NameDriver

Hi there,

Just a couple of small but not insignificant updates...

The "remember me" thing is effectively ready, but tech are having problems with... yup, AOL again! You gotta love AOL, operating in their own little Internet Universe. Anyway, I'm told that will be live later today.

Something I find more exciting is the user search function. I'm sure you're by now aware of the ability to see the user searches on your domains (Settings / Click on folder / Click on domain with traffic). We've now added the number of hits as well as a check box.
This is effectively a 'passive' tool rather than an 'active' one. By that, I mean you can now select which searches don't appear on the page if there is something you don't want something up there. Tech are implementing a little box at the bottom so you can also see the ones that do appear on the page, though the searches which appear highest on the list are most likely to be up there on the page.

We have only allowed this for accounts which have been pre-screened by us. I believe this has been done for most of your acconts, but if you cannot see the check boxes, send me an email or PM and we'll look into it.

Have fun. Any comments, requests etc. welcome as always.

Ed

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Email: ed@namedrive.com

fred

erm... I wasn't, but I am now!

Very nice feature, although if anyone can suggest a reason why people in the 'Other' Region have been looking at energyadvice.co.uk and searching for 'Pest Control', 'Rodent Control' and 'Squirrels' I would be very interested

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NameDriver

Thanks for the great post, we're still chuckling to ourselves in the office...

Other region includes countries such as "Africa" (in GWB terms), so squirrels must be a a big menace there! Why is it that word has such a comedy element. Must be Blackadder

Ed

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Email: ed@namedrive.com

Brassneck

Ed - very interesting tool. Could be a big incentive to getting more of my names on ND!

Not 100% sure how we should be use the info though. I have one domain which has a keyword of 'Cotswolds'. My top searches include:

Art Deco 264
Bathroom Remodeling Ideas 243
Upton House 211
Kitchen Appliances 26
Sherborne 26
Buckland Manor 39
Shows 40


So are these items which have appeared on the left hand 'Related Items' part of the screen and then been clicked on by visitors? If so, should I be changing the keyword for the domain to one of these top search items?

In this case I am very surprise about some of the search items.

Thanks
Stephen.

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Luxury Nile Cruises Prehistoric Britain Top Christmas Toys Working Holidays Salcombe Devon Norfolk England

nickbweb

pm'ing you now ed. either im blind of my account hasnt been done yet ( tick boxes at least)

the hits is a great new feature, but it just tells me that people obviously dont like my names very much:

user searches:

Poker 54
Sports Betting 58
Texas Hold Em Poker Online 49
Online Casinos 51

and not 1 click EVER

NameDriver

Hi Nick,

PM sent allowing you into the secret world - also discussed odd gambling quirk, for those that are interested

I can appreciate that our related searches and the stats associated therewith may be somewhat confusing. You'll find that some searches with fewer hits will actually appear higher up the list than others. This is because the position in the list is determined by our tech's own combination of hits / clicks / behaviour on the site etc. Generally we try to make it that the link which is performing best is highest-up the list as this is obviously the most-cherished search.
Here's a quick RS rundown. RS is ND speach for Related Searches. We try to reduce everything to two letters to help people understand us more. My name fits perfectly into this pattern...
"
The RS on your domains are generated in four ways:

1. If you set no category or keyword (i.e simply list the domain with NameDrive), your domain will start out with 12 'standard', popular, RS (such as 'cheap flights', 'jobs' etc.)
2. If you select a category or a category+subcategory, this will set four highly-searched, strong PPC, relevant links as the first 4 RS. The further 8 will be the top 8 'standard' searches.
3. If you select categories and input a keyword, the remaining 8 RS after the four category-generated searches will be generated by the keyword. These searches can be seen by clicking the magnifier.
4. When users click one of the searches on your domain or search for something in the search box, these are placed on the list of RS. The more searched / clicked the term is, the higher it appears on the list.

The searches which appear as 'user searches' on this page refer to the searches made by visitors to your domain - both in the search box and by clicking the link. They can be removed by using the check boxes next to each term.
RS which appear on your domain but not in the list above can be changed either by selecting a new category or inputting a new keyword.
"
Taken from a note which will be posted at the bottom of that settings page.

As I said this morning, this is essentially a passive tool - mostly for removing unwanted RS - be they offesnive (though we have a very strict adult filter - sorry for all those with Essex-related domains) or trade mark violations. So if you have diesel.co.uk and you want to keep it clothes-free, then you can block anything which crops up. This doesn't stop people searching for the term in the box, but it means it won't# appear on the page.

If you want to be 100% safe for a name such as diesel.co.uk and don't want to have to check every 24 hours if someone's searched for a new clothes-related term which you haven't blocked yet, then you can always supply us with 12 related searches which you would like 'fixed' on the page. These will never change no matter what you or anyone else does.

Absolutely. Some of the things you find people looking for on your domains can be quite disturbing. This tool really does come into its own in this situation though. For low-traffic domains, you sometimes find that someone comes to your domain domainparking.co.uk and searches "knitware" for some obscure reason. If they then subsequently click an ad, then you get that stuck on your page. Alternatively, you have someone who comes onto your page and searches "Amusing Gorilla Stories" and, though it has nothing to do with the domain, people who come there think "hmm, interesting" and click on it for a laugh. Fine, it's good for the CTR, but not great for the relevance of the domain. Now you can remove these if you like.
I'm not trying to say that auto-optimized related searches are a bad thing as they've had a great effect on the CTR on our system, but you now have the ability to get rid of the rogue elements without contacting us.

Looong post. Time for some pasta.

Ed

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Email: ed@namedrive.com

nickbweb

i was only thinking yesterday hwo good it would be to remove some ads, especially when tm's etc are around.

post above is a great insight into how it all works ed.some of those things i've wanted explaining for a while but never quite knew what to ask.

stabilo

ED. Thanks for the info and explaination on RS. I always wondered how this feature could be of possible use.

aqls

That is a major contribution to road safety Ed.

So we can now have say orange.co.uk and not serve any orange phone ads.

Does this mean that now we have some sort of control we are now liable?

. . .

or were we liable anyhow.

-aqls-

NameDriver

Well, with the mighty Nominet, I suppose you are never 100% safe, but, as you say, this can contribute greatly towards Road Safety
However, theoretically, you always had control before as you could have asked us to remove them in the past. It is an interesting debate though. I think the fact that anything that appears on there is a result of a user search rather than you actively putting it there speaks in your favour.
Interesting.What will you come up with next? I can always deselect your account for it if you like!

Ed

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Email: ed@namedrive.com