You can of course use tiny URL websites. But since these are almost certainly going to break the web when some of them die off, a standard for "Tiny URL" should be created.
But then this will end up just creating a 2nd layer of DNS, which is even more stupid.

It is a huge mess to be honest. URLs as it is are a mess, thanks to the idiots in control.
The URLs should have been back-to-front. This would have prevented so much of the phishing we see today. (and the whole mess we have seen with sub-domains, sub-sub-domains, etc)
Simple example: myspace.com.profile.2323232.com
For every person you know that knows this isn't really Myspace, there are many times more who have no clue what the dots, slashes and equals mean, they never question it, they just want things that work.
And thanks to the idiots at ICANN, the TLD system will be even more open soon.
Now something could create something as simple as "google.ocm", such a simple typo could cause trouble for millions if it were a phishing site.
Quite simply, a sub-domain is NOT the Most Significant Bit of a URL, and it NEVER EVER should have been thought of in this way. But too late now. Unless ICANN ruin the web and cause others to take over (forcefully), we will be stuck with this horrible mess.

Sorry for the rant, just annoyed at the announcement from ICANN recently over this.

[flajim32034]

Courtney was criticized for her name dot com only because your name is Matyszczyk ... imagine trying to remember typing that in with a .com on the end. Listen, URLs are important. They are a way of setting yourself apart from everyone and everything else in the entire world. I have had a domain name for more than 12 years. My email address is my first name and the domain name. I have been approached to sell the domain name. If your name was John Smith, how are people going to Google you and find just you? But if you have a personal identity that is just yours, than you truly are an individual in a world of people's names.

Something I am reminded of every day is how so many people are still trying to figure out how to use a computer, what a mouse is, and how to "browse" the internet. Yea, the vast number of people are still trying to get a handle on the basics. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves that we begin thinking of dropping such things as URLs. Instead, let's show how the power of the computer is an attraction for everyone and how they can improve our society, our culture, our freedom.

[purplebox]

I think this post is just motivated by the crappy CMS that CNet is still using after all these years. I mean who can remember news.cnet.com/8301-17852_3-10276727-71.html ? I also think the reason why people hate to type a url is because they are so bad at typing. I'm just glad they don't have to use longhand to enter a url, or even to write their responses to articles like this using that method of communicating. It would be a mess, I?m sure.

Realizing this just motivates me to get better at touch typing (and longhand writing). It keeps me sharp and alert, even when Google is down, which happens more often than most people seem to remember. Yes, having a good memory is a useful thing as well, so keep training those little gray cells (they might still be useful when you?re at a ripe old age).

So in my opinion there is no need to get lazy just because you can. Mind you, efficiency is something else than laziness. Just don't get too comfortable with one way of using the Web. Keep your options open, so it's easier to switch to new ways of accessing when they arise.

And please, CNet, fix your CMS. It?s giving me flashbacks to the 1990s which I?d rather not have.

[purplebox]

PS As you can see from how my comment is wrangled, the commenting system needs an overhaul as well. Please, fix that as well.

[qube99]

Having a top search keyword (or money maker keyword) in a domain name improves search ranking. That's why some domain names command large prices. Case studies clearly show that having a domain name targeted for search is far more profitable than having one designed for image, branding or memorability.

The author of the article is correct that search is the whole ballgame nowadays but misses the point in researching and acquiring a domain name - not because it's memorable, brandable or easy to type, but to make more money through search results, sometimes a lot more.

Most of the really good money makers are already taken and often sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars in domain name auctions. It takes considerable research (and lots of luck) to locate a money maker that hasn't already been exploited. It's not uncommon for a very expensive domain name to be profitable in spite of its high cost.

[odubtaig]

There's also another twist.

If your URL is also your site/company/event/name or close to it, it reinforces the search term as it's not just some meta-tag on your site.

Hang-on, that reminds me...

[erictbar]

I usually type in the URL bar when I know the URL, and have it autofill, though I never type www. and when it's a .com, I never type .com. Sometimes I type in the URL bar even if I have it bookmarked, it just seems faster unless it is on my bookmarks bar. If it's in the Bookmarks menu or even in Top Sites in Safari, typing the URL seems faster. I found this article via RSS, and I only go to Google when I don't know where to go for a topic I'm looking for or a question I have.

[compbry15]

I have a pretty well organized bookmark system on my bookmarks toolbar (bar below the URL bar), broken down into leisure, work, etc etc.

Aside from that, though, I usually type the beginnings of URLs into the URL box and let my history fill out the rest. I don't often go searching google for a site I have already been to, because I have a good memory and can normally recall at least part of the URL .. enough to get some hits in my history.

Although I agree that URLs are not AS important as they may have used to be, I don't think they should go anywhere. In fact I bet they would gain traction again if squatting was somehow outlawed. If you could report sites that are registered but just show that generic start page, and have them taken down within 24 hours or something, that would greatly increase the value of URLs.

One thing I definitely thing should go out the window is the standard www. subdomain. They serve no purpose. Sub-domains in general server a purpose, but the www doesn't. Apache, or whatever server software you are using, can easily be configured to handle URLs without www. Most sites that I go to I simply type http://site.com/. Luckily, a lot of sites work like this and will go through. Others dont, such as LinkedIn. If you go to http://linkedin.com/in/personname/ it reverts back to the site's home page.

[Perry_Clease]

Remember when searching for the Whitehouse might take you to whitehouse.com which was a porn site instead of whitehouse.gov.

[jchanski21]

Even if URLs aren't used for navigation anymore, that doesn't take away from their value as another way to brand yourself or your company.

What if I started a lawn care business called, lets say, Green Grass. I had the name of the company incorporated into my logo, printed on my building, in print ads, and on my trucks. Then I had a URL of www.supercheapurl.com. Am I really going to want to put that in advertisements, or on my trucks, or anywhere? Even if I say on the radio ads "Search for Green Grass on the web!". Someone goes and searches google, and sees the top link with a url of www.supercheapurl.com. Even if the link header looks legit, I'm going to second guess whether I want to A) visit the site, or B) do business with a company who can't understand marketing.

[myles taylor]

For people with simple/personal websites like me and small businesses, URLs definitely matter. Especially with word of mouth. If you're very very unique, it's possible to get a good search spot, but otherwise you need a good, simple URL.