I would like statistical data that shows how often the address bar is
used instead of searching through search engines and subject
directories. Please include sites (fee based or free)that will help me
stay on top of this.

Thank You,
Joel

---

Clarification of Question by joel1357-ga on 07 Nov 2002 03:16 PST

I need to clarify what I am looking for. I am trying to determine how
often someone uses the address bar to type in a specific url. I am not
particularly interested in someone that types something in the address
bar and then goes to a list of potential sites that might be listed
below that they might be interested in. Specifically I want to know
how often someone types in a specific keyword or phrase and then .com
.net etc. and subsequently goes straight to site that owns that domain
name. To help you understand my reason for asking this question let me
tell you why I want to know. I have purchased several hundred domain
names that consist of generic single keywords as well as phrases. I
know that their is a considerable amount of work and/or expense if you
want to ensure that your website falls within the first 5 or 10
listings of a search engine or subject directory. I am working on that
aspect now. In the meantime I want to know what percentage of searches
are done using just the address bar to see how much traffic I can
expect without regard to the website ranking.

Thanks,
Joel

---

Request for Question Clarification by jackburton-ga on 11 Nov 2002 06:35 PST

hi  joel,
Thanks for your response. I was actually working on your answer and i
had posted it BEFORE i had a chance to read your original
clarification -  so i had presumed you just wanted to know how many
people use the navigation bar to conduct general searches. (apologies
for that). This is why my answer (and your clarification to my answer)
were removed by the Google Answers team.
.
Having now read your clarifications, I have found relevant statistics
that have been conducted to determine what search methods people use.
According a survey, a large portion do actually try to find sites by
typing the domain name of what they think it may be.
.
Also, I have sourced a service that offers unique insights into the
search activity and user behaviour on people's web site(s), by
collecting information about users' search queries, product requests,
IP numbers and domain names, about their search success, chosen links
and more. This information is presented in a user-friendly way, and
the data is correlated using various intelligence features - to
improve usability, increase sales and to assist you in making
strategic decisions. For example, you can see the top search words,
top not found search words, top not clicked words, top links chosen
and details on a specific page. You can also customise the data you
receive; e.g. you can enter your own search words and see what similar
words where used to find your site. Possibly this could work with
URL's people type in the nav bar, though I am not sure.
.
If you would like me to post an answer based on the above, let me
know.

---

Request for Question Clarification by webadept-ga on 11 Nov 2002 23:40 PST

Hi Joel, 

I understand your question and the reasoning behind it, but things
have changed on the web quite a bit since this type of marketing was
effective. You are looking to see how many people sit at the browser
and type in something like

www.singlemeeting.com 

just to see what's going to pop up. The answer is, very few. This is
not to say this isn't done. It is, but it's much more of a "gosh,
wonder what's going to come up" on a boring Tuesday night, than
someone looking to purchase things.

Also, keyword type URL's aren't really very effective, now or in the
past. If you make a quick list of the first URL websites that come to
mind, your list will probably looks something like

yahoo.com
google.com
amazon.com
monster.com
dice.com
nfl.com
slashdot.com
apple.com
fool.com
ebay.com

etc... 

The names are either nonsensical names created for memory purposes, or
the trade name of the company. All of them will be 7-8 characters or
less and they will be things that are fast and easy to remember. These
are the most effective names types on the web. To back this up a bit
you can go to

http://www.alexa.com/data/ds/top_500?p=Dest500_W_t_40_M1&page=1

and get a list of the top 500 traffic sites on the web today. Look at
the names they use and the length of those URL's. Try to follow suit.

Your name doesn't really have to do anything with the type of business
you are doing. Really, what the heck is a Google? Really big number in
math, is what that is, and very little to do with a search engine.

Save money in your marketing and get a quick little cool name and go
with it. Ebay, Monster, Fool and Amazon did.

I know this isn't an answer for you, so I'm not posting it as one.

webadept-ga

Hello,

I think you're looking for a site found vs. 404 (or similar error)
ratio for the searches submitted by users. This could be tracked on
two levels: server or client. Unless a considerable number of users
have willingly participated in such a research that gathers such data,
I dont think you'll be able to find what you are looking for.

On the server end, there is a variable that (usually) shows how the
user got to that URL... in ASP it is
Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER").
So, if a user typed in the url in the address bar, this variable will
probably be empty, but if the user came to the site through a link,
this variable will contain the value of the web page on the user's
browser in which the link existed.

IF a lot of sites track this variable, and save it for statistical
analysis (which i doubt), you might want to search along these lines.

Here's what I propose:

Set up virtual hosting for ALL your websites. I think what you'll need
is just a static ip + one web server. Then set up the server to
collect the information you want using the method described above.
Though this will not reflect the internet usage trends for the whole
www, it will give you an accurate idea about the URLs you own, which
is probably what you want. I can elaborate on how to do this if you
want me to.

Good luck.
RV

I agree with reallyvirtual-ga.

It won't cost you too much to host all the domain names you own, and
give each of them a generic index page. After a month or even a few
days you will know how many people type in those specific URLs. For
your purposes doing it that way will give you precise, relevant data.

Also - it is often forgotten that as web users we are all maturing. As
time passes we (I mean every web user) learn the best ways to find
what we need, we learn to judge quality, we remember the URLs of good
sites and type them in directly, we learn that guessing a URL from a
brand name usually works, and we realise that finding a good site by
entering a generic word URL doesn't work that much.

Off the top of my head I tried these sites I have never been to:

books.com
cds.com
creditcard.com
hospital.com
digitalcamera.com
onlineromance.com
webdate.com

and I got:

Barnes and Noble
A CD duplicating business
First Union credit cards
Nothing
A Japanese digital camera site
A small romance site
A placeholder page for MBM Entertainment Group Inc

I would've found 2 from 7 useful.